I always tell the truth.......People just don't always want to believe it!!

Got a bunch of flack for a piece I wrote for Popular Hot Rodding about some of the cars I owned and how fast I said they were. I thought I'd clarify things a bit and end this "Did not, Did too" right now.  The first naysayer argued that my Judge couldn't have beat all the cars that I said it did. For the record it was a Ram Air III car with a 4-speed and 4.33:1 gears. That statement alone should give most people the picture.  But it wasn't stock. The guy I bought it from had bored it .060 over, put in 12:1 pistons, a Crane Solid-Lifter cam with 337 advertised duration and .560 lift,Crane roller rockers, an Offenhauser dual-quad manifold with two 750 AFBs, a Mallory unilite ignition, and Hooker headers. It also had Lakewood ladder bars and soft-compound Mickey Thompson N50-15 tires. The guy I bought it from gave me an 11.79 timeslip from the track in Oregon he ran it on. 11.79 might not sound like much now, with 12 second Mustangs and Challengers available off the showroom floor, but in 1978 that was ungodly fast. And I did beat my buddy's SS396 Chevelle, his Buddy's LS6 SS454 Chevelle, another friend's 440 / Six-Pack Super Bee, a 428 Mustang and the closest race I ever had with a guy about 40 who had a 429SCJ 1970 Torino Cobra with a 4-speed and 4.30 gears and M&H "Street Slicks."  That car was Jule's wallet from "Pulp Fiction"  The meanest MoFo in the Valley, and I smote everyone in biblical fashion. I can't detail the build every time I mention the car; I've said it wasn't stock. But it infuriates me every time some pinhead produces an old Car Life or Hot Rod road test and tells me that since PHR's 1969 Judge test car (That had a 3 speed, and 3.55:1 gears to further add insult to injury ) only ran a 14.05 1/4-there's "No Way" I could beat an LS6 that ran 13.44 or a Six-Pack Bee that ran 13.59 in the respective road tests. Excuse me-what part of "Modified" and "4.33 gears" and 11.79 timeslip did you not grasp?  Like Johnny Cash said about fight the man that named him "Sue" -I've driven faster cars since, but I really can't remember when. The second idiot was 5.0 Mustang owner who was offended when I said my '77 403 Olds-powered Trans Am never got beat by a 5.0 Mustang in the '80s. Everyone agrees the 1987-93 models are the best performers, the 83-86 carburated models aren't as quick. Every Road test of a "5.0" I read of these cars shows they ran the 1/4 within a range of 5 tenths depending on transmission and gearing. The quickest was a 14.72; the slowest a 15.29.  Yes, it was an automatic with 2.56:1 gears. But I've said many times that it had the "Fire-Am" treatment-headers and dual exhaust, a Holley "Street Dominator" intake and a TransGo shift kit. Further, I had discovered that by switching from R46SZ plugs-an .080 gap-to R45S's a .040 gap plug-I picked up 700 rpm on the top end. With the .080 gap plus, even after I changed the intake, the HEI ran out of juice and wouldn't let the engine rev past 4,700 rpm. With the shorter gap plugs it pulled hard to 5,400 rpm. Yes, stock 403 T/A's from 77-79 usually ran a 16.3 1/4.  With the intake, exhaust, ignition, and shift kit upgrades mine ran a best of 14.78, and it would run 14.9s ALL DAY even in 90 degree heat. That's smack-dab on the very low end of what the 5.0's ran. Further, every magazine test said the best times in a 5.0 came by slipping the clutch at 1,800-2,200 rpm to avoid frying the tires. Every teenage and 20-something Mustang driver I ever encountered would pop the clutch at 3 grand, incinerate the tires, and then be shocked that I jumped them 2 or 3 car lengths out of the hole and they couldn't get it back. And, from a rolling start like a freeway on-ramp?-302 inches against 403?  Like they say in mob movies-"Fughetaboutit."  The last one was when I said I didn't have to take crap from little boys in Subaru WRX's in my 442 after I put the Chevy crate motor in it.  Again-every 224 hp WRX built before 2008 only ran a 14.4 second 1/4 in road tests. The new for 2009 265 hp model runs 13.9s, and the 305 hp STI models run 13.4.  I've never taken the 442 to the track with the Chevy engine. However, in the Sept 2008 issue of Hot Rod they tested a '69 Chevelle with a ZZ4 engine, TH400, and 4.30 gears that ran a best time of 12.44. We all agree that a Chevelle and a Cutlass weigh about the same, and I have a ZZ4, a TH400, and 4.10 gears. Allowing for differences in altitude, tuning, driver skill, and traction, even if my car was a FULL SECOND slower than the Hot Rod test mule-i.e. running mid-thirteens instead of mid-12 s-I'd STILL be able to give a WRX owner a run they'd not soon forget.  So no, I don't lie about my exploits. Next time this subject comes up remember to look for key phrases like "Not exactly stock"  "Warmed-over"  or "Modified / Restified."  Just had to vent that. Mastermind