There are going to be a lot of writeups and videos about Rick Dyer in the coming days, which is befitting of a man who lived life like the character that he was. Dyer was the life of the party, as serious as anyone about the fact that his street race cars were all street worthy and driven often, and a guy that truly is pro street royalty. His 8 second street cars, along with those of his fellow CARS Inc. racers, were some of the cleanest in the country. Show worthy from one end to the other, but also capable of some of the quickest street car passes on the planet, meant that these cars were icons of the sport. Dyer, along with the rest of the Cars Inc. team, became some of the most famous Fastest Street Car Competitors and were always crowd favorites.

But Rick Dyer’s cars, wins, and fame are not what I think about when I think of Dyer. I think of the times I got to hang out with him, the time I met him, and some of the fun we had. I met Dyer through my buddy Chuck Schroedl, who had been friends with Dyer for years as these two pro street brothers had done tons of races, magazine road trips, and events together showing off their pro street rides.

And my favorite Dyer story revolves around both of those knuckleheads, along with David Freiburger. Freiburger and I had just started CarJunkieTV a few months earlier, and were in Vegas for the SEMA Show in 2007. Chuck and Dyer had unloaded their cars at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino the day before the show, and Freiburger and I stopped by to say hello and check out the cars. Freiburger knew Dyer from all the magazine stories and Fastest Street Car Races, but he’d never seen Chuck’s Impala in it’s current form.

The Impala is a 1965 Impala SS that came from the factory with a 396 and a TH400. It’s now got a lot of tubing making up a lot of the chassis, a 540 cubic inch big block, and a 14-71 blower on top that is mechanically injected with a full carbon hat like you’d see on a Top Alcohol Dragster. And speaking of alcohol, did I forget to mention that it runs on methanol? There’s a lot more to this car, but this will get the point across. Oh, and the headers exit just behind the front tires and aim out the side of the car at a 45 degree angle.

So I tell Chuck he should take Freiburger for a ride around the block in the Impala. Chuck says no, that I should take Freiburger for a ride around the block in the Impala. So I jump in, Chuck gives the hat a squirt, and I crank it up. It’s loud. And it smells amazing. And we pull out of the parking lot, cruise down a couple hundred feet, and hang a right. I roll into a tiny bit and we cruise down the street about a 1/4 of a mile and turn this beast around. When we cruise back in traffic, and have to sit at the first light, Freiburger’s eyes are starting to water and he’s complaining about how bad it smells. When we pull up to the next light, at the corner back at Hard Rock, he’s fully in tears and talking about how bad it is.

We’re at the front of the lane to turn.

When the light turns green, I roll around the corner, see that the road is clear, and put it to the wood and start shifting. We got about 350-400 feet under power and it’s clearly time to start slowing down. We do, make a u-turn, and come cruising back into the parking lot. We pull up next to Chuck’s trailer and proceed to laugh and carry on listening to Dyer telling stories about similar shenanigans back in the day. Dyer and Chuck both loved it, and were talking about it for days.

But there was more to the story, as Dyer swore that the cops came up and asked if anyone had been driving the car, after we left. He told the cops that they were just show cars and didn’t get driven, or some other Dyer BS, and then laughed after the cops left.

That day will always be my favorite Dyer memory. He will be missed, but never forgotten, as his cars still live on as a testament to the kind of cars he built and the brand he created.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FEATURE WE DID ON DYER’S CAMARO WHEN IT SOLD IN 2014