Crono1321
10-04-2002, 11:51 AM
I thought I would post my short essay I had to write for my American History class (don't ask why for History! :) ). Entitled, "Not Your Average Ricer." Here it is:
Not Your Average Ricer
We all know that ever since the hit movie, “The Fast and the Furious” came out a couple of years ago, more and more people have decided to start modifying their cars, adding their own personal style to them, making them faster, better looking, and better sounding. I, along with many of my friends, have followed in this trend. However, while most kids our age are simply putting corny decals on their cars, we are tuning our engines, tricking out our transmissions, and reducing the weight of our speed monsters. While many adults say we are too young to be producing race cars, we simply shrug and say, “hey its our lives, let us live them.”
While many of my fellow citizens say that my money is wasted, I like to think that I have put it to good use. While I have only begun on my car, I have already put in an aftermarket performance intake, exhaust, clutch, ECU, and various suspension improvements, just to name a few. I have also changed my intake cam for one with bigger lobes to allow more airflow, increasing the horsepower quite a bit. This is merely the beginning of what the majority of car enthusiasts like myself do. In the future, I hope to change my intake and exhaust manifolds, get even bigger cams, lighten my flywheel, and about a billion other things that will make it perform better, smoother, and surprise anyone who dares to think that a little import car is nothing but a daily driver. Hondas and Nissans are very easily converted into V8 killers, as can be proved by taking one afternoon of going to your local speedway on an import night. 1.6L engines that run 8 seconds in the ¼ mile are nothing to be toyed with by a pithy Corvette, Cobra, or Viper. Oh, and did I mention we still get thirty miles per gallon, too?!
I know that after reading those first paragraphs of my article, you immediately dismiss me as a no-good street-racer. This is very far from the truth. I am by no means one to go insane speeds on highways filled with innocent civilians, dogs, cats, and many other road hazards that such “street-racers” neglect to think of before they put many lives at risk. If we want to race, we will go to the track. There are many race tracks in Florida, the closest being in north Orlando. Another popular one is the Moroso Speedway in South Florida. These are great areas where racing is legal, not to mention it is infinitely safer than racing on a public road.
Although this editorial may seem stupid or pointless, it really isn’t. It is a brief overview of what goes on in the brains of millions of Americans, even human beings, every day. While someone is shopping for a new gun, I am swapping my fuel injectors for bigger ones. Does this put things in perspective now? It kind of makes the import scene pail in comparison to the trouble we have with drugs and weapons, doesn’t it? Of course this won’t stop the police from having speed traps, but that’s a whole ‘nother rant!
Let me know what you think! I can't wait for my teacher to read it....he has a 67 Mustang.
Ju§tin
Not Your Average Ricer
We all know that ever since the hit movie, “The Fast and the Furious” came out a couple of years ago, more and more people have decided to start modifying their cars, adding their own personal style to them, making them faster, better looking, and better sounding. I, along with many of my friends, have followed in this trend. However, while most kids our age are simply putting corny decals on their cars, we are tuning our engines, tricking out our transmissions, and reducing the weight of our speed monsters. While many adults say we are too young to be producing race cars, we simply shrug and say, “hey its our lives, let us live them.”
While many of my fellow citizens say that my money is wasted, I like to think that I have put it to good use. While I have only begun on my car, I have already put in an aftermarket performance intake, exhaust, clutch, ECU, and various suspension improvements, just to name a few. I have also changed my intake cam for one with bigger lobes to allow more airflow, increasing the horsepower quite a bit. This is merely the beginning of what the majority of car enthusiasts like myself do. In the future, I hope to change my intake and exhaust manifolds, get even bigger cams, lighten my flywheel, and about a billion other things that will make it perform better, smoother, and surprise anyone who dares to think that a little import car is nothing but a daily driver. Hondas and Nissans are very easily converted into V8 killers, as can be proved by taking one afternoon of going to your local speedway on an import night. 1.6L engines that run 8 seconds in the ¼ mile are nothing to be toyed with by a pithy Corvette, Cobra, or Viper. Oh, and did I mention we still get thirty miles per gallon, too?!
I know that after reading those first paragraphs of my article, you immediately dismiss me as a no-good street-racer. This is very far from the truth. I am by no means one to go insane speeds on highways filled with innocent civilians, dogs, cats, and many other road hazards that such “street-racers” neglect to think of before they put many lives at risk. If we want to race, we will go to the track. There are many race tracks in Florida, the closest being in north Orlando. Another popular one is the Moroso Speedway in South Florida. These are great areas where racing is legal, not to mention it is infinitely safer than racing on a public road.
Although this editorial may seem stupid or pointless, it really isn’t. It is a brief overview of what goes on in the brains of millions of Americans, even human beings, every day. While someone is shopping for a new gun, I am swapping my fuel injectors for bigger ones. Does this put things in perspective now? It kind of makes the import scene pail in comparison to the trouble we have with drugs and weapons, doesn’t it? Of course this won’t stop the police from having speed traps, but that’s a whole ‘nother rant!
Let me know what you think! I can't wait for my teacher to read it....he has a 67 Mustang.
Ju§tin