Speed is a Drug

[pdub]

Got a call from Matt this evening. He's having a great time in Wisconsin. But for the weather, I'd nearly like to check out the bar scene up there. Where, by his description, drinking is a sport. It sounds like great fun.

But we got to talking after that about cars and speed and things. Matt worked a whole lot of ECTA events at Maxton as a volunteer. He's seen it, he's been there.

Speed. I got the Diablo tuner and hooked it up to Red and got 20 more horsepower from the 93 octane tune.

Red is now faster than he was before. I can feel it, I know he is.

So what about the record at Ohio? I figure it would cost me at the least two thousand dollars, maybe more, to go a few miles per hour faster. Roll cage, five point harness, fire suit, all of that.

And Unit caught me looking at the wall the other day. "Why are you staring at the wall?"

Because I want to go faster. And that would be stupider than the CIA guy who bagged a homely lady and lost his job.

That's just selfish. No, I've gone fast enough. That's hard, though, admitting the truth. That's fast enough.

Speed IS a drug. I feel it. But I'm bigger than that. I can resist it. I have to. I can think better than that.

[Barry Donovan]

there is a route of torque and hauling things..
if you must get out of speed.

I like tall gears mixing it up.
lonely world I live in.

more friends goes with drugs apparently.

err.. I mean speed.

[Deaf Bob]

NO YOU CAN'T!!
Speed is all consuming,
Speed wins
Speed gives you a buzz
Speed makes you skake from adreline....

[Jimbo17]

I used to have a race trailer that on the rear doors it said the following,

STAY BACK Inside this trailer is an incurable disease.

I believe that what racing is to many of us.

Jimbo

[Dan Barlow]

Your looking at this all wrong. You NEED that roll bar anyway to stiffen the chassis up for your time at the road course. Then since you already have it, might as well go break your ECTA record at Wilmington. Your welcome. :-)

[Thumpin455]

PeeDub, you have one life on this planet, a limited amount of time to experience things here. If you want to do something, have a passion for it and it wont leave your mind, providing it isnt something negative or destructive, you should at least try to scratch the itch. You like to drink and play music, they can both be expensive but they are things you enjoy. Drinking should be limited because it can be destructive, but in moderation there is nothing wrong with it, plus it makes a great fuel. I love the stuff.

Imagine if you had never found this site, never got Red, never went to Wilmington, and never made a single pass of high speed fun. Would your experience on this rock have been richer because you didnt spend that money on the car, race, and fuel? Wouldnt you find something else to spend that money on?

I am at a similar point with my blue Formula. It is capable of 9s in the quarter, but the safety requirements for a car that fast preclude me from going that fast in it on a track. $2k would be a good start and get the rear end legal, but it would need so much more to run what it is capable of legally. Since I dont have a track nearby and I have another couple projects that are in the works, it is back burner, but if there was a track near here and I had the 65 GTO done and the 70- GTO as my more often than not driver again, you can bet your ass the blue one would be going down a track maybe even doing Drag Week.

It comes down to what do you want to do with your time here, if part of it is to be spent going fast, then make sure you do it right and enjoy it while not ending your time on this mote of dust.

[pdub]

Thump, that is so well written and so well said. And so well taken.

But one night later, I'll stand by the thread title. Speed IS a drug. I didn't know until I tried it. It's a drug as sure as any other one, and it's a mighty powerful one, and a mighty good one.

But from my talk with Matt, he's seen it....more than I have...just being there at the LSR events. And when you get caught up in it, to want just one more bit of a thrill, that's how you end up with a parachute and HANS and a fire suppression system, and hundred dollar bills coming out of the exhaust pipe.

And that's great, it's a great drug. I've had one short dose of it. It's TOO good, that drug. Problem is, as with all other drugs, there's no end to it and it only escalates. It has to, because it's such a great drug. No, Red's gone fast enough. I tasted it, smelled it, even filmed it from inside the car. That was my speed thrill of a lifetime. And lucky as 50 leprechauns to set a record while I was at it. Just plain blind hog lucky, unbelievable how that came out in a flash, when Red's speed limiter stopped the engine in the time trap. Just luck. MORE than dumb luck. Divine intervention? Whatever. A moment in time.

