NSX + idiots in Michigan = big laughs & annoyance.

[Meeyatch1]

So I left my house yesterday for a nice leisurely drive to the Grand Rapids, Michigan area to do a 3M Clear Bra install on a Prime Members 'other vehicle' and suspected the drive would be uneventful. For the most part, I was right. The NSX ran fine, everything I needed fit in the car, I did not get pulled over for speeding....all was well...until Grand Rapids. This is where the idiot factor took over.

No sooner had I exited 131 North and was making my way to Grand Rapids on 44th street then I noticed a burgandy car zipping up on my right side. Now, for those not familiar with the area, this is a residential road with a 35-40 mph speed limit in most areas. I was right at the limit so I did not attract the attention of Johhny Law, when the jacka$$ in his Mustang LX 5.0 starts pacing me. Aww hell....here we go again...some guy with something to prove. I slow down a bit hoping he will continue on and leave me be....he slows down as well. I speed up to about 45-50 mph....he speeds up. WTF!??! Can you not see that I just want you to go away?? NO RACING HERE!!

Eventually after a few miles of dealing with this turkey I look in my mirror, see nobody is there, and just SLAM on my brakes ('Top Gun' moment...'I am just gonna hit the brakes and he'll fly right by'...hehe). This tool slows to BELOW the speed limit but I had time enough to pull in behind him so he could not pace me. Eventually he turns off and I think I am safe....boy was I wrong!!

So evidently there is some sort of 'Ricer Alert System' where all ricers in the area are automatically alerted every time a nice car comes into town and they decide to swarm it for a race...because 5 minutes later a pimped Oldsmobile is trying to race me!! ARGH!!! The worst part is that it was ricer girls and I had to switch lanes and hit my brakes again to dodge them!!

What happened after this?? While I am at the stop light dealing with the ricer girls a JACKED UP BLAZER tries to race me and floors it off the line when the light turns green and leaves a clound of smoke behind. What the heck is it with this city anyway??

So at this point I stop at Walgreens and pick up some film to get away from the idiots and call the Prime member to verify where I am and tell him about all this stuff and the fine motorists in this city. He laughs profusely and seems to enjoy my spats with the ricers and rednecks and tells me I am almost there, not to worry.

But wait.....there is more....

 

[Meeyatch1]

PART 2:

After arriving at the NSX Prime members house it is determined that a few errands need done and a stop at the Auto Zone is first on the list of things to do. Well....lucky for me (or maybe unlucky...I am not sure) the ricer challenges were not over for the night. Keep in mind that the ENTIRE WAY THERE I had been left alone, no speed challenges or anything....until Grand Rapids.

Well, on the way back to the house we both notice a Dodge Neon SRT-4 in the same turn lane, just ahead of us, going the same way....and it had drag stip numbers on the window. Oh crap...I know where this is going. Well, sure enough we turn the corner and this a$$hat is doing the same crap of pacing me no matter what speed I go!!! This of course makes my passenger hysterical with laughter and I again have to take evasive action and hit the brakes to dive into a McDonald's in order to shake this tool. As an offhanded comment my passneger laughs again and says something to the effect of 'It would be funny if he pulled off ahead and waited for you,' to which I cringe.

So I go ahead and order my 'low carb' dinner of a Big Mac value meal and assume my Neon driving friend is gone....I mean, it has been like 10 minutes since I pulled in here. Turning right onto the road I look ahead and THERE HE IS!!! The chump is waiting in a parking lot for me to drive by!!! ARGH!!!

My passenger is now laughing so hard I doubted he could breathe, and I once again blame him for this since this is his city. All this....and this was only the first day.

But wait...there is more.....still.

 

[Meeyatch1]

PART 3:

Driving home tonight I felt good about shaking off the previous days ricer squad without a race or jail time. I figured today HAD to be different and the previous night was just a fluke.....I was wrong. :frown:

Still on the way out of Grand Rapids I am about 5 minutes in the car when a silver Volkswagen Golf with a fart can on the back tries to line me up from an exit ramp going on to the aforementioned 44th street.....damn this road.

