First off, let me appologize that we didn't get this on video. I've been pretty good about that lately, but we weren't able to make it happen for this on. I'll try to be on the ball next time, haha.

We were out the other night in the Z28, looking for a car to play around with. After a couple false starts and another guy that wouldn't race unless there was money on it (he would have smashed me, but it would have been fun anyway), my buddy told me that he had a sure thing for me.

After tracking the car down and asking the guy if he was up for a friendly race, he enthusiastically agreed. We cruised down and pulled off into a parking lot and he started airing his tires down a little and we decided where the best spot would be to get it done. We decided on a dig run, which is very cool since those are usually hard to find. We were both running MT drag radials so I figured it'd be a good run.

A man after my own heart, he never even asked me what I had done or anything. I asked him what size the motor was, but that doesn't really help me at all since I know nothing about those cars.

We ended up having to abort at the last minute and then scrambled to find another spot, which we ended up having luck with.

My buddy was in my car and he was alone in the Roadrunner. PSM was following on his bike.

We lined up from a dig and it was agreed on before hand that my buddy would just yell "ready, set, go" out the window, which ended up working out well. We both hit it and I felt my car spinning and I could hear him doing the same. He caught traction first and started walking out on me. I caught traction partway through first and then grabbed second and he was out about 1 car. Seeing him walking away, I got over excited and missed 3rd gear. I was able to get it to go. He was probably 2 cars out now, but I was screaming through 3rd. I knew there was no way I'd catch him, but I'm not one to give up and I went to slam 4th for all I was worth and I heard the horrible sound of a badly missed shift. It wasn't even the usual grinding noise, but more of a metal on metal scraping, lol. I have no idea how my trans is still in one piece as I beat the **** out of it. I'm generally good about not missing, but after all the power shifts and speed shifts, etc, it's bound to happen.

Not my best run ever, but with no traffic, we slowed down and lined up again from a dig.

We started this race the same way and again, we both fought for traction. I caught partway through 1st as I peddled the gas. He tried to battle his traction issues with a short shift to 2nd, but that caused him to bog down and this time I started walking away. The run was clean after that, but withhis short shift, I was able keep the momentum going and walk out maybe 1.5 cars on him by the end of the race.

With one race each under our belts, we came to a stop once more. Before we were able to start, we saw a car coming and decided to call it quits. As we started rolling out, we got going maybe 10-15 mph and then looked over at each other and both hit it at the exact same time! This time I hit every shift and his run was perfect. The car stayed pretty much locked right next to each other right up until he ran out of gear! There was some slight back and forth as I shifted, but for all intents and purposes, the cars were dead locked.

We pulled into a gas station after, shook hands, and talked for a bit. He was a really nice guy, and he said he's been doing the street thing for 20 years and has never once raced for money. I told him my setup and numbers and he told me about his car. It ws a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner, with a 383 punched out to 400ci, backed by an auto with 4000 stall, and 4.30 gears. He said he's run 11.7, but only at 113 because he ran out of gear before the traps.

I was on motor for this run and my best pass so far is 11.63 @ 119.7 mph.

The car was beautiful and it was amazing what a good match they were!

Here are the cars:

 

sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!

good story so we forgive you for droppin the ball on the vid

 

Haha, thanks man! Those were some extremely fun races!

 

Nice races. Your car moves out!

I'm so jealous of all the action you get(racing).

 

If you ever get a chance to put this on film, hop on it! Huge old skewl Mopar fan here. I'm actually surprised this car wasn't just another slow resto with a pretty face. It's nice to see one that actually runs like a muscle car should, especially a plain jane B-body on dog dishes.

 

I'll try to get another run with him and film it. He was real cool and cruises quite a bit so it's a possibility.

Earlier that day I had just been telling PSM and my friend that I wanted to try and run some older muscle. I see way too many that are just basic restos and no one will drive them. Or they sound sick, but when you ask them if they want to run, they look at you like you just asked them to let you watch as they beat their wife. Very cool to see this car running hard!

 

awesome!

love seeing run ins with old school muscle that have some ***** to back up the look

 

Awesome races. You got extremely squirrely on that last run on one of the shifts and I was like, "DAAAAAAAAMN!!!!!!" Then it straightened out and ended up being a badass race all the way to the top.

 

Man i love old school vs new school! I remember that time i raced a 68 Camaro SS, and it is still my favorite race i've ever had Much props to the awesome writeup, and i'm looking forward to a possible vid of another race between you two!

 

yeah, thats pretty sweet. I had one of those classic old skool new skool run ins. Ran into an old bel air on slicks and skinnies one night heading home from a car show, and the thing that made it awesome was, im sure the guy driving just came from the same place since we were only a block away, and he looked like he was old enough to have owned the car new. I looked over at him, he didnt look at first but barked his car then smiled alittle, it was perfect, no traffic late at night on a 4 lane highway, both in middle lanes and my buddy and his girl behind me in thier crustang gt watching as they followed me to my house. Both floored it at green light, and i walked away pretty good, slowed gave him a wave and went on my way. They are just such memoriable races, cause its like, after 40-50+ years, the basic blue collar chevy guy or muscle car guy hasnt changed really at all!!!!!!

 

Thanks guys, I'm gonna try to get more races like this one. I love the unknown factor since I know so little about these older cars and what setups should produce what performance, etc.

When I shifted 1st to 2nd on the last run, the car started walking out to the right pretty good. I was on the verge of easing up on the gas, but it straightened out before I did and made for a great race! The dude in the Roadrunner said he could see me creeping over, but I straightened out right as he started to get nervous, haha.

 

Thanks for the post, I would of loved to see a video of that roadrunner

 

yes! that race DEFINATELY needed a VIDEO!