4th Cruise night experience

[Zan186]

Anyways been taking my 02 Viper out to local cruise nights around town (Buffalo, NY). One of the reasons I bought the Viper was it makes a great conversation piece as well as a nice toy to drive and a whole bunch of other reasons.
So anyways I go to Duff's which is a famous chicken wing place that has a cruise night on Monday nights. Lot's of older cars their in great shape (Super Bee, Roadrunners, old mustangs, and Cameros and of course a dozen vette's).
Now I am a very diverse car guy. My Viper is my favorite but I love Vette's and some of the older camero's etc. Everyone is usually really cool at these cruises until I met Mr. 1970 or 1971 Corvette owner. The guy is in his 40's and he is asking me if I want to play, which I assume he is asking me to street race. Meanwhile I am talking to my friend from out of town and this retard keeps jawing.
Now his car most likely is not stock as it was extremely loud, and I know that some of those Vette's are really fast and that he has semi drag tires that are a bit larger than they should be on his car. My Viper I just got and has been lightly modified where it was dynoed at 489rwhp to 510 rwhp. I am not exactly 100% comfortable with driving standard yet, and I wouldn't even think of racing on the street. Although, I would of liked to go to the track when my shifting skills get better.
Thing that kind of aggravated me was joking around is one thing, but a cruise night is supposed to be a good time and different car owners and such are supposed to appreciate each other etc.
Now I am a pretty decent sized guy at 6ft and 230lbs, I am wearing a underarmor shirt with no sleeves and it is pretty clear that I really just want to eat my chicken wings and enjoy the event. I was kind of shocked that the guy kept jawing about wanting to play. Was he trying to impress his girlfriend? Is it Viper envy? I guess this is why Corvette owners get a bad rap. My Dad owns a Vette and he doesnt act like a clown.

I think the whole drama kind of got to me because I really was unsure how to respond. I don't want to lower myself to this tools level. Although I did have a little vision of walking over to the creep and crushing his windpipe.

On the way home though I started thinking how would my car do against his. You don't know what he has under the hood and it definately didn't sound stock.

I guess this is a good reason to get a TT setup, and then simply respond to the tool, let's go to the track and put a $1000 bet on it. Figure 90% of the time they won't have the cash to ante up, and if they do you should have an easy time with a TT setup to take his cash. I prefer the actual bluff just to shut the retard up.

Most of my experiences with the Viper have been awesome. This was the first knucklehead that I had to deal with.

 

[kcobean]

I guess this is a good reason to get a TT setup, and then simply respond to the tool, let's go to the track and put a $1000 bet on it. Figure 90% of the time they won't have the cash to ante up, and if they do you should have an easy time with a TT setup to take his cash. I prefer the actual bluff just to shut the retard up.

Pretty close here....for knuckleheads that want to go out and be stupid on the roads, just politely and calmly tell them you'd love to see what their car can do on the track, but for the safety of yourself and others you're not going to drag on the street. Mean what you say, say what you mean and he'll shut up because if he keeps on after that, he sounds like he's begging, and he's too cool for that.

 

[BoeingMan]

Don't sweat it too much. Every car make/model has their own set of jerks. Hec there are even viper owner jerks out there. It has been my experience though that the majority of vette owners are pretty cool. Enjoy your viper and just laugh the whole thing off.

 

[AFL in NJ]

Zan186,

Let's assume this loudmouth has a ZL1 Camaro (1 of the 69 they made or a clone), they were 12.0:1 compression, rated at 430 horsepower, they were likely realistically 575 horsepower. They supposedly ran high 10's on slicks....on street tires (assuming he's using something that looks kinda stock) there is no way in hell he'll get traction enough to beat you without changing tires. The Viper has massive 335 30R 18 tires (nearly 14" wide) and a suspension that will likely help you hook up as long as you're able to pedal the car through 1st and 2nd gears. I wouldn't race him on a street either...that's just dumb and you should have told him so.

If you did go to a dragstrip and agreed to race in a match race (keep him on street tires), I'd have asked him to put up $500 to a charity of your choice and if he loses to have to wear a sign at the cruise night for the rest of the cruisin year saying "Shot my mouth off, $500 to charity, please just laugh at me!"

I doubt he has a ZL1 and likely is running 12's or high 11's and might be close to your Viper if you weren't comfortable shifting the car....but realistically you've got a car he can read the performance specs on....talking smack is just low-class!

Enjoy crusin!

Regards,
Aaron

 

[viper spray]

Tell him to go pester somebody that gives a rat's ass about his loud puddle of plastic.......

 

[Viper Specialty]

Hey Zan-

Welcome to our world. Not the first nor the last time it will happen. I bet I have personally run into said Corvette owner myself. If he had a girl with him, yeah, chances are he was trying to impress her by talking a good game. The problem is, that she was probably too distracted looking at your car to even realize what he was saying to you... see it all the time.

The funny thing is, that Viper owners must be the cutoff point, because it VERY rarely happens between or above us. Do you see Viper/Ferrari/Porsche/Lambo guys belittle each other? Nope. Throw the Vette in that mix however, and you have an all out brawl. The Viper must signify the removal of the "budget racer" mentality or something.

PS- I will have a car out in your neck of the woods this week, its a TT SRT-10 that is having the final touches done on paint work. If you want I'll let you know when its out there, and you can meet me over there or something. Its going to be right off Southwestern Blvd.

 

[Need1]

Just carry some cheap Viper posters around with you, keep them in the trunk. When a guy like that won't shut up, open your trunk, pull out a Viper poster, give it to him, and proceed to say "Here ya go little guy. Keep dreamin"

Then leave.

