Re: chicago street racer names and reputations, late 60s
I worked with a guy for over 3 YEARS, but I only spoke to him occasioanally when we passed each other in the hallway. All I knew was that he wanted a 2000-2002 Corvette, and he used to tell me everytime he found a "blip" on the radar.
Well, one day, he had heard I had an old Pontiac. As we talked, I found out he used to street race in the Chicago area. To my surprise, he told me he had bought a brand new 1969 Chevelle SS396 4-speed from the Chevrolet dealer he worked at (and for the life of me, I don't recall which dealer, but it wasn't one of the big names, like Colonial or Nickey). He said he had ordered a brand new black 1970 Chevelle LS6 4-speed, and he was going to trade in his 69 SS396. He waited weeks for the 70 to come in, but when it finally arrived, it had a bench seat (he ordered buckets). Being impatient, and dying to get in one of the new LS6 454's, the dealer told him there was a dark red LS6 on the lot, with buckets and a 4-speed, but it was their demo car, so it had a few miles on it. This guy said he was impatient, and because he didn't want to wait to have the dealer "correct the problem" with his new black LS6, he took the dark red Chevelle LS6 demo car. He said he still kicks himself about that decision, because a couple weeks later, a friend of his bought an identical dark red SS396 Chevelle (TH400), and people always got the two cars confused.
Anyway, he said he street raced heavily back in the 1968-1970 era, in and around Chicago, and he had some great stories. He said he and his friend put a 4.88 gear in the LS6 (right in the dealer service dept), and a week later, he scattered the LS6 on the expressway. He said he was already overevving the engine (accidentally, he just put the gears in), and then he hit a bump at high speeds, and he said he could tell the axle jumped off the ground, then "boom" under the hood. He said there was actually a rod out of the side of the pan.
Don't know if the car was ever fixed under warranty (I doubt it), but he said he sold it soon afterwards.
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