Seeing I was not biting on the race he sped off and eveything was fine....for about 2 miles. Dodging numerous other attmpted races I was almost hit by two more cars diving for lane changes, and eventually made my way to highway 131 South and was leaving Grand Rapids area to what I assumed to be safety. WRONG!! On the south end of the area a freaking Ford Focus WAGON tries to get a piece of me on the highway and WILL NOT LET ME PASS!! WTF?!?! I go 70 mph...he goes 70 mph.....I go 90 mph....he goes 90 mph....I go 100 mph.....HE GOES 100 MPH!! Eventually I had to hit the brakes AGAIN and get behind him at the speed limit to shake this final in a long line of idiots. But here is the funny part.....the whole way home after that I did not have ONE incident at all. They were all in the Grand Rapids area.

Other trip highlights:

1.) Spotted a blue NOBLE in Grand Rapids going the other way. Cool!!! :smile:

2.) Caught a rock in my windshield AGAIN!! Cracked it....oh well. :frown:

So what should you take from this?? If you go to Grand Rapids, be armed with 'anti-rice' and 'anti-redneck' spray.....because they are out in force in that city, and they want to race YOU!! :biggrin:

 

[kam3ham3]

Good story. Sorry about your windshield. Sounds like they need San Diego's Dragnet unit and a life! :biggrin:

 

[Newman]

PART 2:
So I go ahead and order my 'low carb' dinner of a Big Mac value meal and assume my Neon driving friend is gone....I mean, it has been like 10 minutes since I pulled in here. Turning right onto the road I look ahead and THERE HE IS!!! The chump is waiting in a parking lot for me to drive by!!! ARGH!!!

Haha, that's funny because I've seen people actually do that to me (not in my NSX and this was years ago back when 'Fast & the Furious' hit the theaters in Summer 2001). I just don't get why they have to wait for you and can't go on with their lives.... as if racing you on a busy city street is going to make this a life-changing & gratifiying experience for them

I agree on the people pacing you part. I don't get it that bad or that often, but it gets really irritating when you need to exit off of the road and some jackass stays in your blind spot and speeds up and slows down when you do. It's one thing to look & gawk at the NSX while on the road, but when it gets to the point where they're waiting for you to do something (so they can try and 'race' you), that's when it's dangerous and an accident is just waiting to happen

 

[vtecNSX1]

I bet they all went onto their respective online forums and said they beat an NSX.

 

[svalleynsx]

WHAT! No "Corvette" in this story? :biggrin:

 

[nsxtasy]

What the heck is it with this city anyway??

I've been to Grand Rapids maybe ten times in my NSX, for track events at Grattan. Each time, I'm typically not only at the track and hotel (near the airport) but also driving all over town, going to great restaurants like Gibson's and Bistro Bella Vita and some of the excellent restaurants in The Gilmore Collection including Blue Water Grill, Rose's on Reed Lake, some of their places at the Bob, etc. (Hey, I told you there are plenty of great restaurants in Grand Rapids!) I've never been hassled in any way. Heck, I've never even been approached on account of my car, with the exception of the time I was filling it at a gas station and Bill Taylor, the local NSX tech at the dealer, happened to be there and struck up a conversation.

 

[comquat1]

I think it's the fact that it's white isn't helping it. There's no white ones around here to my knowledge, so they know it's "fresh meat!" I don't get hassled too much in mine anymore, but mines been in the area two years now. By the way, I was the "nsx prime memeber", Mitch was putting a clear bra on my ridgeline, I highly recommend giving him a call if you are at all interested in this. He worked on my truck for roughly 11 hours I'm guessing in an attempt to get things perfect. I went with him because I knew I wouldn't get that type of service at any store. It was well worth what I paid in my opinion.

 

[khappucino]

hahahahahha great story, almost makes my morning hang over feel a little better :biggrin:

 

[Meeyatch1]

I think it's the fact that it's white isn't helping it. There's no white ones around here to my knowledge, so they know it's "fresh meat!" I don't get hassled too much in mine anymore, but mines been in the area two years now. By the way, I was the "nsx prime memeber", Mitch was putting a clear bra on my ridgeline, I highly recommend giving him a call if you are at all interested in this. He worked on my truck for roughly 11 hours I'm guessing in an attempt to get things perfect. I went with him because I knew I wouldn't get that type of service at any store. It was well worth what I paid in my opinion.

