black mamba1
Enthusiast
I graduated from college in 1987 with an engineering degree, job in place, good credit..and ready to take on the world. My brother graduated with an engineering degree six years earlier and got a job at General Motors in Detroit. He purchased a Buick Gran National and brought it home for X-mas during X-Mas break my senior yr in college. I had never heard of that car as a student. Sitting in the driveway of my parents house during X-Mas break it looked like a sleek black family car. My brother kept saying something about it running 4.9 zero to sixty on a very cold day in some magazine test run and that the Corvette guys were ******** and begging GM to downplay the Gran Nationals performance data. I didnt know what that meant either at the time.
Anyway..when I graduated my brother said if I bought a GM car he could get me all kinds of discounts. I got the employee relative discount, I got a college graduate discount, and I got another discount for having a gpa above 3.5 (they might have made this cateragory up to make me feel special). After my college days of eating oodles and noodles for 4 years straight, not having the money to take a ******* a proper date, driving a POS car, wearing jeans 3-4 times before washing them, and getting an average of 3-4 hrs of sleep every night...when I got my degree I felt like an escaped convict off death row! Free at last! So I rewarded myself by purchasing a
Black on black 1988 Corvette with the Z-52 edition with the 2:54 rear end.
I had no idea what that meant at that time. All I know is I wanted black on black and there were only like 4 black on black Corvettes available nationwide at the time and the closest to me was in Xenia, Ohio. So my dad and I flew up to Dayton, Ohio and spent the night at my brothers condo. First thing in the morning a driver from the Chevy dealership in Xenia, Ohio picked me and my dad up at my brothers condo in a nice Chevy Suburban and drove us to the Chevy dealership where they greeted us with hot chocolate and cookies. It was Saturday morning and they were normally closed on Saturday mornings. It was a small dealership, but they opened just for us that day. It was late December of 87 and freezing cold...black ice on the ground in some areas of Xenia that morning. So after about 30 min of paperwork the salesman took me into a private room and gave me a short lecture on how many young kids are killed in these cars every year and told me to treat the car with respect. I said, "whatever dude, just give me the keys."
My dad and I drove the car back to Jackson, MS...one of the best drives I've ever had in a sports car and with my dad. No one had ever seen this version of the Vette and several people stared, sports cars pulled up to us, and whenever we stopped for a meal or to take a leak people gawked. My Vette had unique wheels, wheels that were only available for that version of the Vette. During the trip home several cars tried to bait me into a race..but I had my dad in the car and he would give me that "look" when cars would try us..so I ignored them. But by the time I actually got to Jackson, MS I was very used to the car....and my dad was asleep when I pulled up to a red light at approximately 9 am in the morning...and a black Mustang GT pulled up right next to me, and revved its engine..at the intersection of Northside Dr. and Bailey Ave...my first thought was and I know this is stupid, but my first thought was.."this is a very nice Mustang, I havent started my new job yet, but why isnt this dude at work?" I didnt have long to be judgmental because this confrontation turned into
my very first drag race.
The light turned green and we both nailed it. We were neck in neck with the Stang pulling slightly ahead for the first 5 seconds then I walked him. My dad, pretending like he was still asleep, started smiling.
Turns out I was racing an old high school friend named Jessie who played in the band with me in high school. I didnt know it was him and he didnt know it was me, but he was known to be one of the fastest Mustangs in Jackson. Jessie later told me he had never lost to a Vette before and said I could make all kinds of money with this car. He insisted it was modified. I promised Jessie it was still stock. I had the only 88 Vette in town and word spread like wildfire. I kicked alot of ass in that Vette which was strange to most in the drag racing world. Turns out the Z-52's rear end was supposedly designed to make the Vette more civil, better for women, but what ended up happening is that my Vette NEVER had wheel spin off the line. Never. That was good for a half second and in some cases a full second in most races. But then I ran into a kid while my girlfriend and I were coming home from a movie. Blue Mustang GT with gray/silver lower panels. His tag read "much db". We lined up at a light, took off, and he KICKED MY ASS with my girlfriend in the car. I felt 3 ft tall...so on to the car mags for chips, Borla full flow exhausts, and intake work. I was now running low to mid 13's in the 1/4 mile and ruled Jackson for the next two years. My Vette was KING OF THE HILL in Jackson, MS because...I had that black Vette.
Our drag racing group and car club numbered some 50 plus cars...and while my Vette was beatable by several of these cars in its stock form, in the modified form I was damn near unbeatable...but most importantly...I was always the dude "with the black Vette".
Now....I will have the Gen 5 Viper. It will be black on black with black wheels and it will be the Charles Heston version and not the Tony Blair version...nasty as hell and all the mods one can do and keep it n/a. Yes...my Viper in its stock form will lose in a drag race to several euro cars and rice rockets...but my Viper will not be in stock form, in the form I will have it in it will be DAMN NEAR UNBEATABLE. And my Viper will be menacing, powerful...and wickedly fast...a Gen 4 with head work recently ran 10.66 in the 1/4 mile...and he still had room to push for more....just imagine what the Gen 5 will do once Viper Specialty and/or Greg Good gets a hold of it....just imagine. Cuz trust me...our competition is definitely imagining how crazy fast the Gen 5 will be with the slightest of mods...and its n/a....and most importantly its a Viper...the worlds most intimidating sports car that still gets the biggest crowds at car shows.
