I remember back to the 70s and the guys running the streets with Nova SS 396s, Camaro Z/28s, Mustang BOSS 302s, Vettes with Big blocks, yada, yada. They ALL went in the 12 second zone!!!! You should have heard the stories, they were great. I had a 55 Bel Air HT w/302, muncie M-52, and 4.11 posi., it was quick, but I never put an ET on it cause it would have only been a guess. I finally ewent to the track and it ran 14.60s in street trim and 13.60 with slicks and open headers. This is when I found out that most of those "12 second cars" were solidly in the low 14s. Nothing like the ET slip to give a slap of reality. I won't even bother to tell the story about the Chevelle Tool that said his car was a "10 second machine" because his brother told him so and there was a Plaque on the dash to prove it.
Same applies today in these "war stories". I give none of them too much creedence because of the conditions most of them are run under. Traffic plays a big factor. It's possible to pass a car in the last 300 feet of a track and win, but if you are coming up on slow cars and have to lift, you might wind up "losing" where it might have been a win. Making sure there is no cops to nail your ass. This factor is enough of a distraction to change the outcome of a race. 20 -30 MPH rolling starts... gimme a break. My car wheel hops real bad, but I'd rather go from a dead dig. It weeds out the bad racers. Slow spooling turbos love the rolling start because they don't like the psycholgical beating they get when the other car jumps out ahead of them. Plus, the time honored drag race for comparison is the 1/4 mile, not the 1/3 or 1/2 or the 3/4 run. I know lots of guys who can drive a car but can't race to save their ass. Car and Driver, it's a package deal. I can launch better, shift to my engines capabilities better and get the most out of the car in a 1/4 mile, but if the other gent who can do none of this, extends the race by another 660 feet or more his chances of getting a "win" increase if the cars are closely matched. I have seen many races where the quicker racer (ET) lost because of a shitty reaction time. I've seen alot of "street boys" sit on the line for .7 seconds after the light goes green and wonder why they lost. LOSER!!! To me the 1/4 ET slip is the only recognized kill in my book. One car & driver was better than another car & driver and proof exists. The same would apply to a closed course race (solo style). Fastest times run through the twisties is the winner. Doing doughnuts in the middle of the run gets you shit.
I give props to Sp00ner, who gave a good description of his race with the SRT-4. A lot of circumstances were in place that if taken to a dragstrip, the outcome would have been different. But the essence of the story was just that. In that situation, Sp00ner won - and it drove the SRT-TOOLS crazy...
Too
Freakin'
Bad. A lot of the kill stories are in a situation that the outcome would be different in a controlled 1/4 mile race. So what!!!! It seems to me that the Dodge boys are so insecure that they cannot have their little Neon be a loser at all, no way, no how. TFB!
There are a lot of good cars out there [non imports] and we should all get along, BUT... TOOLs get what they deserve, no more, no less. Come in and shit in my house, I'll throw it back on you. If a "supposedly" better car gets beat in an unfair race and gets bragged about, HA HA HA, to bad for that guy. Maybe he'll learn to chose his races better.
[SIZE=2]As Jerry Springer says...[/SIZE] In closing, my thoughts are this, I could have bought an SRT-4 but did not. I chose to buy a Saturn Red Line, it was a well thought out consious decision. I like the way it looks over the NEON. I like the way it handles over the NEON. I bought the ION over the Cobalt because of the way it is styled. All of this was made by a thought process. Most of us have had or currently have faster cars. Only a few here can just barely afford the ION Red Line. Personally, it is our 3rd vehicle out of 4 actively insured, and I can park it just like our Conversion van. Most SRT-4 owners are one car owners, I have seen them all winter long with their salt covered basket handle spoiler trudging through the slush.
Point being, if I only wanted fast as a factor, I would have bought an SRT-4. We own a 2000 Neon, so I am not above owning a MOPAR. But I wanted a balance of speed and styling and price was a bouus. It is safe to say the majority of owners here can say the same thing. We knew the numbers going into this and did not buy the car because we wanted to win at street racing. That was not a factor at all!!!!!! Am I biased because I say the ION is better looking that a NEON? I don't think so because I own both cars currently. We have a RAZZI kit on the Neon to make it look more sporty... and it works. We get a lot of compliments on it, but it is not a stock looking Neon at all. Stock for stock the Neon is just a homely fleet car. JMO and I'll stick to it.
03-29-2005, 12:53 PM
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I'm with ya Bro, I really respect people who post time slips and dyno charts to back up there words. 
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