Ian Turgeon
Cascading Inspiration
This is a long story, but its totally worth it.
I've been living in my new house for about a year now, neighbor's kid (he’s going to a local community college now) recently got a 2000 Prelude VTEC (thats a 195h @ 7000rpm, 156 lb-ft @ 5250 H22A4). He’s seen my truck driving but never gave it too much attention. I hadn't yet met the kid till last Saturday.
Adam's over at my house... He's looking for a daily driver (a honda of course). We're in my kitchen and he’s staring at my neighbor's car out the window... "Think hell take $5k?... ah hell I'll go ask him". Out the door and across the street Adam is talking with my neighbor for... maybe 2 minutes.
He’s now poking his head in my door telling me I have to come out.
It's apparent that Adam's not going to buy the car, but rather we are negotiating payoff amounts for the pending drag race I'm somehow involved with. I start to look at the car a little closer because this dude's gotta be outa his mind.... looking for any sign of modification... its 100% stock... wait, except for a clutch. Adam of course raises the stakes to ridiculous levels, talking $1k, hell lets race for titles.. Its all pretty humorous, but this kid really wants to race my truck for money (he wont go for more then 100). He's visibly excited and kinda dancing around a bit like he’s about to have an extra wad of cash in his pocket.
He asks some details about the truck, We tell him its a v6, pickup.. about 3500lbs. He's getting excited. "A v6?.. if it was a v8 I'd be a little worried but I got you with a v6".. I'm now hearing stories about him taking down every kind of car I've ever heard of, Mustang GT's, CRX's, Eclipses'.. .even the turbo ones. Some very impressive stories. Hes getting more and more confident.
At this point Adam comes clean, listen man its a 12. 1/2 second truck, AWD, its quick. Look it up online... 91 GMC Syclone. My neighbor takes it all in and says hes cool, he can take me... theres no way a pickup truck, let alone a v6 pickup truck will beat him.
Adam's off to go to a wedding reception so we arrange to meet up again once hes returned.
Adam's gone for a while, its dark now and the kid pops back by to check in. He starts in with "ok, I looked it up. its a GMC Syclone right? "
"right, 91 gmc syclone"
"oh its a 91 right, not a 96?"
"right"
"oh good... I'm pretty sure I've got you man, I think I can take you"
-having a hard time not laughing, smiling from ear to ear- "ok man.... ok"
He goes on to inform me he pulled the spare tire out of his car (just now) so that should help make up a bit of difference. His friend apparently has also informed him on how to keep his car running with VTEC on all the time... something about driving it hard on the highway for a few miles and then letting it idle for 20 minutes... Sounds completely absurd, but I don’t know for sure.. nor do I care.
"It says they make 280hp, more like 300hp... And I'm guessing your probly making upward of 350hp"
"actually thats probably very close to what its making"
"yea, Im sure I can take you, I was a little worried with how your friend was talking earlier, but I'm confident I can take you"
"heheh, ok man, listen my buddy will be back in an hour or so, so come on by when you see hes back"
So Adam returns and within 20 minutes the kids at my door again. I've been talking to Adam telling him, there’s no way I'm gonna take this kids money... for god's sake hes my neighbor's kid.... But I don’t mind showing him what’s up... In fact I feel I have to.
So the kid drops back by, he’s ready to roll, prelude idling so it stays warm across the street. We go on to tell him. Listen man, I'm not gonna take your money but we'll still race just so you'll know whats up... I open the garage and pop the hood. He sees the shiny motor.. and takes a mental back-step. whao. Looks at it for a bit (we spend some time explaining that its pretty much stock) and he proclaims he’s still got a chance... I got it. Then he learns its an automatic... Bam, its a closed and shut case, no pickup... let-alone an auto v6 pickup is gonna take his car.
I'm kinda blown away at this point, the kid's staring at my v6 turbo that he knows runs 12's and pumps out 350ish hp and hes still 'got me'. I tell him, I don’t wanna hear any of this "I missed second, or I didn’t get a good launch talk"... hes cool, says he doesn’t pull that crap. He asks that if he beats me, if he can post it up on his myspace... haha, dude you can post it anywhere you want if you manage to beat me.
His brother and buddy are now involved in the conversation. Adam I guess informs this guy's brother that we're gonna leave him by 12 cars... which is received with a laugh, "12? Come on"...
Ok, its on... no money involved but lets go.. I even offer to put his spare tire in the back of my truck if he'd like... (I start thinking hell... I'll put whatever you want in the back).
I limp it grandma style out to the spot where we stop side by side. I build up some boost and let him know, he's got the drop.. go whenever you feel happy and I'll follow ya.
Well he drops the 'hammer' and I roll out about 12-15 car lengths by 80 mph and shut down, we do a u-turn and pull a similar move but a little less organized.... simply obliterated.
---added, some of the post got clipped off here ---
We begin our highway conversation with them yelling that there has to be something else done to my truck. He admits over the roar of the wind that hes very glad we didnt bet $100.... and the words I wanted to hear all along "Lesson Learned, leason learned".
Thats all I wanted, hopefully this will keep the him from betting his shirt on some race he has no chance to win. The way I see it, I get to race, get some bragging rights around the neighborhood and hopefully teach this kid where he is in the performance car world.
