NJAg78

So my wife (grandmother of 4) and I are headed home from Philadelphia on Friday night after dinner at Ruth's Chris with some friends from out of town. Nice evening so we have the top down and are enjoying the ride. I love driving with the top down and night time adds another whole dimension for some reason, its kinda surreal, except for the bugs occassionally hitting me in the head. So anyway, I am cruising down NJ 55 with the crusie set at about 72 - 73. We come across a kid in a obviously modded late model Ford pickup who is "baiting" everyone on the highway. Pulling up beside people, gunning it for a couple of hundred yards then falling back beside them. Well he spots the Vette and decides he will throw the bait my way. I don't bite, I just maneuver through traffic at 70 - 75 MPH. At one point the guy kinda blocks himself in and I start around him. Wife looks at me and says "don't do it". I didn't, but I was able to go around him with no "aggresseve us of HP" and he was trapped by traffic. A few more miles down the rode after escaping from jail, he pulls up beside us again and it is still pretty obvious what is on his mind. At this point we are about two miles from our exit of of 55 and my wife (grandmother of 4) says "okay, PASS HIM". She has never driven the car, says she will when SHE gets ready, and I never drive very to aggressively with her in the car. Well the road cleared ahead of me and you should have seen the look on her face when I went WOT at 70 MPH for only a couple of seconds. On the off ramp I saw the kid come by, still plying his wares with everyone on the road. I looked over tho the wife and told her she could now tell everyone she had been over XXXMPH in the Vette.

BTW, I had made up my mind that if the kid had tried to chase me down, I was going to shut it down, I had no intent to get into a race, street racing is stupid and dangerous. It was nice to know however that my wife (grandmother of 4) wanted to have a little fun in the Vette. But now I am not sure I want her to drive it.

joec

Well good for you.. You made right choices... One thing, you can do "other" fun in the vette too.. Not easy though..

/joe

JFFVETTE

Nice story! It's fun to watch other people with the wrong intentions, try to get us to use our horse power for the wrong purpose. Good job in keeping your cool, and I'll bet your wife (grandmother of four), enjoyed a little spirited driving.

mowdoc

Good for you that you were able to restrain yourself!!

The temtation to "blow his doors off" is tough to overcome - - and we all know how easy that would be to do.

I'm with Joe on the "other" fun with grandma in the Vette!! This is a much better type of fun and the risks are much lower to zero compared to when we were - O say, 17!!!!

Atomic Punk

AD2VET

great read and IBTL

David Garren

I know how you feel. My wife and I were on a highway one day and a clown in a Mustang kept messing with us. My tought was to get off at the next exit and take a break. My wife looks over at me and say " why don't you bury him." Well, this took me by suprise but to keep her happy I buried him.

maxp

if not for the occasional WOT, what is the point of owning a performance car

eagle93

Good read - nice to have a wife/friend that appreciates the finer things in life (mine does too). I'm like you and only on rare occasions drop the hammer and let this wonderful car roar - it's what the car is all about.

Wayne O

I'm truly not being critical but did I miss something between the 'no aggressive driving' and 'no intent to street race?' I got the distinct impression you did take the bait.

IBTL

dashotgun

what gear did you hammer at 70 mph? 6 gear kinda sucks and 5th is not much better ....

shortski

At 70MPH and going WOT, doesn't take long to see XXX speed. No fan of XXX speed on public roads but sometimes it happens. OH btw, IBL.

NJAg78

First, re-read, the first time I went around him there was no "agressive use of HP".

Secondly, the kid wanted to race, IMO there was no race. As I said, had he tried to chase I would have shut down. The second time around there was definitely an "agressive use of HP", for two or three seconds, after which I shut down and basically coasted to my exit.

Third, the story was really about my wife's reaction to the situation. At first saying "don't do it" and then telling me to "PASS HIM" followed by the look on her face when I did.

Fourth, my apologies for being uniformed, but what does IBTL mean?

shortski

In Before the Lock, no kill stories or street racing stories.

NJAg78

A6 tranny, didn't use the paddles, just pushed the throttle to the floor.

NJAg78

Not claiming a kill or a race, but I supposed it will get locked eventually.

kgelliott

Definitely right about the night driving with top off! Mine is a coupe, not vert, but still much fun to enjoy the open air in the evening! Had mine off the last hour driving into Nashville last night going east on I-30. Great drive with the hills and nicely-paced traffic!

jcsperson

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Many years ago I had an idiot in a Camaro who tried to mess with me when I was on my bike. We were on an interstate with no exit for miles. When I sped up, he'd speed up. When I slowed down, he'd slow down. I finally wound it out to 9000 rpm and left him there. I got off at the next exit. I wasn't racing; I was trying to stay on two wheels.

Wayne O

You rebel.

twin-cam88