Out-running the cops after a drag race or a burn out.....ever done it?

1974, by Walla Walla, WA. Coming back from my dad's 45 miles away with my buddy Craig. He's driving a highly modified CJ5, with a hot 401 but short gears, I'm driving a '55 post with a 327 and 3 speed OD and a 3.55 cog. Two AM, long straight, way out in the country. He nails it, I run him down and shift the OD in. Blow by him (he said he was topped at 108) and just about then we blow by a WSP(Washington State Patrol). We just pulled over and waited. And waited. He finally pulls up and asks what the hell we were thinking. We told him we weren't. He asks for my buddy's paperwork. Oh crap, car registered in Oregon, residence in Washington, license from Alaska. Asks for mine- not much better, Washington residence, California tags, no license on me. He just shakes his head and says he'd have bet on the CJ. Tells us it'll hurt if he sees us not thinking again and leaves. Roadsides are good for urinating!! Same guy caught me a year later on the same stretch in my 911 doing about 90 in the then 55 zone. He remembered me. He said "I told you it would hurt". It did. I went fast on tracks after that.....still do!

 

..... have a nice day......

 

A 1945 chevy truck?? a 545 c.i. motor??.. 175 mph?? Ummmmmmmm... Yeah!

 

In fact, "little 545 ci engine" ... !

 

Miami/Homestead,1962,we're at the sat nite midnites with about 30+ rods and sleepers plus maybe 50 others came to see,out on south Chrome Ave,just farm feilds[pole beans this time of year,] each side of the road. This nite the cops set up sneek raid on the drags. Well when the coppers showed from out of a dirt farm road and closed off the north end real fast=were you ended up after a run.
We were in Tim's Blue Spook 55 ford/390 FE packed into it.and about 1/2 way in a run,Tim see the cop lights flashing way up ahead and make a right turn into a pole bean field,bean's and sticks going up over the car like mad and he's holding speed above 50 as we're cuting that field and wondering if we're gunna fine a drainage canal or well pipe,but kept cutting that field for what seemed like a mile+ tel we found a dirt framroad and head south,came out after a lot of wondering around near A&W US1,stoped and cleaned sticks and beans off and out of the Spook so we could go into A&W with out looking like were we'ed been.
Ya the cops came in about 10min. later looking at all the car there as they drove slowly by,few we cleared there eyeballing ,no beans showen
The news paper said next day they got 5 drag racers,but no talk about that there were about 30 racers there,HA

 

Little brother's 58 Chevy 1/2 ton pile of crap fleet truck stick welded back together with the bed cut down to 5 foot and the front of the rear fenders right at the back of the cab, with the rear lowered, front is still all stock steering gear and all but sagging, the whole thing is built from pop's throw aways. It's his beater while his "good" 58 GMC NAPCO is getting a frame off restoration. Rough but it has a fairly heathy little 283 with .090 over Jahns pistons in it, around 12:1 compression a truck 4speed. It's an old wanna be street gasser engine with a tech school rebuild, and unknown but lumpy cam with a good sound to it through glass packs. He posted a 15 second run in it as his best time so it was not fast but with the short wheel base and a 4.10 gear a very small amount of day light could be seen under the front wheels if you really let it spin before popping the clutch... All and all it was fun to drive if nothing more.