I've been living in my new house for about a year now, neighbor's kid (he’s going to a local community college now) recently got a 2000 Prelude VTEC (thats a 195h @ 7000rpm, 156 lb-ft @ 5250 H22A4). He’s seen my truck driving but never gave it too much attention. I hadn't yet met the kid till last Saturday.
Adam's over at my house... He's looking for a daily driver (a honda of course). We're in my kitchen and he’s staring at my neighbor's car out the window... "Think hell take $5k?... ah hell I'll go ask him". Out the door and across the street Adam is talking with my neighbor for... maybe 2 minutes.
He’s now poking his head in my door telling me I have to come out.
It's apparent that Adam's not going to buy the car, but rather we are negotiating payoff amounts for the pending drag race I'm somehow involved with. I start to look at the car a little closer because this dude's gotta be outa his mind.... looking for any sign of modification... its 100% stock... wait, except for a clutch. Adam of course raises the stakes to ridiculous levels, talking $1k, hell lets race for titles.. Its all pretty humorous, but this kid really wants to race my truck for money (he wont go for more then 100). He's visibly excited and kinda dancing around a bit like he’s about to have an extra wad of cash in his pocket.
He asks some details about the truck, We tell him its a v6, pickup.. about 3500lbs. He's getting excited. "A v6?.. if it was a v8 I'd be a little worried but I got you with a v6".. I'm now hearing stories about him taking down every kind of car I've ever heard of, Mustang GT's, CRX's, Eclipses'.. .even the turbo ones. Some very impressive stories. Hes getting more and more confident.
At this point Adam comes clean, listen man its a 12. 1/2 second truck, AWD, its quick. Look it up online... 91 GMC Syclone. My neighbor takes it all in and says hes cool, he can take me... theres no way a pickup truck, let alone a v6 pickup truck will beat him.
Adam's off to go to a wedding reception so we arrange to meet up again once hes returned.
Adam's gone for a while, its dark now and the kid pops back by to check in. He starts in with "ok, I looked it up. its a GMC Syclone right? "
"right, 91 gmc syclone"
"oh its a 91 right, not a 96?"
"right"
"oh good... I'm pretty sure I've got you man, I think I can take you"
-having a hard time not laughing, smiling from ear to ear- "ok man.... ok"
He goes on to inform me he pulled the spare tire out of his car (just now) so that should help make up a bit of difference. His friend apparently has also informed him on how to keep his car running with VTEC on all the time... something about driving it hard on the highway for a few miles and then letting it idle for 20 minutes... Sounds completely absurd, but I don’t know for sure.. nor do I care.
"It says they make 280hp, more like 300hp... And I'm guessing your probly making upward of 350hp"
"actually thats probably very close to what its making"
"yea, Im sure I can take you, I was a little worried with how your friend was talking earlier, but I'm confident I can take you"
"heheh, ok man, listen my buddy will be back in an hour or so, so come on by when you see hes back"
So Adam returns and within 20 minutes the kids at my door again. I've been talking to Adam telling him, there’s no way I'm gonna take this kids money... for god's sake hes my neighbor's kid.... But I don’t mind showing him what’s up... In fact I feel I have to.
So the kid drops back by, he’s ready to roll, prelude idling so it stays warm across the street. We go on to tell him. Listen man, I'm not gonna take your money but we'll still race just so you'll know whats up... I open the garage and pop the hood. He sees the shiny motor.. and takes a mental back-step. whao. Looks at it for a bit (we spend some time explaining that its pretty much stock) and he proclaims he’s still got a chance... I got it. Then he learns its an automatic... Bam, its a closed and shut case, no pickup... let-alone an auto v6 pickup is gonna take his car.
I'm kinda blown away at this point, the kid's staring at my v6 turbo that he knows runs 12's and pumps out 350ish hp and hes still 'got me'. I tell him, I don’t wanna hear any of this "I missed second, or I didn’t get a good launch talk"... hes cool, says he doesn’t pull that crap. He asks that if he beats me, if he can post it up on his myspace... haha, dude you can post it anywhere you want if you manage to beat me.
His brother and buddy are now involved in the conversation. Adam I guess informs this guy's brother that we're gonna leave him by 12 cars... which is received with a laugh, "12? Come on"...
Ok, its on... no money involved but lets go.. I even offer to put his spare tire in the back of my truck if he'd like... (I start thinking hell... I'll put whatever you want in the back).
I limp it grandma style out to the spot where we stop side by side. I build up some boost and let him know, he's got the drop.. go whenever you feel happy and I'll follow ya.
Well he drops the 'hammer' and I roll out about 12-15 car lengths by 80 mph and shut down, we do a u-turn and pull a similar move but a little less organized.... simply obliterated.
---added, some of the post got clipped off here ---
We begin our highway conversation with them yelling that there has to be something else done to my truck. He admits over the roar of the wind that hes very glad we didnt bet $100.... and the words I wanted to hear all along "Lesson Learned, leason learned".
Thats all I wanted, hopefully this will keep the him from betting his shirt on some race he has no chance to win. The way I see it, I get to race, get some bragging rights around the neighborhood and hopefully teach this kid where he is in the performance car world.
