In NYC you had plenty of "bad actors" running the streets & some were even good enough to turn pro or semi-pro. Those guys would prefer not to own up to that part of their past, but those of us who were there Remember & miss them. The "Mutt Bros" with Ronnie Lyles certainly desreves mention. Scott Shafiroff (YES, the engine builder) was out there, Bernie Agaman a VERY good S/S racer was there, "Brooklyn Heavy" (aka Rufus Boyd)who on occasion had Herb McCandless drive for him was there with his "Wild Pumpkin Race Team", A strange guy I only knew as "Hogan" with a red,white & blue '66 Chevelle was pretty good ---and these are only guys I remember after 30+ years! I'll give credit to most anyone who could street-race in NYC back then as it all was a combination of good car, good luck, mind-games & the fine art of BS'ing that earned you the respect of your peers. Sadly, all that seems to have disappeared. The young guys simply have lost the fine "art" of street-racing & its etiquette. But for a few of us old guys that are stilla round & occassionally square-off with each other,we still remember .
I'd love to hears some of the "pros" accounts of back then. I can remember seeing some of them haging around, trying to hide until they actually had to get in the car & race then just beating on the car like they were at the track, not caring if or when the cops would show up. I always believed they paid someone off, as the bets were too high & the rep/BSing was too long for the cops to simply not be there without them getting paid-off.