I'm driving it because he just pinned a Labaron into a telephone pole with my Fleetwood drving home from prom (the new broad was a touch too much for him). It is funny now but it wasn't then. So after this, a bad day in general at work plus a new "been there done that" ero punk to train that I even got stuck driving home (his ever increasing in horsepower ricer is broke down and his girl forgot about him) along with my buddy. So I'm burnt now with the three of us packed in this thing with the kid running his yap, my buddy tells me to rev it up to shut him up (as I said it does sound good ) so after it is warm and we are heading out of the lot I blip the throttle a couple times but that was all I was going to do.
Now here is the fun part... all at the same time I had stepped in a puddle getting in the truck and my wet left boot slips off the polished smooth stock pedal with no pad on it while I'm still clearing it out, the sound of it and the peeling rubber causes an Akron cop to pull a U-turn in the center of Market as I'm tearing out onto Carroll out of Spitzer's parking lot. I started to push the clutch back in but I see him after me, I took a full second to decide what to do but the solution was to wind it up and dump it for what little it had heading toward Arlington. The only chance I have is Carroll is a sharp enough bend that you can't see all of what is in front of you, and there is a single lane street at the end of it that makes a true 90 that also dead ends into Arlington to the left of Carroll. I fly up the lane and shut it down right at the center of the turn, the timing was just right and he passes right by us twice and gets caught in traffic at Buchtel 1/2 block away but he is boxed in. I fire it up and loop onto Arlington and make a right back to Market passing another cop at speed so even if the first didn't call it in I'm screwed again. The whole time I'm beating the snot out of this kids ribs with my elbow powershifting this pile and my buddy Jake is laughing his ass off hanging onto the passenger door. I figure I'm done for anyway but I'm not going easy, I'm trying to stay away from traffic and I won't chance anyone but myself (maybe a couple passengers) some how all of these roads are almost completely clear and for no good reason... I make an easy right onto Buchtel circling back toward where the first cop was just after he made a right onto Market but doesn't notice me. I make a left onto Arlington flat out past the junkyard and tracks then left onto a road I still don't know the name of to run up behind Akron General where my buddy lived. He jumps out at a rolling stop and I'm gone, I zig zag through familar streets at near idle so they can't hear me. I got the kid home safe and sound but now generally quite for his short run at the shop, except now he told stories of how fast the truck was.

When I got home a few hours later I stashed the truck in the back yard...My brother wanted it back for the night if I wasn't going to need it, I suggested driving anything including my smashed Caddy might be a better idea. He was not pleased to find that the Akron 5.0 had an actual legitamite reason to harrass him now.

I ran several times and was never caught but this was probably the closest I ever was to any real chase.

 

yeah---way back in 1963. really stupid. outran the roadblock. weeks later i hit a guardrail at 35--driver side door and decklid was all that was left---'60 vette. the rest was cracked or stressed. way stupid.

 

yeah , racing a hamburger...:d INSTEAD OF LEAVING RUBBER , I LEFT MUSTARD.

 

Thats because you are full of shit.

 

Rule #1 you can't outrun a radio...
Rule #2 there's more of them than you.
Rule #3 remember Rule #1 & #2.

 

A few times, and every time was because I was a moron. One time I was in my mustang, 17 year old in a hot honest 12 second mustang that I built. We were hanging out at dairy queen and a friend just got a video camera. He wanted to make a compilation of all of our cool cars (they all were actually pretty nice for teenagers) and asked me if I would do a rolling burnout. I was game, no problem. well I pull out of the parts store parking lot-its about 9pm on a saturday, and about a 1/4 mile up the road is a side street on the right. I'm rolling about 5mph and nail it, sending the motor to 6k and roasting the tires. About 1 second after I hit the gas I see a local cop pull out of the side road heading towards me. I smake the clutch, and slowly shift to second, then to third as he passes me, the road went into a nasty S right as the cop passed me and I went through there as fast as I could with 165 front tires, went another 1/4 mile at full throttle, ducked into a neighborhood, circled through too the very dark back, parked in a friends driveway and hit the woods. Found out that after the S turn was the end of jurisdiction for the townies-friends said he stopeed them and asked what they were doing, never chased me but they heard me being an idiot.

