Kasey Kahne drives the #9 Budweiser Dodge Avenger for Evernham-Gillette Motorsports. He's from Enumclaw, Washington.
I didn't know they had anything noteworthy in Enumclaw (besides Bigfoot sightings) before he came along.
A NASCAR race is a great event to attend - especially for children. Drivers sign autographs at the fence before the race and go out of their way to accomodate the kids. Name me another professional sporting event where that happens......

 

I was in grade school during the heyday of the muscle car era, but always liked the old stuff. My Dad drove the dorkiest cars ('66 Chevy II, '72 Country Squire, '73 Fury, '74 Granada, '76 Orange Gremlin) and I'd like to not repeat in that respect. My goal is to have one modern retro musclecar from eact the big three. Already have the GT500 and would like to get a blue Challenger and a red Camaro. One each in Red, White, and Blue. Prefer monster 500 HP engines in each, but closer to 400 is probably fine, too. Don't want to pay over $40K each for the other two and I'd like one to be a convertible and automatic, just to be different. All in time.

 

Why I want to purchase a Challenger...

Being born in the early 70s, I pretty-much missed the heyday of muscle cars, but for as long as I can remember I had loved the look and sound of those cars: They had the look of absolute brute-force power, and the engine under the hood to back it up. The styling of the cars from that era was just really unique. I can never get enough of 'em.

But fate plunked me down in the era of box-shaped, underpowered, butt-ugly cars...ah the '80s...in a time when the big guys weren't interested in making anything with even a hint of testosterone in it. The '90s were somewhat better...but not by much. Since the day I started driving, I've been looking for a car that really appealed to me like those classic muscle cars did, but it seemed that for my entire life none of the car makers wanted to appeal to those of my generation that pined for the old days of brute-force power and aggressive, "I will chew you up and spit you out!" styling like the muscle cars had.

A couple years ago, I went to a classic car show with my parents (my dad is a classic car nut: owned a '64 GTO back in the day...) and really began to feel the desire to own some form of muscle car. I was seriously beginning to consider searching for a junker to fix up on my own, or just outright buying a muscle car after that trip...

Until I flipped through a car mag at my dad's house.

There was this little teeny-tiny picture of a orange car that looked a lot like an old muscle car from back in the day, but I could tell it wasn't old...it looked modern. Then I read the text underneath and found out that it was the Challenger concept.

I have never had love at first sight with a car...but dammit I fell in love with that thing right then and there.

Since that day I've been anxiously reading every tidbit both here and elsewhere on the internet, sucking up every little piece of info I could get. And every day we get closer to release of this car I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas Day to arrive. I've never wanted a car so bad in my life.

I went to one of the NASCAR races in Dover last year and caught a glimpse of the concept car driving around the outside of the grandstand area and literally chased the car down so I could get a good look at it...that's how much I love the look of this car.

I personally will be waiting a little longer than I wanted to get one: I'll be waiting until the '09 Challengers...because there's just something wrong with the idea of an automatic in a beast like this, to me (no offense to those going for the automatic).

For me, this car is the answer to an unfulfilled desire that I (and I'm sure a whole lot of others from my generation) have had for most of my life. It's been a long wait, but I think it'll be well worth it.

It will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine.

 

Hey, '73 Furies were cool. [sm=smiley16.gif]

 

Agreed - and the AMC's were THE DORKIEST cars ever made......the Gremlin, Pacer, Hornet, Matador (yeah, I know, they briefly raced the Matador in NASCAR.......isn't everyone entitled to ONE mistake?)[:-]

 

I've kept my mouth/fingers quiet so far, BUT this MAY be my last chance to say that my NY Giants have far exceeded any expectations I had for them at the beginning of the season.
Seems funny knowing Peyton is at home and Eli is still playing...... Just wondering if pigs really CAN fly.

 

One of the AMC cars I liked the looks of was the Javelin.

[IMG]local://upfiles/17/A8912DD9A8FF411EB27693A84353EFB7.jpg[/IMG]

 

A friend has one of those sweethearts stuffed away in a barn a few miles from here. He's been hoping to do a frame up on it in the near future. I'd like to see it when it's done - getting smaller in the rear-view mirror of my '09 Challenger, of course. :O)