Next, the road course. Dang, I sure do like that car, though. And Unit does, too. When I got home from work this afternoon, the garage door was standing open (I was driving Bubba the Truck). Unit was just standing in the garage beside Red. I asked, "Whatcha doing Honey?"

She grinned and said, "Just looking, looking at Red. Made two laps around him already."

Yeah, she likes Red just fine.

[Dan Barlow]

I think Sue needs a cage.

[oldsman496]

I'm addicted to aspirin. but its cheaper than speed. and it doesn't get you tickets. If I take too much of it, I poo blood. If I take just the right amount, I feel almost euphoric, If I take too little, I can't walk around....


Use and abuse.


Moderation.

Your not gonna turn red into a top fueler. and your not gonna let him rust in the garage either.
Remember that all you spend on him is not gonna get recovered in any way through resale...so ya just might as well get as much enjoyment out of your dollars spent as you can. seriously....just go have fun man...ya got the resources and time.... always remember how many of us won't get that oportunity... take advantage of the good luck life has given you and enjoy.

[Scott Liggett]

The problem with speed is that we humans weren't born with an innate fear of it. We have only been only to go faster 30 mph on the fastest horse the last 100 years. That is a small time compared to how long we have been inhabiting this planet. We go fast, but dont get scared and then want to go faster. And, so on until we scare ourselves either from speed or a crash that is a result of speed. Some of us dont get scared even from those events. Look at Craig Breedlove. He went 500 mph and crashed into a lake and nearly drown. He wasnt scared when he crawled out, he was excited and had a.major rush from experience. He wanted to go faster and he did.

You can easily compare speed to a drug. You get a major high from it. You want more and more. Faster and faster until something grabs your coat tail tonslow you down. The problem with speed is going faster costs more and more money, much like drugs.

[Thumpin455]

There was a bit between the lines PeeDub, the part where I built a car faster than I have a use for now, or I can afford. I ordered that engine while I was in Kuwait on my last deployment, called Jim Butler one night at work and ordered it. It was what I wanted in 2004 because I had a track half an hour from base, and five more within an hour or two. I had the money to play with it, and needed the distraction. Now, it sits here and I start it to impress people. Most expensive and powerful yard art I have ever seen.

Just because you have it doesnt mean you have to always go faster. There comes a point where you can be satisfied, because the cost of going faster is more than you can afford, so you settle in and get comfy doing it the best you can. That is why I enjoyed bracket racing so much. I didnt have to be fastest, I just had to show up and run my number, and out on the street I could have fun embarrassing people who thought shiny paint and lots of chrome meant fast.

Im ok with not going out and racing every weekend, its not a problem I am not the fastest, but if I want to go race I can. Its sitting there, waiting for me. Sure its a drug, but it doesnt need to consume you. Its about having fun with it, not making it an obsession. If Sue Unit loves the car, then you should both go have fun with Red and enjoy the time you get to spend with each other and that mechanical chaos. That is the point of it, not the part where you always need to go faster, its doing something you enjoy or love for the experience of it. Money just lets you do things faster, even without money you will still find a way to do things you like if you want it bad enough.

Just find the point where its comfortable and enjoy it. The day will come when you look back and either wish you had done something, or fondly remember the day you did it. I havent met anyone who has wished they had spent more time working, saving yes but working more, no. You have just found the taste of what its like to have one of those "WOW, you/I really did that?" moments. Its ok to want another, but it doesnt always mean pushing the envelope out there so far you fall off the edge.

[Deaf Bob]

Getting on in years.. Thought I'd better try a form of motorsports before I sat in my rocking chair and thought, "Gee, I wish I tried..."
Going on 30 years for me, 20 for the kids..
Always had something modified as a DD..
7 of those years was a 51 IH pickup with a 318 then a slightly built 390