Next time, racing a kid in a Honda CRX with a wicked little vtec motor in it. 9k RPM car. He talked a lot of trash about american cars, and I didn't really like him. Always trashed my car, which won a lot of races (legal races, and on an industrial 1 mile straight road that was never used because the building was abandoned. The strip was 2 hours away-what else were we supposed to do) Well in the middle of town on a saturday evening (9pm or so) on the main drag we caught up with each other. I had two guys with me and he had one, I wasnt interested in doing anything that time of night with other people on that road, but he kept messing with me. Well we finally got a light and he stopped early, pulled his parking brake and heated up his tires. I said screw it, I'm just going to shut him up, and peer pressure from my friends "race him man, you got it". Well the light changed and I just put cars on him, by the time he let out I was at about 100mph and had 4 lengths on him. We were cruising with other cars that were flying behind us wanting to watch the action. I let out and passed by a dealership and saw what I thought was a cop just about to pull out. Looked in the rear view mirror just in time to see him pull out behind the last car as I crested the hill. I ducked right onto a side road, then into a neighborhood. Dumbass friends followed us, keeping up with the speed. I circled through the neighborhood until I figured I was deep in, and parked the car and got out. Everyone else did the same thing, right behind me. As obvious as anything. We figured we would walk around for a little while. Saw a cop car go flying by the main road, which we were pretty close to, and saw another cop driving through the neighborhood. I think he was the one that pulled out, and the other was a close by coming in for backup. He saw the cars, and stopped on of the groups of kids walking around (we split up) and asked if they were the owners of the cars. None of us were, and none of us got tickets. Walked to a friends house and hung out there the rest of the night. I guess the didn't have anything on us, and couldn't do anyting, but that was stupid.

Last time I was heading back to college in northwester Ohio from being home for the first time 6months after I started school. It was about midnight on a sunday night and I had been driving for about 7hours by then in my SVT contour (modified slightly. Was a good college car for a car guy. good on gas but still fun) I was tired and a little down in the dumps after seeing my old friends and leaving again. I was on 71 after the just re did it, and the road was 3 lanes wide with no one on it, and I was doing an even 120mph trying to get home. At the top of the hill passed two statys sitting side by side in the low ditch. I let out for a split second, and realizing that I was going to loose my license, floored it. I figured I already had a good run on him and a hill to hide behind, and saw a sign for 30 east "1 mile". Got that damn car up to 141, hit the exit before the cop crested the hill and got away. stayed at 100 on 30 for a few miles, then let out, did the speed limit the rest of the way home, about 90 miles. that was every time I ran, and I've been nailed a few times, and pulled over for no reason/harrassment a few times. I've outgrown that stage, guess almost all of us have to go through the invincable stage.

 

First 5.0 I had, 16 years old, kind of rough body but a set of 3.73 gears, short throw shifter and a full exhaust. Kids were into imports at the time, so I got picked on a little bit for the car. Pulled out of the school parking lot at full throttle with a huge cloud of smoke. being stupid I turned around and came back, everyone thought it was awesome. Sitting in school traffic waiting to pull out a bicycle cops pulls up to the passenger window, taps on the door and looks at me. Says "ease up on it, you can hurt somebody" I said, sorry sir, wont happen again. I dont know why he didn't give me a ticket, guess he heard the ridicule and went easy on me. Definatly deserved a ticket, haha.

 

Yep. Probably about 1986. Driving a V8 Vega with high beams only. Pulled up to a stop sign a few blocks from home and the car facing me flashed its high beams at me. I was tired of this, it happened all the time. So I just wound it out and dumped the clutch. The car launched side ways in a cloud of tire smoke and my headlights illuminated a local cop car. Fuck! I held into it and ripped gears as I watched him making a u-turn in the mirror. Managed to make a few quick turns and whip into my neighbors yard before he could get close enoguh to see where I went!

 

never did it in a car , but did do it in an 18 wheeler in nev. ..................... steve

 

Well he always refers to it as little, funny to me, guess not to you guys.

175 is a bit dramatic but eh... who really wants the slow numbers and going 125 feels like 175 so only he knows the real speed and he is a bit of a exaggerator. What can you do about it?

 

The titles below should give you an idea of what car craziness was like way back in the early 1960's...and yes, we did our share of "street racing."

