Well, I look forward to two car nights here on this island we call LONG. Wednesday night (Oceanside Nathan's parking lot) and Friday night (Bellmore train station) are high points in the week for me lately.
Tonight, I got done with trying to find something at The Home Depot (must go to local hardware/lumber yard to find anything useful!) and motored to the Nathan's (local/regional fast food place) after visiting the car wash to make the ride sparkle. I got there about 10:30. Met up with a couple of friends and were talking about cars (ya think?) with 8 or 10 other like minded guys and gals in our group when a kid (sorry but he was) in a notchback 80s 5.0 Mustang drives past the crowd and lights up the tires upon pulling out on Long Beach. Mind you not--chirp, but dump the clutch and watch the girlfriend hang on for dear life.
A couple of the old-timers grumble (old in years coming here, not age) and I say something witty like: "I guess we can count to ten before the BOYS get here...".
A short while later, there is the sound of four cyl. motor boiling down a pair of tires heard from the other side of the bank building. An aside here: the crowd tonight is spilt mostly by type of ride -- the American iron and a good number of imports are on the far side of this big parking lot. Most of the imports driven by folks filtering in from NYC and others areas that a bit more "urban" are close to the Nathan's. There are some nice rides (I checked out a lowered 2nd Gen Pro earlier - gold with a small wing and excellent looking rims). Most of the cars parked over in the back of the lot are Hondas that look fairly rough - more than one sporting 17 or 18 inch rims in the back and 14 or 15 inch steelies in front.
The burnouts started with parked cars. E-Braking and winding the piss out of their engines...there is a cheer for each abortive attempt. The crowd begins to wander over. I got to the other side of the bank in time to see a Acura Integra fully involved. He is on the far side of a bank of parked cars. After backing off enough to allow us to see that the car was red, not tire smoke gray, he exits the lot to cheers from his friends. Another Civic burns down a set of stocker radials and follows suit. The import crowd is cheering. The folks who have just walked over are looking at each other and waiting for the other shoe to fall.
A lone Nassau County Police Crown Vic pulls in the parking entrance and turns in for what should have been the slow cruise to remind us evildoers that John Law is watching. Just then from the other side of the parked cars, the next Honda stokes the coals on a really impressive smoke show. The car is winding up the engine and the SI is now dodging back and forth as one tire gets a little bit more traction than the other side for a moment. The cop is out of his car and heading for the Honda, which is still recycling tires at a rapid rate. The driver either notices the blue uniform through the haze or wonders why the cheering has stopped and bring the SI down to an idle. Then - realizing for the first time that his goose is cooked (along with the 195R-14 tires) attempts to DRIVE OFF as if he was just looking for a drive thru. The officer - now barking into his shoulder mounted radio mic - whips around to the driver of the white car and says: "Don't even THINK about moving that @#$% car!". Many of the more suspect vehicles are heading for exits away from this guy as we cheer on the cops.
Some of us have put up with s*** for years and have lost the parking lot more than once when other folks decided to show-off. Now the evening of friendly bench racing is turning into a episode of COPS as what looks like the entire Fourth Precinct has now descended. Several of the meaner looking boys in blue point out that perhaps we might ALL want to be heading home to watch the Speed Channel, walk the dog or wash out our unmentionables....NOW. We take the hint. My friend owns a 73 V-8 Vega complete with cage and big-ass tubs sporting large Goodyear racing slicks (and hey is that car REALLY registered?) joins the early line. I take my time heading back to the humble Bondo digs and park the car in the driveway away from Nissans for another night.
Next week should be interesting.
Tonight, I got done with trying to find something at The Home Depot (must go to local hardware/lumber yard to find anything useful!) and motored to the Nathan's (local/regional fast food place) after visiting the car wash to make the ride sparkle. I got there about 10:30. Met up with a couple of friends and were talking about cars (ya think?) with 8 or 10 other like minded guys and gals in our group when a kid (sorry but he was) in a notchback 80s 5.0 Mustang drives past the crowd and lights up the tires upon pulling out on Long Beach. Mind you not--chirp, but dump the clutch and watch the girlfriend hang on for dear life.
A couple of the old-timers grumble (old in years coming here, not age) and I say something witty like: "I guess we can count to ten before the BOYS get here...".
A short while later, there is the sound of four cyl. motor boiling down a pair of tires heard from the other side of the bank building. An aside here: the crowd tonight is spilt mostly by type of ride -- the American iron and a good number of imports are on the far side of this big parking lot. Most of the imports driven by folks filtering in from NYC and others areas that a bit more "urban" are close to the Nathan's. There are some nice rides (I checked out a lowered 2nd Gen Pro earlier - gold with a small wing and excellent looking rims). Most of the cars parked over in the back of the lot are Hondas that look fairly rough - more than one sporting 17 or 18 inch rims in the back and 14 or 15 inch steelies in front.
The burnouts started with parked cars. E-Braking and winding the piss out of their engines...there is a cheer for each abortive attempt. The crowd begins to wander over. I got to the other side of the bank in time to see a Acura Integra fully involved. He is on the far side of a bank of parked cars. After backing off enough to allow us to see that the car was red, not tire smoke gray, he exits the lot to cheers from his friends. Another Civic burns down a set of stocker radials and follows suit. The import crowd is cheering. The folks who have just walked over are looking at each other and waiting for the other shoe to fall.
A lone Nassau County Police Crown Vic pulls in the parking entrance and turns in for what should have been the slow cruise to remind us evildoers that John Law is watching. Just then from the other side of the parked cars, the next Honda stokes the coals on a really impressive smoke show. The car is winding up the engine and the SI is now dodging back and forth as one tire gets a little bit more traction than the other side for a moment. The cop is out of his car and heading for the Honda, which is still recycling tires at a rapid rate. The driver either notices the blue uniform through the haze or wonders why the cheering has stopped and bring the SI down to an idle. Then - realizing for the first time that his goose is cooked (along with the 195R-14 tires) attempts to DRIVE OFF as if he was just looking for a drive thru. The officer - now barking into his shoulder mounted radio mic - whips around to the driver of the white car and says: "Don't even THINK about moving that @#$% car!". Many of the more suspect vehicles are heading for exits away from this guy as we cheer on the cops.
Some of us have put up with s*** for years and have lost the parking lot more than once when other folks decided to show-off. Now the evening of friendly bench racing is turning into a episode of COPS as what looks like the entire Fourth Precinct has now descended. Several of the meaner looking boys in blue point out that perhaps we might ALL want to be heading home to watch the Speed Channel, walk the dog or wash out our unmentionables....NOW. We take the hint. My friend owns a 73 V-8 Vega complete with cage and big-ass tubs sporting large Goodyear racing slicks (and hey is that car REALLY registered?) joins the early line. I take my time heading back to the humble Bondo digs and park the car in the driveway away from Nissans for another night.
Next week should be interesting.
