So I am in cruising around Santa Cruz, CA...I have the day off from the dreaded daily grind and I want to go and find some friends and have some fun.

As I pull up to an intersection of a busy main street the traffic light turns red and I slowly come to a halt, the idle is loping and the shifter shakes to the rythm of the engine and it is sounding good....(I always drive with the windows down to keep the teary eyes at bay...it's almost like one is chopping onions!!)

All of a sudden, this young guy in a Chevelle pulls up and asks if I have a SBC under the hood.....After looking at his cute, smiling girlfriend (sitting in the passenger seat) and smiling back, I shake my head and confess that I do not have a small block v8.....

The smiling at his GF part obviously irrititates him and he revvs his motor up challenging me to a stop light to stop light race....Once more I shook my head

and waited for the long awaited green traffic light.....As I release the clutch I

hear the Chevelle's rear tires cutting loose, melting the asphalt as he covers the rear of his car along with the three cars to his rear with white tire smoke....stinking up the place with the smell of burning rubber.

I slowly made my way through the smoke, across the intersection softly shifting my way up the gears and as the smoke clears I see an all white police cruiser plowing through the cloud of smoke, lights on at full throttle.

He caught up to the Chevy and quickly pulled him over...

It wasn't until the stoplight that I learned from another driver, that the cop had been right behind him the whole time.

I laughed my @ss off nonetheless....

I leanred two things that day....

1.keep your cool because you never know when a cop may be behind you.

2.always check your rear view mirror

I saved myself about a thousand bucks in fines that day.

As you drove by, did you offer his girlfriend a ride? Victor.

dangit he knew he forgot something

Adding insult to injury. HEHE I bet he got a big surprise when he heard those siren

hehehe hilarious.

It reminds me of a similar siruation I was once in. I was in the Zed sitting at a red light on the main drag of a small Ontario city. It was a 2 lane, one way street, straight as an arrow and sloping slightly downward. so you could easily see at least 4 intersections ahead.

Up beside me pulls a '68 Charger in what's known around these parts as "original" condition. Suffice to say it had seen its better day. But it did have huge tires at the rear and it was incredibly noisy, although I don't think he was running Cherry Bombs, but rather the mufflers were just rotted away.

Anyway the driver, who looked every bit the type one would imagine owning such a fine vehicle, looks over at me, grins, and starts revving the motor. Seeing as there was a plainly marked police car parked at the side of the road just 2 intersections in front of us, I politely declined his gracious offer.

Blissfuly unaware of the cops presence (proving once again what 'ignorance' is) he looks at me like I'm a chicken*hit, and keeps revving the engine and nodding his head.

At this point I must admit that I let my baser instincts get the better part of me, and I too began revving my engine. By the time the light turned yellow we had attracted the attention of quite a few pedestrians and the two stallions were chomping at the bit.

The light turned green and he screamed off down the road leaving behind a heady mixture of burnt rubber, oil and just a hint of anti-freeze. I, in the meantime, had let the revs drop and rather sedately made my intended left turn.

I couldn't resist going around the block and sure enough the cop had him pulled over. I don't know whose scowl was bigger. the cops, or his, as i quietly drove by and waved.

Cheers.

Peter