We also did a lot of crazy things with cars, cuz we were young, dumb and indestructible...ever heard of "rat racing"...that was something we did on gravel roads in the Midwest in 1962...

I usually sign my personal e-mails with:

Roger Jetter, Author
Bangin' Gears & Bustin' Heads
Fast Cars, 4-Speeds & Fist-fights
Recollections, Regrets & Random Acts
Accidents & Incidents

I got my start as an author right here on the HAMB with a little something called the "Friday Nite Read"...

and here I usually just put an "R- as my signature...

R-

 

No, but thanks. As I said (and now realize I should have said with the original post) my friend dramatizes and why tell the boring story when you can tell the grandeur story?

 

4 of us used to drive by a certain cop's house late at night & rock his tin roof - he would come out in his pjs & try to run us down with a '66 impala police car - we would do this at least twice per week for several months - he even shot at us on one occasion - he never caught us on the road - 1 night, we were all sitting at a gas station & he pulled up, letting us all have the message - "i know who you are & if it happens again, you're all going to jail"

 

I had just departed Irwindale Speedway last Saturday night in So-Cal and was headed South on the 605 freeway. Suddenly a very late model white corvette and another white car came into my rear view mirror, both must have been going well over 100mph. I thought my life was over when I saw the closing rate of the Vette. I had to throw my Civic into a 4-wheel slide-for-life to avoid the on-coming Vette. Somehow they both missed me and in an instant they were on the horizon, still zig zagging thru traffic. I'm not sure the CHP could have kept up with them.

 

Being immature, stupid and only 16 years old I ran across the town line thinking he couldn't touch me in the next town.
WRONG!!!!!
He pulled me over, ticketed me then off to court I went to learn a lesson.

 

Guess his eye sight was bad if he missed...

 

There is a story, not that I would admit to. There are others that know for sure, but to my knowledge havent said. Dad always said, you cant out run a radio. He wasnt driving a radio, he was sitting in a 4x4 Bronco. Anyway's, there are more than a couple '71 Z28's in town.........Still learned how stupid it is, even without a paper trail.

 

And YOU have to be lucky EVERY time you run

They only have to be lucky once...

 

Because you are full of shit. Who gives a crap how fast is was.
Did I tell about this one time that I was doing over 200mph on my New lambo and the cop gave me a thumbs up as I passed him sideways while getting a blowjob from Miss USA?

 

April 1960
Just got out of boot camp wearing my Sailor suit. a Friday night at Burger Lane in Monrovia. A Custom Vette pulls in looking for a race ( fairly sure it was Larry Watson)
He didn't want to run on Foothill blvd. so about 15 cars and 1 bike cruised up to Sierra Madre drove by the cop shop and both cars were parked so it was safe. at the far end of town heading toward PHS we had a flag man start us, I missed a shift (trans had a glitch and sometimes would go thru 2 and hit a neutral spot) only lost a second and also lost the race. we made a U-turn and he gave me a second chance. he kicked my ass again with no excuses! that vette pulled first gear for ever. my guess is that it was a 3 speed.
after 2 runs it was time to book I stopped and picked up the flagman and the whole parade of cars cruised slowly thru town one of the cop cars was gone (very small town) About six blocks out we all start jamming and we found the roving cop. with ten cars between me and the cop. I didn't see any reason to stop. Not many places to turn and Packing double. I knew I had to find a place to hide. I didn't plan the next step.
I came over a small rise and saw a street to the right. I locked up both ends and started the turn. Fred on back wasn't a biker and was working against me. couldn't make the turn, there was a driveway 15 feet from the corner. with the back wheel locked up I hit the driveway then saw the chainlink gate. my only shot was to lay it down in some Ivy.