Yes, the car being white probably does make it stand out a bit. That and the out of state plates and those fools knew I had no idea about 'the scene' in Grand Rapids.

Thank you for the compliments on the Clear Bra. I am thrilled that you liked the results and that you were able to see how a full install happens. Let me know if your neighbors start to envy the hood section on the 'other vehicle' that got done. Hehehe.

 

[comquat1]

Yeah, post your pics of the other vehicle when you get a chance. :biggrin:

 

[JEC_31]

Hey guys - this is my first post here but I've lurking for awhile 'cause I want an NSX...

Anyway I actually live and work in GR, on the side of town where you encountered our local idiots.

Everybody: it really IS that bad.
Meeyatch1 is not exaggerating.
It's gotten worse since school got out, it seems like everybody under the age of 30 has Fast & Furiously Dumb Syndrome.
I get ricers wanting to race my beat-up bone-stock 92 Accord daily driver.
Now I used to have Mazda RX-7s, and raced a bit on deserted country roads and empty freeways - but the local city morons scare the beejesus out of me.
And that SRT-4 lives a couple blocks from me, I avoid eye contact.

Don't get me started on the rednecks, we are really just the biggest small town in a big rural part of the state.
Come on a Friday or Sat night if you want to see real 'Murican action, there's more souped-up Mulletstangs and Fk-bodies than you can shake a live axle at. A few very fast-in-a-straight-line-only trucks too.

About the Noble sighting: are you sure it wasn't our local new blue Elise? I've seen him twice right around here and the driver has a smile almost wider than his head.

Anyway, NSXs are very rare here and I hope to score one someday. Hopefully by then I'll have moved out of Bland Crapids.

- Josh

 

[Whatwasthat]

PART 3:

Seeing I was not biting on the race he sped off and eveything was fine....for about 2 miles. Dodging numerous other attmpted races I was almost hit by two more cars diving for lane changes, and eventually made my way to highway 131 South and was leaving Grand Rapids area to what I assumed to be safety. WRONG!! On the south end of the area a freaking Ford Focus WAGON tries to get a piece of me on the highway and WILL NOT LET ME PASS!! WTF?!?! I go 70 mph...he goes 70 mph.....I go 90 mph....he goes 90 mph....I go 100 mph.....HE GOES 100 MPH!! Eventually I had to hit the brakes AGAIN and get behind him at the speed limit to shake this final in a long line of idiots. But here is the funny part.....the whole way home after that I did not have ONE incident at all. They were all in the Grand Rapids area.

You couldn't get away from a Focus Wagon??????? It actually did 100mph???

 

[comquat1]

To add another story about how bad it is here, I was following my co-worker to a trade show Friday and we were on 1 lane of a highway having work done. There was a Saturn in between us with a far can on it putting some nasty smoke into my vents so I had to put my recirculate on. He was acting like a retard, jutting left to see around my co-worker to see when the highway would open up again, I should also add, my co-worker was pulling our 10 foot enclosed trailer with his mercury mountaineer (not a fast vehicle with all the crap in it).

We were talking on our cell phones about this guy and my co-worker said, "Watch this, I'm gonna hammer it when it opens up and not let this guy past!"
Well the highway opens up again and this Saturn guns it (he also had two passengers weighing him down too), black smoke flies out the tailpipe and all I hear is WWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

He was bound and determined to get past that mountaineer, I tell ya. It took him over about a half a mile to pass! All the occupants kept looking over at my co-worker trying to figure out what he was trying to prove, in the meantime he's looking like he's cruising with one hand on the top of the wheel, slouched in his seat. I've never seen anything so funny. Such is the rice culture up here in GR. :biggrin:

 

[Meeyatch1]

You couldn't get away from a Focus Wagon??????? It actually did 100mph???

I was not really trying to lose the Focus...I was just accelerating up to speed to see if he would leave me alone since nothing else worked. It stinks when you have to darn near hit the brakes and stop on the highway to lose these morons!!

