in 1979 I was 17 & in high school. I had a 74 Cutlass S' model. Black on red. Bench seat. 350 Olds Rocket auto on the column. It had a set of aftermarket wire wheels on in. There was only 2 radio stations the kids listened to. WKIX played Top 40 & WQDR played hard rock & realy hard rock late at night. Both stations are still around & have changed format a few times. WKIX has come full circle & has been playing 70's Top 40 classics for a few months now. WQDR is playing modern country these days. So tonight it's 9 PM & on the way home from a long day. I'm flipping channels on the radio looking for some good tunes on my hour long drive home. I land on KIX & they just start a 45 minute commercial free play list. I'm amazed at the great old songs & that I can still remember the words. Soon I'm singing along in my work van & could care less about all the busy traffic around me. Before long my mind has me back to that 74 Cutlass S' and I remember some of the street racing I did in that car & how damn lucky I didn't crash. I remember the time a buddy & I where driving in down town Raleigh & this cool cat from another high school pulls up beside me at a stop light. He's in a red 70 Chevelle 396 He looks over & im looking at him. We both know what's about to happen. My buddy starts smiling because he too knows what's about to happen. You see the Olds had real strong lower end. Lots of torque down low. I was confident in this stop light to stop light race I could hand the big block Chevelle his azz. The light turns green & we both nail it. He quickly pulls me by a car length. Stunned I pull to him at the next light & yell to him one more time. He knods. Same result. So then he pulls into a parking lot & I follow him & park beside him. I want to see his motor. He pops his hood & as expected it's not stock. He also had air shocks & wide tires & I was traction challenged. So I feel a bit better that it wasen't a fair race. I m still listening to the tunes while driving my van & I think back to another street race I had in the Cutlass. This time I had just left my girl friends house. She lived out on a rural country road. Not far from her house & I look in my rear view mirror & see a yellow 340 Duster with a black hood scoop approaching fast. So I slow up & wait for him to catch me. He pulls up on my bumper & I maintain my slow speed trying to trick him into a race. Sure enough he grows impatient & pulls out to pass. I floor the torquey Cutlass & the Duster is quickly right beside me. His motor is absolutely screaming. Like 7000 RPM as he looks over at me & quickly leaves me in his dust. In no time he is gone. I mean in his own zip code. I never see that car again. Obviously that Duster was modified. Then I flash back to one more time I find myself in the left lane on a long country road. This time I'm racing a buddy's 62 Galaxy. The body style that looked like a Thunderbolt. He has a later 302 with a tunnel ram & a single 4 barrels 750 Holley on a tunnel ram adapter. I remember I was following him on Hwy 42 out side of Raleigh. Long country road in those days. At about 110 I pull out to pass him & get up on his door & my cars speedo is pegged at 120. I can feel it's still pulling & about that time the Ford runs out of breath & I start to pull ahead & I move over in front of him. WOW was that crazy !!!! The dumb things I did when I was a kid. Now 53 & soon to be 54. I guess I'm blessed I can listen to these old tunes & reflect. Crazy thing. About 2 weeks after I raced my buddy's Ford he & his girl friend went to pick up my GF so we could all go to a movie in town when I got off work. Well I knew something was wrong when a couple of hours had gone by & they where no shows. Then this car pulls up & all 3 of them get out. My GF is crying & has a look of terror on her face. He looks a bit rough too. He told me he was driving along very fast headed to my place & the Ford blew a tire & rolled several times. This car didn't have seat belts. They where shaken, but no injuries. Just crazy. Man we where stupid kids & we survived
