i downright despise drag racing
im tired of the ignorance wrapped up in it, everywhere i go, everyone compairs 1/4 mile times, people have compaired an 03 Cobra to a Ferrari based on 1/4 mile times, and try to explain how an 03 Cobra is superiour!
everyone puts thousands of dollars into their cars, their daily driver, to run some magical 1/4 mile time, brag on it, then talk trash when your car can out handle theirs, outrun them on the street, but you dont run a certain 1/4 mile time
it seems to me that the car scene is growing more ignorant, and is going down hill
Welcome to the club.
You're right... it does seem that someone's 1/4 mile time is the number one token for "bragging" rights.
I don't despise drag racing. But I do despise the kind of goons you're describing. Real drag racers are usually racing themselves, anyway. The decent guys are trying to best their last time, not get bragging rights.
You just described half the people I work with.
They laugh and point at anything that does't have slicks on the back. There are two guys though that I work with that realy can't stand them and go out of there way to talk to these guys because of this. One has a Mitata set up for auto X and the other has a 240zx setup for drift.
You want to talk about difference of opinions there you go. The drag races can't figure out why you would want to drive around a track and burn off the tires and not go fast or turn in the fastest time. They also can't figure out why you would want to go fast around corners, I would love too see there drag cars go into a corner following the miata and keep up.
Not to start a huge argument but most of the guys that I work with that talk big shiznit about every ones cars drive chevys and don't own there drag cars anymore.
the thing is, you can build a car to turn, and still run some quick times at the track
build a drag car...go straight...
while i cant shiznit talk the guys who are real racers, because they dont do it for bragging, they do it for the love/fun, and i can really appreciate that, especially if theyre rather humble, i have a lot of respect for that
it sets me off, people ask me what my TC runs, i tell them 20.2@69, and they laugh their asses off, i ask if they wanna race, they always turn me down, then run their mouths more, saying that their automatic cavalier should run a 13 and bla bla bla, but wont race me
the ignorance has turned me away from drag racing, i wanna hit the track on a rented day, make a few runs, get a MPH so i know how its running, and leave
Oh I understand that completely but they don't get why he hasn't tried to stuff a v8 in the car yet. And why he wants to just put a turbo on it.
"becasue everyone know that a v8 is bigger, badder, and quicker"
trust me, i hear it all the time
i bought my TC, and that same night, 3 people said "you gonna put a 5.0 in it?"
I can't count how many times I've heard that snazzy catch slogan. :rolleyes: They are kinda surprized when they see it's already in there. I'll be treating drag racing like a dyno, just to get a baseline of performance. But my ultimate goal is to make a corner carving street machine. :D
While straight-line acceleration is cool and all, I prefer a more well-rounded vehicle.
When folks ask me what any of my cars run in the 1/4, I just tell them I don't know, or don't care. I'm more interested in what lap times are going to be, or whether I'll be able to keep it together and on the road in the Silver State.
well guys, I do agree with hating the shiznit talking goons, I cant say I agree about the drag racing.
I personally like drag racing... it, much like any other autosport, allows you to drive fast, and see what the machine you built will do. Thats all. In addition, it allows you to bond with others that have the same interest in that particular sport. Some people like taking turns, and some like going straight...To each His Own...IMO. I equally respect all autosports...there is just some I wont partite in.
Rick
The track around here closed over the winter. There's talk of a new one opening even closer to me, but if that don't happen I don't feel the need to sit 2 hours in traffic each way to spend less than a minute in the car on 4 runs.....I already know what it can do. Any other goodies and I'll just dyno it so I can see the improvement
don't let a couple of goons get you off of drag racing. just like anything else, there are goons in all sports. There are autoX goons that make fun of drag guys cause thier car can't turn a corner and vise versa. A moron is a moron, and don't let them influence what you enjoy. If you like your car and what it does that is all that matters.
It does seem that everything falls down to what your quarter mile runs are. Maybe if there were more road courses around to run laps on to compete with the dragstrips the scene would be different.
Just as stated above.
Drag Racer: "Car looks nice, what's it run in the 1/4?"
Corner Carver: "About a 20 but I run the course in 1:35"
Drag Racer: "Oh, I couldn't run the course, couldn't keep the car on track"
*End of Story. . . all are happy. . .Don't we all get along so well*
I personally don't really want to go all out with my car. I just want it to look good, sound good, handle well and have enough guts to get up and go when I need it.