So, in the real world and not the mag world our Vipers are still the most menacing vehicles on the planet, and in the real world the Viper is the worlds most impressive sports car with an engine capable of ridiculous power....and in the real world the Viper will still be damn near unbeatable and despite what all the rice rocket guys do, what the Chevy guys do, or what the Ford guys do....I will always be that dude "with the black Viper"....this is really 1988 redux.
Because in the real sports car world...the Viper will still be the KING OF THE HILL!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Anyway..when I graduated my brother said if I bought a GM car he could get me all kinds of discounts. I got the employee relative discount, I got a college graduate discount, and I got another discount for having a gpa above 3.5 (they might have made this cateragory up to make me feel special). After my college days of eating oodles and noodles for 4 years straight, not having the money to take a ******* a proper date, driving a POS car, wearing jeans 3-4 times before washing them, and getting an average of 3-4 hrs of sleep every night...when I got my degree I felt like an escaped convict off death row! Free at last! So I rewarded myself by purchasing a
Black on black 1988 Corvette with the Z-52 edition with the 2:54 rear end.
I had no idea what that meant at that time. All I know is I wanted black on black and there were only like 4 black on black Corvettes available nationwide at the time and the closest to me was in Xenia, Ohio. So my dad and I flew up to Dayton, Ohio and spent the night at my brothers condo. First thing in the morning a driver from the Chevy dealership in Xenia, Ohio picked me and my dad up at my brothers condo in a nice Chevy Suburban and drove us to the Chevy dealership where they greeted us with hot chocolate and cookies. It was Saturday morning and they were normally closed on Saturday mornings. It was a small dealership, but they opened just for us that day. It was late December of 87 and freezing cold...black ice on the ground in some areas of Xenia that morning. So after about 30 min of paperwork the salesman took me into a private room and gave me a short lecture on how many young kids are killed in these cars every year and told me to treat the car with respect. I said, "whatever dude, just give me the keys."
My dad and I drove the car back to Jackson, MS...one of the best drives I've ever had in a sports car and with my dad. No one had ever seen this version of the Vette and several people stared, sports cars pulled up to us, and whenever we stopped for a meal or to take a leak people gawked. My Vette had unique wheels, wheels that were only available for that version of the Vette. During the trip home several cars tried to bait me into a race..but I had my dad in the car and he would give me that "look" when cars would try us..so I ignored them. But by the time I actually got to Jackson, MS I was very used to the car....and my dad was asleep when I pulled up to a red light at approximately 9 am in the morning...and a black Mustang GT pulled up right next to me, and revved its engine..at the intersection of Northside Dr. and Bailey Ave...my first thought was and I know this is stupid, but my first thought was.."this is a very nice Mustang, I havent started my new job yet, but why isnt this dude at work?" I didnt have long to be judgmental because this confrontation turned into
my very first drag race.
The light turned green and we both nailed it. We were neck in neck with the Stang pulling slightly ahead for the first 5 seconds then I walked him. My dad, pretending like he was still asleep, started smiling.
Turns out I was racing an old high school friend named Jessie who played in the band with me in high school. I didnt know it was him and he didnt know it was me, but he was known to be one of the fastest Mustangs in Jackson. Jessie later told me he had never lost to a Vette before and said I could make all kinds of money with this car. He insisted it was modified. I promised Jessie it was still stock. I had the only 88 Vette in town and word spread like wildfire. I kicked alot of ass in that Vette which was strange to most in the drag racing world. Turns out the Z-52's rear end was supposedly designed to make the Vette more civil, better for women, but what ended up happening is that my Vette NEVER had wheel spin off the line. Never. That was good for a half second and in some cases a full second in most races. But then I ran into a kid while my girlfriend and I were coming home from a movie. Blue Mustang GT with gray/silver lower panels. His tag read "much db". We lined up at a light, took off, and he KICKED MY ASS with my girlfriend in the car. I felt 3 ft tall...so on to the car mags for chips, Borla full flow exhausts, and intake work. I was now running low to mid 13's in the 1/4 mile and ruled Jackson for the next two years. My Vette was KING OF THE HILL in Jackson, MS because...I had that black Vette.
Our drag racing group and car club numbered some 50 plus cars...and while my Vette was beatable by several of these cars in its stock form, in the modified form I was damn near unbeatable...but most importantly...I was always the dude "with the black Vette".
Now....I will have the Gen 5 Viper. It will be black on black with black wheels and it will be the Charles Heston version and not the Tony Blair version...nasty as hell and all the mods one can do and keep it n/a. Yes...my Viper in its stock form will lose in a drag race to several euro cars and rice rockets...but my Viper will not be in stock form, in the form I will have it in it will be DAMN NEAR UNBEATABLE. And my Viper will be menacing, powerful...and wickedly fast...a Gen 4 with head work recently ran 10.66 in the 1/4 mile...and he still had room to push for more....just imagine what the Gen 5 will do once Viper Specialty and/or Greg Good gets a hold of it....just imagine. Cuz trust me...our competition is definitely imagining how crazy fast the Gen 5 will be with the slightest of mods...and its n/a....and most importantly its a Viper...the worlds most intimidating sports car that still gets the biggest crowds at car shows.
So, in the real world and not the mag world our Vipers are still the most menacing vehicles on the planet, and in the real world the Viper is the worlds most impressive sports car with an engine capable of ridiculous power....and in the real world the Viper will still be damn near unbeatable and despite what all the rice rocket guys do, what the Chevy guys do, or what the Ford guys do....I will always be that dude "with the black Viper"....this is really 1988 redux.
Because in the real sports car world...the Viper will still be the KING OF THE HILL!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Last edited:
