"Hey, you wanna go or what?" The driver looked over at him, puzzled. The one and only stoplight in town turned red. They stopped together. Again, Stevens shouted out his challenge. "Hey, you wanna run?" Again, the driver looked puzzled, confused. Apparently, no one in Wendover, Utah, had ever challenged him to a street race before. Finally, he answered.
"You mean race?" he shouted back.
"Yeah,” Sevens answered. "On green."
"You mean right here?" he asked, again looking puzzled and confused.
"Yeah, I mean right here. On green. OK?"
The driver looked at his friend. Then as if a light bulb flashed on in his head, he broke into a grin. So did his friend. This was it. He was going to have his first street race. Right here, on the main drag of Wendover, Utah. He was going to face off on the street, just like he had read about in all the car magazines he bought down at the drugstore on the edge of town. Him, right here. A street race. You could read it all in his face.
"Yeah. OK. Sure! I’ll race you," he yelled over.
"OK. On green," Stevens yelled back.
It must have been a slightly ludicrous sight. Here was a jacked up '57 Chevy with mags on the back, only sitting next to him was a low-riding '68 Ford wagon with plastic wood decals on its side, ready to street race on the main street of Wendover, Utah.
Stevens decided to get serious. He hunkered down in his seat and pulled the selector lever down into Low. He torque-loaded the automatic against the brakes and waited for the green light to come on. There it was. He dumped the brakes and mashed the accelerator pedal through the carpeting. The Ford launched with a great flurry and lots of smoke from
the right rear tire. Stevens pulled a holeshot on the guy by maybe two car lengths. Holy cow, he thought, he might really take this guy out with this load. Stevens right away thought about letting off. After all, he thought, would it be right to embarrass this guy, his car, his friend, and the city of Wendover, Utah, by putting their hottest car on the trailer with a borrowed Ford wagon?
Stevens came back to reality with the sound of the Ford's engine about to lunch itself. He banged up the stick one notch and shifted to Second. The C6 automatic shifted good and solid and the engine was still pulling strong. But finally, here came the Chevy. He could sense the guy approaching over his left shoulder, the sound of his pipes loud and clear. Stevens right foot stayed floored and he couldn't do a thing about it as the Chevy roared by him. In a way, Stevens was glad. Deep down, he didn't want to win. Still, Stevens didn't want to embarrass himself either. He stayed on it, banged into Drive, but to no avail. The Chevy was gone.
Stevens made the turn-around and cruised slowly back up the street. The Chevy pulled alongside. Now, both guys in the Chevy were animate, yelling out the windows, giving him thumbs-down and laughing their heads off. It was obviously the best time they'd had in years. Stevens was having fun too. They wanted to run again. “Sure,” he said.
They met again at the light. Again, Stevens brake-revved the fat Ford wagon, raising it up on its haunches as it awaited the green light, the 428 straining against the torque converter. The Chevy revved up next to him. The light turned. Stevens dumped it and floored it. Again, he holeshot the Chevy. Again, the Chevy blasted on by and took him. Again, he was glad.
Later, b.s.ing in the parking lot, Stevens found out that this was the first time anyone had ever drag raced from a dig right on the main street of Wendover, Utah. Yes, they had run from a roll but never from a dig. That's when Stevens found out that they had been coming off the line, tires smoking and screeching right in front of the state police station. He also found out that the Chevy was running a 327 out of a Corvette, bored .030 over to 331. Plus an Isky cam, an Edelbrock intake manifold and a big Carter AFB 4-barrel. The guys in the car were Barry Anderson and Tom Freeman, the only two hot rodders in Wendover, Utah.
Stevens told me that he didn’t know where Anderson and Freeman were today. But, if they still were in Wendover, he said that he wouldn't be surprised if they were still cruising up and down the main drag. Looking for a run. 
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