On Saturday, I had the Skylark at the cruise in Beaver, PA. There were a lot of cars out for this cruise and I had seen old cars roaming the streets of Beaver County all day. There is a good showing every year at Beaver and this year was no exception. On the way home, I stopped over my freinds place. He lives three blocks from me in downtown Beaver Falls. I grabbed something to eat and we decided to go for a lap around the neighborhood. This included spin up to Spotlight 88. The Rt 588 Eastvale bridge is the closest strip where I can get a couple of good shifts. The bridge, which crosses the Beaver River, is not quite a quarter mile. As soon as I hit third gear, I have to be quick to slow down for the stop sign at the end of the bridge. My Skylark has manual brakes w/ aluminum drums all the way around, so I have to get on the brakes hard. The bridge surface was rebuilt five years ago and is four lanes wide so its a nice spot to lay into it. I ran my three gears and proceded up Rt 588 towards Spotlight 88 and Elwood City. We pulled into Sheetz, and sat for a couple of minutes and turned around. After our breather, we headed back towards Beaver Falls. I was getting tailed, so I slowed down to an absolute crawl. When I came up to the Eastvale bridge, I pulled into the left lane. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the guy tailing me was a white 81 Trans Am. He was attempting to make a move on me. I landed on the gas hard and my three-chamber flowmaster reverberated off the New Jersey barriers that encased the bridge and the four barrel opened to make that ever-sweet sound. My rearend got a little squirrelly, but quickly straightened out. When I landed on the gas the TA was even with me. I shifted into third and looked back, the TA was a whole car length behind me. I landed on the brakes and stopped hard for the sign. I struggled to not go into traffic. I think I may have used both feet!! My RPM's fell like an avalanche to 500. I glanced over and tapped the horn. Two college kids in the Trans Am looked over and the driver was giving me the thumbs up. The Skylark felt real good!! :TU:
Yunz are killing me! Man, all your stories sure are making me homesick and that never happens! I grew up in Fombell and went to Riverside H.S. in Ellwood City. Your detailed descriptions sure bring back memories. I'm so familiar with all those places. Is Jerry's Curb Service still in Bridgewater? I thought Spotlight 88 got leveled by tornados in the '80s. Did they rebuild it? When I got out of highschool I couldn't wait to get out of there and I moved to Pittsburgh before eventually moving to Atlanta. Growing up there kinda sucked (at least for me) but the street racing... man! Whether it was Beaver valley, Butler or the north hills of Pgh, the street scene kicked ass! People are really into cars up there and I miss that. I missed the Beaver cruise last year by a day when I came up to visit family. Maybe next year it will be close to the BPG meet in Salem and I can make them both. Until then, keep the stories coming.:TU:
heh you guys are lucky you can grow up in a city with people who are running all american cars....i live down near L.A. and all that is around here is rice rockets.:jd: but i guess i kinda like it cuz i know that anone i see on the road i can smoke in my 71' skylark...and it only has a 350!
We're meat eaters up here in PA. Not too much Rice to eat, but plenty of RAT!! Jerry's is still a hot spot. Hanks is a little bit slower than what it used to be. Brewsters still has the best ice cream. They paved blacktop over upper RT 18 so its not concrete anymore, but the roads are always unclogged. The car shows are always PACKED out here, and the street scene is very good. Ah, Elwood City...........................That's were Eggs dug my 67' Special out from underneath a pine tree. It sat there for who knows how many years!! Plenty of Buicks to be had here in Beaver and Lawrence County. I've got some more stories to post.........................and hopefully I'll have some new ones by this weekend!!