All I can say is there are many types of people out there with many different objectives. Some people only care about the 1/4 mile time, some only care about running a road course, some care about both and some only want to have a fun car.
My car to me is what it is, I could care less how someone else judges it. To me it is fun although I am aware it will never be the fastest, best handling or even the best looking car or even cougar out there. Car guys are funny, the longer you are into the scene the more people irk you, espically the younger crowds. While we spend money on suspension and mechanical parts the younger crowd spends it on wheels and decals, but that is what makes them happy. I would never do that to my car, but I do not hate them for it. I think the same should be for you, dont hate people for their judging a car on a 1/4 mile time, that is what is important to them. Instead when they ask tell them it is a road course car, not a drag car.
i look at it like this, you got two girls
one is smoking hot and good in bed
the other is decent looking, decent in bed, great conversationalist, smart, funny, can cook and clean, etc
being hot and good in bed can only get you so far
I personally like to see how fast(1/4mi of course) a street car can go. I guess with drag racing you take out all the BS variable, if you wanna talk some shiz, then back it up. You have two cars, two lanes, and a green light. How more simple can you get, if you lose than stfu. You lost. Now Ive heard ricers complain, "well I can outhandle you, Im not set up for drag racing." Look if you want to base how fast a car is you look at the 1/4 mile time and it will give you a good idea the performance of the car. You obviously cant give a circle track time because its not the standard, whereas the 1/4 mi is the standard to measure performance. Its just the way it is. Now I personally dont care for dedicated drag cars, Im more interested in street cars/weekend warriors. Personally I love to drag race, its more of a personal goal for me.
Well, as I said to you in private last night, my dislike isn't quite what you're dealing with. I don't deal with anyone locally who brags about quarter mile times or even cares what their vehicles can do in such a race. Biggest thing I've heard in ages is that my friend thinks his "new" Quad-4 '91 Cutlass could keep up with my '89 LSC. (who knows, maybe it can, maybe it can't.. we're not compelled to find out) But I have run into people like that before, and they soured me to drag racing somewhat.
What bugs me mainly are the stoplight drag racers who think everything's a race. See, most of the time I am pretty mild-mannered, and I never intentionally race anyone, but the last two lights before my house I'll give it a little more juice before hitting my street. (my "logic" is blowin' out the carbon and givin' a few more revs to the alternator before I put it to bed for the day/night.. may not be the most sound argument, but it's one of my little pleasures to stretch the LSC's legs a little like that) I don't do it outrageously, because right across from the turn to my street is a police sub-station. I haven't been pulled over since 1993, and I intend to keep it that way. Well last time (a couple days ago) I got a couple of yokels in some rednecked-out F350 who thought it was a race.. and as I'm hitting 55 (in a 45) at MAYBE 2/3rds throttle off the light I can hear them struggling to get past. So I level off at my self-appointed top-speed on that road, and I see them eventually blow by as if their asses were on fire. I see people like that and I think stuff like "you dumb pen 15s".. (mainly for blowing past a cop station doing something like 20+ over the limit) not "oh you smoked me".
I used to know a few people who did proper drag racing without all the dick-waving, and I had some amount of respect for that. You're mainly racing yourself, not anyone else, and your times mean something only to you. But it's hard not to lump people like Shawn's complaining about in with people like I'm complaining about to develop a rather dim view of the *average* "drag racer".
A little bit of shiznit-talking is fine. (when it gets excessive or just plain stupid is when it's annoying) Hell, my uncle and I trade little barbs all the time because he's a Packers fan and I am a Bucs fan. But when we talk beyond the sniping, we both realize we feel the exact same way about things.. we're both on the verge of walking away from the sport because we're tired of all the like the holdouts and the gun-toting players and the wife-beaters and all that sort of shiznit that gets largely swept under the carpet. I'm now down to only listening to Bucs games on the radio (when I used to be an avid NFL Sunday Ticket subscriber) and my uincle said to me a couple weeks back that he'll probably stop watching once Favre retires. Why am I saying all this? Because there may be someone who comes along and reads what Shawn said and flies off the handle because he's apparently bashed what they love.. but when you delve into it, he probably has a similar complaint they may have about it. I see everyone so far "got it", but who knows if everyone else will?