There was a 10 foot hedge between us and the road. The cop pulled the whole line of cars over right beside us. we layed there for a few minutes. a light came on in the house (it was about midnight) fred and I picked up the bike and pushed it about two blocks. Fired it up and split.
I guess the cop wanted the Sailor on the bike. no one knew my last name or where I lived. He wrote a stack of equipment violations and I got the blame for all the tickets. I just told them to fix their cars

 

Any more "true" tales that dont have a shop truck doing 174mph?

 

When I was about 17 I ran, or thought I did. Passed the cop who was stopped at one intersection and just had a feeling he would pull me over, and I still wasn't legal to drive after 9, so I cut the next left and went through a parallell street in a development to let him go by. I go back out on the main and up the next intersection half a mile or so, there he is sitting stopped on the side road. Another half mile up, they'd built a stretch of new road to eliminate a 90' curve and back then you could just go straight (nowadays they're rebuilding all those Y-intersections to meet the main road at a 90' angle - even if it makes it so you can't see very far up the road, in the process). So I cut down in there, around the corner, take a left on a little road that part of they don't plow or maintain in the winter months. Of course it's like December, so I go around the curve down the hill through 3 or 4 inches of snow on the unplowed stretch (now, that section is fenced off and abandoned completely). How I didn't get stuck or slide right off, who knows. Then I went on home around a big loop of other roads to come back out at my house. It was an adventure for a dumb kid who didn't want to get pulled over. Whether or not the cop followed me, who knows - it could have all been for nothing.

Oh, and I was driving my parents' '84 Buick LeSabre. 307 Olds motor. It would go fast enough to get you a ticket, but it was no race car.

 

A 1945 pick up at that! Must have been an old ARMY truck or something like that. The car/truck companies restarted production in 1946 after WWII which ended on August 14. 1945.. VJ day. I think that date is correct.

 

agreed there is no "maneuvering around" @ 175. Video that was circling around or it didn't happen.. or in the words of 4chan.. tits or gtfo!

I've had this happen back in the days more times then I could count, but a couple times stand out one.. One in particular I was racing off of KV in SD years ago, and just as me and this other guy launch the cop comes flying down the off ramp, and hits the switch. The other guy bolts, and I pull over real quick to let the cop blow by as they always go after the chase...but we are in KV which while can be remote if you know the right spot.. Within a couple seconds will be swarmed upon. Soon as I see the cop fly by me, I get back on it and get moving, while everybody else is still running to there cars. As I come up on an intersection I start seeing cops flying by and quickly duck into a truck stop and box the car in-between some big rigs. I then walk down to the gas station where my friends are waiting. We hang out there for quite some time just watching the cops go back and forth..and then a bit later on casually walk back to the car hop in and drive home.

Unfortunately I pulled this sort of dumb shit a bit to often, and when the cops finally started to crack down on street racing, they decided enough was enough picked me up one Saturday nite in a parking lot. Impounded it on bogus charges, that all got thrown out..but in the end I had to spend 1000s of dollar on a lawyer, and non-refundable impound fees for the weekend.

but with that said.. enough with the bs lying to ourselves.. If there was still a street racing scene in my town.. You know where I'd be on Saturday nite, and I'm sure many of you would be there as well. Personally i'm sick off all the In town stop light racing, or freeway raceway being lumped together with 1/8 or 1/4 mile street racing that typically takes place in remote locations with no threw traffic.

I'm sorry some teenage kids got drunk were stop light racing, ran a red light and were killed, but it has nothing to do with street racing.

Some of the best times I've ever had were centered around street racing, and it doesn't deserve the shitty image that has been painted on it. I've seen just as many wrecks and crashes @ the drag strip over the years as I ever had on the street.

Long live the midnite 1320!

 

About 10 years ago at a forest preserve. It is still a regular spot for hundreds of cars on the weekends. I was in a rwd 4 door lexus. Decided to give a little smoke show. Finished up and started to pull forward. Before I knew it, I had a PO blocking the front of the car. He came up and started bitchin' and I proceeded to tell him the car isn't capable of doing that and blamed it on the rustang behind me. He told me to beat it, so off I was.