 

[nuccaJB]

My wie's family lives about 25 miles southwest of STL and it is the same thing. Her sisters boyfriend has this beater auto probe V6 with his two 15's in the trunk. He took me for a ride to pick up a late night snack for everyone and it was hilarious, and scary, riding with this bonehead as he beat the crap out of his car and raced anyone at every stoplight. Later that night I was at the gas station and everytime the light turned from red to green some POS car with an exhaust would leave the light like a bat out of hell, taking forever to get down the street. Those cars probably now go 0-60 in 9.9 secs instead of 10. A different night we ran into his friends who has a beater late 90's mustang and he was talking crap about how he walks NSX's. I guess some guy has a 91-92 in the neighborhood.

 

[druby]

I had a similar experience on the way back from Athens, GA where a guy (kid about 20 years old) in a Mustang wanted to drag. Even though I explained to him I wasn't interested (being an older guy age 44) and definitely not wanting any tickets (clean driving record for over 24 years). It's hard for them to understand the NSX is a track car not a drag car. The guy got behind me a stayed there for miles before finally pulling off as I was going home and was still 200 miles away.

 

[Dr. Sweat]

Trying going up there with Ohio State stickers/plate brackets. They will do more then try to race you. I guess since they can't seem to beat OSU at football anymore, they just try to race everyone from Ohio. On a side note, I'm not sure about Grand Rapids, but the roads in Detriot are terrible with potholes. I ruined a tire last time I was up there. I wouldn't recommend rolling 18 or bigger up there.

 

[SamBel]

I had an incident a couple of weeks ago similiar to these. Nice, new Ford Mustang (GT, I think), pulled up beside me on a side street (not even a major road), and began to gun it. Driver couldn't have been 18 years old, if that. I rolled down my window and said "OK, first one to 170 wins". My wife just gave me "the look". Obviously, nothing happened...

 

[Meeyatch1]

I had an incident a couple of weeks ago similiar to these. Nice, new Ford Mustang (GT, I think), pulled up beside me on a side street (not even a major road), and began to gun it. Driver couldn't have been 18 years old, if that. I rolled down my window and said "OK, first one to 170 wins". My wife just gave me "the look". Obviously, nothing happened...

HAHAHA!! I like it!! Well...did you tell your wife that you would have won??

 

[NSXDreamer2]

Does it have anything to do with you in a stock nsx??
Ricer People might mistakingly think that's just another corvette dude in his mid life crisis who turned them down million times... :biggrin: so they moved on and look for the next prey... :wink:

I've been to Grand Rapids maybe ten times in my NSX, for track events at Grattan. Each time, I'm typically not only at the track and hotel (near the airport) but also driving all over town, going to great restaurants like Gibson's and Bistro Bella Vita and some of the excellent restaurants in The Gilmore Collection including Blue Water Grill, Rose's on Reed Lake, some of their places at the Bob, etc. (Hey, I told you there are plenty of great restaurants in Grand Rapids!) I've never been hassled in any way. Heck, I've never even been approached on account of my car, with the exception of the time I was filling it at a gas station and Bill Taylor, the local NSX tech at the dealer, happened to be there and struck up a conversation.

 

[Meeyatch1]

Does it have anything to do with you in a stock nsx??
Ricer People might mistakingly think that's just another corvette dude in his mid life crisis who turned them down million times... :biggrin: so they moved on and look for the next prey... :wink:

By jove....I think you have got it!!

 

[93BlkOnBlkNSX]

I've only had one experience like this with a Cobra. I could not shake him. I tried slowing down, and then he did too, I got behind him, and he changed lanes. I'm not sure what the new Cobra's redline at, but I was pretty sure I could just get by him, and that would be it. Unfortunately, I hit a stoplight and he came up beside me and asked me to roll down my window. He said he'd only heard about the NSX, and just wanted to see what it would do. He did all that just to see what it would do.

 

[NSXDreamer2]

By jove....I think you have got it!!
__________________
Mitch

I'm expecting Ken post something and fight back?? Come on... You are not MAD, are you??

But seriously though, I don't have much problems with people like that either, I'll blast them off and let them hear my taitec exhaust then slow down to legal speed, if I'm in good mood and traffic condition permit. I don't tend to do anything to shake them off... Let them admiring your car, if that's what they going to do. I admired other people's nice rides all the time and I still think nothing tops a Ferrari 360 CS full throttling besides me...(I wish, it's in my imagination) So I do that to my fellow ricers...

a wave and a smile should be enough to turn down a race... but then again, I never been Grand Rapids either.... What do I know?