I don't know what it was about those Pintos. But whenever Friday night rolled around he would change his tires and do something to his engine and then head to the main drag to see if he could find some donkeys to bet with that they couldn't beat him. He frustrated more street racers than anybody I know. That Pinto got off to such a fast start that he was 100 yards ahead before the other car could get up to full speed. By that time it was too late. They were always catching him in the end, but never could get him in time...
My first assignment with Dupont was in Waynesboro, VA. There was a lab tech there (this assignment was R&D) that put a Chevy 350 short block in the ass end of a Beetle. He had to put a piece of 2" thick steel plate in the front trunk just to keep it on the ground. He'd go out to I-64 just begging people to try him. I went for a ride in this thing one time, and I've owned a whole lot of fast cars in my 55 years of existence, but I never got whiplash the way I did in this death trap. I had to beg him to let me out on the side of the road, I walk home, LOL. There was a doctor in this town that bought a Porsche Ruff turbo, and then to really add some insult to injury, he had these guys put a nitrous system on it. I mean this thing spit fire out the ass end going down the highway. So the lab tech challenges him to a little duel, real funny shit, the doctor thinks this guy is full of shit, but doesn't know what's in the ass end of the bug. The tech is just dusting his ass going down the highway, the doc throws the NOX switch, and the additional torque literally twisted the frame. Guy was lucky he didn't get killed. I actually saw the aftermath, I'd never seen a car twisted like that before, popped all the glass.
~T~
