Racing In The Street

[Donny Carlson]

Man, I love XM satellite radio. This afternoon on The Loft they played a live version of Springstein's Racing In The Street, something I had on vinyl at one time. Haven't heard it in years. Great song.

Racing In the Street

I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Seven-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money, got no strings attached
We shut 'em up and then we shut 'em down

Tonight, tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right
For racin' in the street

We take all the action we can meet
And we cover all the northeast state
When the strip shuts down we run 'em in the street
From the fire roads to the interstate
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece,
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the street.

Tonight, tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow 'em all out of their seats
Calling out around the world, we're going racin' in the street.

I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back,
and drove that little girl away,
But now there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs, "Baby did you make it all right,"
She sits on the porch of her Daddy's house
But all her pretty dreams are torn,
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels,
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me, we're gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands.

Tonight, tonight the highway's bright
Out of our way, mister, you best keep
'Cause summer's here and the time is right
For racin' in the street.

Bruce Springsteen

[martyo]

Donny, Donny Donny. This site does not condone street racing.... :shake: :shake: :shake:

[BillyGman]

ya know I was never a Springstein fan, nor am I familiar w/that song. But look at the beginning of those lyrics, because from a hotrodder's viewpoint, it doesn't sound like it's correct nor written by a Chevy hi-perf car enthusiast.......

He's talking about a Chevy 396 engine and states that it has "fuelie" heads. The "fuelie" heads were from a FUEL injected Corvette which were the first Chevy small block cylinder heads to have 2.02" diameter intake valves, and 1.60" exhaust valves. There were no "fuelie" heads for a big block Chevy engine, which is what a 396 Chevy engine is (a big block). The big blocks in the 60's never came w/fuel injection. ;)

[merc406]

The way Bruce mumbles he may have sang the right motor size, just a guess.
I don't recognize the words either mostly cause he's a mumbler, so I can't get the tune that goes with it.

[BillyGman]

I won't debate any point about the mumbling part. But it would be correct from a engine spec standpoint if he had said it was a 400(which is a small block engine) a 350, 383(stroker), or a 327 engine. Any of those would accomadate "Fuelie" cylinder heads. But a 396 wouldn't. Sorry Bruce. I know this has nothing to do w/the main point of the song (assuming there really is one), but if you're going to bother singing about cars in order to reach some car enthusiasts, then get it right. :burnout:

[TripleTransAm]

Yeah, but the song also states quite clearly that he and his partner Sonny "built her straight out of scratch". This implies that he and his partner had access to tooling and therefore would have had the capability of engineering original heads based on their own design, not necessarily similar to anything that might have ever been used by the factory on a Chevy big block.

It obviously set them back a few bucks, because they only run for the money, as stated in the first verse. I suspect it would cost a pretty penny to obtain the type of hardware necessary to cast one's own heads. The valvetrain costs must have been staggering as well.

I suspect there might have been some backdoor factory involvement in his racing activities as well, as he mentions some guys coming home from work and washing up, then going racing. The "piece by piece" comment also implies perhaps the use of experimental factory hardware smuggled out of the company for use on their private vehicles. You just can't keep up with street competition like this and be successful (as implied in the song) without coming up with some mean hardware of your own (hence my claim that he cast his own heads).

Yes, it's a tough life, throwing all your money into street racing... to the point where it would appear he cannot make payments on his electric bill and has had his service cut ("when I come home the house is dark").


(seriously, though: my wife, like every good Swedish girl, was really into Springsteen in her teen years, but I on the other hand have a hard time with a lot of his writing... while it's very poetic and well written, it never fails to make me feel like my life isn't worth a nickel and that I should just go out and slit my wrists... very uplifting...)

[BillyGman]

Steve, I'm right w/ya on your theory that atleast most songs should be uplifting instead of depressing. I hear ya guy. :up: As far as the "Fuelie" heads line, no way. there's just no way around it Steve. you're talking to an old Chevy man here, and let me tell you, there are small block heads, and big block heads, and there's only one Chevy head that was ever refered to as "Fuelie" heads, and they were small block heads. And you would never be able to get a small block Chevy head on a big block shortblock. it aint happening. And besides all of that, you wouldn't want to anyway since even the baddest small block chevy heads around would NOT breath as well as big block heads can. So there would be NO point in that.


Yes, the lyrics are just plain wrong in those first and second lines. Sorry. :)

[TripleTransAm]

S A R C A S M, Billy.... I was being S A R C A S T I C! ;)
http://elouai.com/images/yahoo/34.gif

[BillyGman]

Yeah, right. A pretty long post you had there just for sarcasm. :rolleyes: l


I remember what happened the last time you told me that I was missing someone's sarcasm. :rolleyes:

[Dan]

Billy, Steve,

I just love watching the two of you. You are almost like brothers who have been told to "SHARE" a slice of cake and neither can agree who is charged with cutting it.

:) :up:

I am glad that both of you are my friends. It really helps me to understand where each of you are coming from.

Best,

Dan

[BillyGman]

Some pretty good diplomacy there Dan. Have you ever thought about working for the government in an international foriegn ralations capacity? :D

[Dan]

Just shut up and take the smaller slice, already, will ya'? :lol:

[Tallboy]

did it ever occur to you guys that maybe, just maybe, you're missing the point?

[M-75]

yeah...they missed it. Just nevermind that.

so much for having your cake and eating it too...

[Donny Carlson]

"Admiral... life is >not< a dream."