The 62 Valiant

I gotta say, I was thrilled with the outcome of Drag Week 2014, considering I had zero time on the engine before arriving in Oklahoma. But I had a long list of things I wanted to accomplish with the car once I arrived back in the AZ.

First up, was driving it back and forth to work, which I managed to do about two weeks after I made it back. The morning drive went off great, but the 19 mile trek through city surface streets didn't go quite as well in the afternoon, as I had to pull over twice, and allow it to cool down.

Next, was the bi-annual Cruise on Central, Phoenix's largest all inclusive car event. Darryl and I made the trip to downtown, and one shot down Central, with only one stop for a cool down, although I was shutting the engine off and leaving the electric fans on at long stop lights. We parked, and enjoyed the views as we grabbed a bite to eat, then headed home as festivities began to wind down. Heading North on Central the traffic began to thin out, and I spotted a 64 Falcon ahead of us, the requisite down bars clearly visible in the back glass, and eleven inches of rubber tucked under the wheelwells, were all the visual clues I needed to see. "This will do quite nicely", the lowdown dirty street racer of my youth whispered into my left ear. The mature CDL truck driver on my right shoulder just shook his head and sighed. The mature CDL truck driver in the passenger's seat gave me a sidelong look and said, "Billy...what are you doing??"
"Nothing Darryl...nothing at all", I explained, as I pulled alongside the Falcon, gave a blip of the throttle, then pulled ahead and into his lane. I thought I detected a knowing grin from the grey headed Falcon driver as I passed him. "Challenge...made!" The young street racer whispered in glee. At the next mile section, I turned on my left signal, and pulled into the turn lane to head west on Northern Ave. and the Falcon followed suit. "Challenge accepted"! The street racer was now dancing on my left shoulder, nearly unable to contain himself!
Northern expands to three lanes just before the 7th Ave intersection, and the light turned red as we approached it. A full on Cal Bug was in the middle lane, so I took the left and reflexively killed the engine when we pulled next to him, and the Falcon took the right lane.
The bug driver looked over at us, with his arm hanging out the window, "That thing sounded NASTY! How quick is it?"
"Tens, on motor!" Darryl shot back
"Dang...that's serious for a street car!" the VW guy exclaimed.
"It's the real deal", Darryl explained, "just completed Drag Week a month ago."
"Cool! That's a real test!" he smiled and gave us a thumbs up as the light turned green, and the Bug and Falcon both putted away in lockstep, while I was sitting there dead in the water.
Embarassingly, I reached up, fired the engine, then dropped it in low, and I decided to give them a little fly-by, calculating that I would be done with 1st gear about the time I pulled along side them again. So I jumped on it, wide open, and sure enough, the tach was swinging past 65 hundred when I went by them, so I clicked it into second and lifted completely.
Honestly, I think the Falcon driver was just late on the uptick, but he timed it perfectly. At the exact instant the Valiant's front end dropped, I heard the Falcon's engine screaming in full song, and he was two cars out before I could even react, despite the little guy on my shoulder screaming GO! like his hair was on fire...or was that Darryl?
Fortunately this 4.125 stroke small block has no qualms whatsoever about being called to arms from an idle in second gear, and the Falcon's advance was halted immediately. Still, it took all of second to reel him in, and I felt compelled to put about five cars on him in drive, just to make sure he understood that he was over matched!! So, we were well over a hundred in a forty-five zone when I started working the brake pedal over, and the opposing traffic coming from the light at 19th, a mile away, were quickly approaching. "You know... if there is a cop in that group coming at us...we're going to jail, right?" Darryl admonished.
My hands were still shaking when the Falcon pulled beside us, gave us a thumbs up with a toothy smile, and exited to the right, into the darkness.
"Good Lord, that felt good", I thought to myself, even as I felt guilty and ashamed at the same time. I'm a responsible adult, a licensed NHRA driver with National Event experience and thousands of passes on a legal drag strip...so why do I still get such a rush from an impromptu acceleration contest on a public road?