 

[AFL in NJ]

Need1,

That's a great idea.....he'd probably faint!

Regards,
Aaron

 

[ViperJay]

*and offer to sign it for him!

Just carry some cheap Viper posters around with you, keep them in the trunk. When a guy like that won't shut up, open your trunk, pull out a Viper poster, give it to him, and proceed to say "Here ya go little guy. Keep dreamin"

Then leave.

 

[got one]

Roadcourse in a 30 year old vette and a modern day track car...ya, modified or not you could wipe up the track with him (given it wasn't a track car...and anyone could tell if it was a track car). I have a few older muscle cars...very powerful, but don't ask me to go over 120 or take it to a road course...I would lose it in turn 1...as most vintage cars would.

 

[Zan186]

Hey Zan-

Welcome to our world. Not the first nor the last time it will happen. I bet I have personally run into said Corvette owner myself. If he had a girl with him, yeah, chances are he was trying to impress her by talking a good game. The problem is, that she was probably too distracted looking at your car to even realize what he was saying to you... see it all the time.

The funny thing is, that Viper owners must be the cutoff point, because it VERY rarely happens between or above us. Do you see Viper/Ferrari/Porsche/Lambo guys belittle each other? Nope. Throw the Vette in that mix however, and you have an all out brawl. The Viper must signify the removal of the "budget racer" mentality or something.

PS- I will have a car out in your neck of the woods this week, its a TT SRT-10 that is having the final touches done on paint work. If you want I'll let you know when its out there, and you can meet me over there or something. Its going to be right off Southwestern Blvd.

Yeah as long as it doesn't rain I will probably be going back to Duff's cruise night on Monday nights. Actually it is Orchard Park Road, not southwestern I believe.

 

[Zan186]

Just carry some cheap Viper posters around with you, keep them in the trunk. When a guy like that won't shut up, open your trunk, pull out a Viper poster, give it to him, and proceed to say "Here ya go little guy. Keep dreamin"

Then leave.

lol that would be funny!

 

[dodgefever]

I go to 2 different local cruises. One on Sat. and another on Monday. Two totaly different sets of ego's. The one on monday is mostly older cars that are "shocked" to find I "only" have 440HP at the wheels. After all, their '57 chevy with a blown 454 and 4.11 gears turns 10.50's in the 1/4 mile...blah, blah, blah. I've learned the set up from them. A nice, quick glance over of the car. Then a "how much power 'Ya got?" Then the puzzled look from them that it doesn't have 3000 HP or something. Then they walk away in mock (or true) disgust. I just laugh, because no ones looking at their car You know which one they're looking at The Sat. night one is actually getting a little old for me. It's been over run by the Mustangs. The "vette guys are real pleasant. Very complimentary. The 'stang guys are pretty open with the "oh, it's just a Dodge peace of s*#@. That's real nice. Now mind you, these guys are sporting all the blowers, turbos, superchargers, Etc. So I know they're quick. But, I chalk it up to Viper Envy! Again. Their cars get glanced at, the people come over to talk to me about my GTS. They want their picture taken in it, or they just have the cell camera's clicking. This really gets the sneers from the Pony boys.

 

[96GTS]

"The 'stang guys are pretty open with the "oh, it's just a Dodge peace of s*#@. That's real nice. Now mind you, these guys are sporting all the blowers, turbos, superchargers"

Why is it that when after countless hours wrenching and countless dollars to make their car finally faster than a stock Viper, that it's now a "Dodge piece of s*#@?"

What was THEIR car before all the power adders? You can strap a rocket to a ****...but it's still a ****.

 

[FE 065]

Well there's a guy running in the F.A.S.T class with a '69 L88 Vette (511ci) who's gone as quick as 10.59 thru the mufflers on 60's style wide oval street tires. Car looks dead stock per the rules.

So a well set up older Vette could be a big sleeper in disguise.

Lotsa cars quicker than a near stock Viper, ignore him.

 

[Scratch]

He sounds like a tool...I would of eventually just said, "not going to justify my safety or your girlfriends just to appease your ego, have a nice night".

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[1Need4Speed]

There's always going to be someone with a badder car (or thinks) with a mouth to go with it.
But we know what the chicks and kids dig...Don't get worked up about the ***** just enjoy the Viper.

 

[Zan186]

Ran into the actual owner of that Vette, the guy with the loud mouth was either his friend or relative. The car is far from stock as it has a 504 engine with Nitrous. He has a roll bar and Hoosier DOT slicks. Rear End is pretty heavy duty as well. I think he said he was pushing 800rwhp.
Few more years and I will start upgrading my Viper. I think a nice conservative Twin Turbo with some nice Styker heads should give me the performance I want.

I think 1000rwhp is all I will ever need for my purpose

 

[WANTED]

Ive never felt the need to add more horsepower just to
race someone. My stock viper does just fine.


MY ANSWERE, BRING THEM ON AT THE TRACK OF COURSE.

 

[Jeff Torrey]

I think it's pretty much been said, but...

Some Vette owners live to beat Viper's. I think it's a Chevy thing???

Be carefull street racing, especially if the car is new to you. Smashing a Viper up ain't worth proving a point.

Ask yourself why you bought the car, to be king of the hill...or a car guy that owns a Viper.

...I'd tell the guy that he's my Hero.

 

[Zan186]

I am too smart to street race. Play a little from a red light to 60 in a 45mph zone is about as far as I get breaking the law.
However, I do eventually plan to someday go to the track to see what the beast can do.