LOL :rollin: This is true.....What happens if the Hottie doesn't age well? Then you can't eve have a good converstion with her. And your always eating out!
We have a stop light in front of ours and people blow it all the time. I got a guy who had a felony warrant from Las Vegas because of that light.
I have done both and love both. Drag racing and road course racing. They both have pro's and con's. The main thing I think is cost. It is only $20 to drag race here all night long and make as many passes as you can. Where the road courses around here are anywheres from $500 an hour and up. After the hour, get off the track and leave the premises. See why drag racing is more popular?
When I went to the road course I boilled my brake fluid, and wasted a decent set of new brakes, but it was definatly a blast! Carving into an "S" bend at high speed, and drifting out the otherside with out worrying about a car coming around the corner head on is DEFINATLY something to experience.
When Drag racing I am always triing to better my previous time from the last trip down. I never say anything to the "boys" at the track with the ricer's and just laugh at them when they brag about a 16 second time slip. It is always fun shutting them down when they glare at you at the starting line like they know they are going to win. another thing I found funny is how they all jump the light and red light everytime and still lose at the end of the track. Retards.
As has been said already, there are idiots in everything we do. don't let it get to you.
Well Shawn, all I have to say is:
:dons flame suit:
When you get pwned by every four banger newer than a 1998 model, I guess you do start to hate the concept of drag racing. When you build a car that actually gets respect WITHOUT having to utter a single word, and actually get to experience how it performs against brand new 28-50,000 dollar out of box "supercars", that's when you start to love drag racing. The feeling between running a 20 and a 13 second quarter mile time are nothing similar, but you wouldn't understand that now would you . . . :flame: :tg: :D
*raises eyebrow*
i dont really have much problem with some V8 cars 1998 and newer, ive pulled on a 4.6 car, not by very much, but i have, and ive given a modded one a run for its money (full exhaust, intake, pulley), my turbo coupe as it sits doesnt have much problem with most stock cars on the street, untill you get into LS1's, SRT's, EVO's, and shiznit like that
i also dont mention my car on the forums too much, just so i dont get those type of cheap shots and insults about my car, very few people on the board know whats done to it, other than the K&N filter, timing and knock sensor, just because of those people who like to see who's dick is bigger
Yeah I know. Since Nick is going to be offline for awhile, I figured I had to make up for his absence :D
youre the black man, you dont need to do the dick waving
I can't help it, comes natural . . .
i thought you were just candy coated...i guess sweating out at carlisle proved that theory wrong
Hey you could've said "at least my car is still RUNNING"
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
absence? BOO! :flip:
and as for HP i think i proved to a few people at CJ that my car makes more then 311 HP even Eddie "1FSTCAT" took the car for a drive:tg:
and as for the other thing.. i don't wip it out unless i plan to use it :raspberry
Nick
Anyone play golf? I ask because, as was mentioned, each time you go out, you are trying to beat your personal best. I shot my best a couple weeks ago (102 without handicap) while the others with me shot below 100. I had a blast because I beat my best. My car has never seen a drag strip, at least not since I bought it, but I do enjoy playing around a little. The kids love it when I bark the tires at a red light, and I'm always teasing them when they see me working on something by telling them I'm building the fastest race car they have ever seen. Truth is, I'm just trying to keep it running to hold out for those 75 mile roundtrips to work each day. Everyone knows the 3.8 is worthless if you're looking for speed or performance, but I'm not. On the other hand, I've never had a car before that I could scream the tires for 10-15 feet at take off until this one. Hit 2nd gear and feel like you're driving backwards. It looks like with a capital 'C', and may never look much better, but I still enjoy driving it more than anything else I've ever had. The guys at work have asked me several times when I'm gonna drop the 5.0 in it, and poke fun all the time at my 'addiction' to this site, but who cares. Everyone needs time away from the hustle of everyday BS, and this site and car have been just that for me. I'm sure the drag strip or oval track or road course are just that to many other people. Could I become addicted? I'm sure I would absolutley love racing a circuit or drag strip, but don't have the 'smarts' to build that kind of car, and want to enjoy what I do have instead of making it another pressure to be faster or stronger.
Here's an idea. Go out, have fun, and ignore those who Sh#$ talk for no reason.
I think he's on to something. :hick:
you cant ignore it hear, it follows you around, its part of life here, the only way to ignore it is to stay away from the track untill bracket racing starts, and im not a bracket racer, nor am i a drag racer, i just want to go, get a few passes in, see my times, my MPH, and call it quits
test and tune around here is a joke, its 30 bucks at the good tracks, where you actually have a half decent crowd and a nice track, 25 at the closer, ricer infested track, its turning into a load of
First thing I have to say is...come out to my hometrack brother, Atco Raceway...T&T is cheap as hell and nobody will talk on you.
Back on subject. I enjoy many forms of motorsport but am drawn to drag racing for many reasons. #1-It's within my budget. #2-I live 15-20mins from the track. #3-It's the industry's mearsuring stick anymore, and last but not least #4-I don't have to worry about boilin' brake fluid, destroying brand new sets of brake pads, or even the impending chance of losing control around a turn :P
Ah, the "Stoplight Drags". I am a regular partint in the stoplight drags because everybody thinks I have a granny car with an exhaust leak...granted now with the 10-hole rims, 265/50 rear tires and the flat black T/C hood, people are taking my car more seriously and street racing is becoming less commonplace for me. Everybody has their own thing and that's cool with me, BUT, when some shiznit talkin' import lover thinks his civic with a body kit, wing, stickers, and a fart can will "smoke" my car, THAT me off. I enjoy trying to improve upon my 1/4mi. times, trying different techniques to try and whittle down my 60' times and I love the commeraderie-spelling?(I know waaaaaay too many local 'stang guys, so I always run into someone at the track).
I want a fast street car, that's the bottom line. Building a fast, reliable, consistent car on a budget is a challenge and I enjoy every minute of it. The quarter mile is just my yardstick...another tool I use in which to measure my performance.
Just curious...how can you be a man without a little dick measuring...I think everybody with balls in every facet of life tries to better someone else in something. Example: Hey Jim, I drank 18 beers before I passed out...Oh yeah, well I can drink 22 beers before I pass out.
Example: Hey Bob, check this scar out...cut down to the bone with a chain saw...Oh yeah, well check out this scar...I took a .50 cal. bullet in my shoulder, it was shattered but I shrugged it off.
It doesn't matter where or how, but every man of every race has to be better at something or have something nicer, or faster, or bigger than the next guy(myself included). It's called pride...and when you're proud of something, you don't want to let people dismiss it and try to leave you upstaged.
Can't speak for anyone else on this, but I find it to be a waste of time to even think about being better than someone else. There's ALWAYS going to be someone better than me, and there's ALWAYS going to be someone I'm better than.. no matter what I do, no matter what I say, this will never change. If I should be better than someone else in one thing, it's assured they're better than me in something else just as significant. So why get all worked up over it?
I enjoy what I have.. take a limited amount of pride in my work.. (because I tend to think of more than a little pride as a bad, possibly ugly emotion) because it's mine. I own it, I work on it, I make it whatever it'll become. Not because it's better than someone else's. You could have a car you sank 20 grand into, that did everything but wipe your ass and fetch your beer for you, and I still wouldn't care because it's not mine and never will be. Sure, it would be great for you, but it would have zero real impact on my life.
You could call my attitude self-centered, and I probably wouldn't argue against that label.. but really, aside from the exchanges of information and ideas that happen here, what impact (for example) is your car ever going to have on my life? What impact is my car ever going to have on your life? If yours can go faster than mine, all that means is you can get there faster than me.. but I only care whether or not I get there. For me, the journey from here to there is just me enjoying my car and what it can do for me, in avoiding a bunch of moving obstacles and doing so in reasonable comfort.. occasionally the obstacles merit looking at again and maybe even a comment like "hey, that looks nice", or "that's the sixth different '05 Mustang I've seen today".. but then it's right back to the me-and-my-car thing.
I will admit that occasionally I voice a desire to avoid driving what everyone else is driving, like all the ed Mustangs on the road.. but actually that attitude was born more out of practicality (for lack of a better term.. it's late) than anything else. I drove a black '94 Escort LX for 10 years.. it's not exactly a rare car.. I had to put unusual pinstriping on it (just that really reflective red) just to be able to tell it in a crowd sometimes. (I often forget my license plate number) I dare say that I drive the only crystal metallic clearcoat Lincoln Mark VII LSC in town w/ bad paint on the hood and roof, an '84 hood ornament, (it's an '89, didn't have hood ornaments by then) plus tinted windows. You may not think this is a big deal, but I have memory and concentration issues that are only getting worse with time. My memory was bad even before I started drinking.. which even though I stopped doing that for now, (going on a diet to ease a little of the strain on my fusing spine) probably won't ever improve.. and the concentration thing is a complicated symptom reported by some others who have this disease I have. Sugary or starchy foods often trigger some kind of reaction in me that's beyond what some might call "sugar-hyper".. it's even come to the point where I'll just lapse into staring blankly for significant chunks of time. (like 30 seconds to a minute, maybe more) I'll just leave it at that. So there's the root of the desire to not drive what everyone else is driving. (for anyone who may have read the above lines and thought to say "hey, but you said blah blah blah, etc.")
I do also give SOME credit to the opinions of those I consider to be friends.. but even then, I don't really care if my friend's car is faster than mine or mine gets better gas mileage than another friend's car or whatever. All I really care about is that my friends are happy with what they have. Any rare moment of shiznit-talking that has ever occured between my friends and I rang hollow and meaningless and usually dissolved quickly into a discussion about our ideas and plans and more productive exchanges.
I'm not saying any of this to be an ass.. you asked a question, I answered it as best I could at 4 in the morning.
Shawn, you could stop all the snickering if you scrounged up a set of sticky tires and made a 14-15 sec pass. And with a good tune up, that really ain't hard to do with a TC.
i shouldnt have a hard time making a high 14 second pass on the street tires, but im not paying 25 bucks to go race at a shiznitty track, or drive almost an hour to MIR or Cecil, pay 30 dollar, and risk breaking and not getting home
the tires i have on the car actually piss me off a bit, i sidestepped the clutch at 5K, car spun for maybe 20ft, hooked hard and went
as for a tune-up, come on Tom, you should know me better than that, you think i wouldnt keep the car tuned up and running good?
before i do any racing, i NEED a new turbo as it is, ever head an IHI supercharger? well thats what it sounds like
i just think shawn is bitching again:D i have most of the parts you need, now get a job you cheap ! :nutkick:
Sounds like I have the same thing....
cheap ? i thought thats why you kept inviting me over ;)
I know this sounds totally unrelated to the lapses.. but do you think you have significant amounts of back problems? Like more than just the occasional tweaked back from car work and what not?
i am with this post 100%. it was funny when i bought my bird i went to school the next day and there where at 40 to 50 people that came up to me and said i hear your thunderbird is just a huge hunk of shiznit .i had told a few people i was going to buy it but not that many and i have a small school about 500 kids so everyone that came up to me i said "hey it runs it was cheap and all i have to do is get it to pass the E-test and put it on the road when i get my licence" then more people started comeing up to me and sayin" ____________ say its a peice of "i just said " he dosent like it because the paint shiznitty and it dosesnt have nice wheels"
i m getting really sick all this 1/4 mile a lot of people hear me talkin about my dads capri and some smart ass says "whats it run 1/4 mile " "i dont know maybe high 16s" he s like" oh my I-roc runs 12.85" "what ever lets go for a top speed run i bet you dont have the balls to take your car over 230 (kph)" and of corse he didnt he made me slow down after the speedo bottomd out
Z
Let me clarify, the only shiznit talking I do is with my friends and it's just for fun...a little bench racing...it usually ends up in some silly rediculous comment like, "hey, let's put a T88 on your '99 SHO". If I talk to people at the track I usually comment politely on their car and they ask what I drive so I show them...most people like the 'Bird. The only person that really busts my balls about it is my brother....he thinks nobody is into these cars....guess I'll have to send him a link to this site as well as a few others. You won't catch me talkin shiznit in here unless I know you really well and I'm joking around.
bench racing and a little shiznit talking isnt bad, many of the members on this board shiznit talk with me, and i know its all fun and games, but when people have to wave around how big their dick is(nt)...thats when it me off
Well said.