In the Letters section of Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine VCA prez Bob Carroll writes this letter...
Viper strikes nerve
George Mattar's recent column about the "New Golden Age of Muscle" ("NGAM") is right on. I easily identified with his images of driving in the 1960s with my family and identifying/studying passing vehicles. I do have one significant footnote. I believe the NGAM is already here and owes its resurgence to one word: VIPER. Our current plentiful crop of super high-performance cars is a direct result of the stimulation of a long-dormant muscle car demographic spawned primarily by a small group of courageous execs and engineers at Dodge who shocked the auto industry with the late 1980s roll-out of the raw and uncompromising Viper. History shows that, despite production of hundreds of thousands of 'Vettes, GM's icon, the only survivor of the 1960s muscle era, could not, as hard as it tried, rekindle the muscle era. Then came Viper. I would also add that, in addition to stimulating the entire performance car industry, it also kicked butt on every major racetrack it competed. Sure, bring on the Challenger and Camaro, but I think we all owe a little gratitude to that first lonely snake. Great article, George!
Bob Carroll
National President
Viper Club of America
Bob must have stuck a nerve because the VP of the Turbo Six Club has this response...
Turbo strikes back
I'm a recent subscriber to your magazine and would like to give you guys major props for your unbiased and well-balanced publication. You do an excellent job of representing all marques from Detroit. While on the subject of unbiased, I wish to point out and respond to a recent response by the Viper Club national president that Vipers are responsible for the recent resurgence called "New Golden Age of Muscle" (NGAM). It is true that we are in the midst of a muscle car era right now. But I must set the record straight for this man blinded by pride.
I find his assertion absolutely arrogant and ignorant of recent history. He shows his complete bias with statements like "I believe that the NGAM is already here and owes its resurgence to one word: Viper." Let me clarify a few points (facts): He believes the Viper is a muscle car. Wrong, it is a sports car, just like the Corvette and the Shelby Cobra, and is not included in the conversation about muscle cars, which are commonly sedans or pony cars.
Most importantly, he should refer back to the early 1980s, when Chrysler and Dodge were a joke and almost extinct and remember that it was the Ford Mustang and its new 5.0L that sparked the gradual escalation through the 1980s and '90s to today. He conveniently forgets the 5.0L Mustangs, 5.7L IROCs, Grand Nationals and Turbo Trans Ams of the 1980s, as well as the LT1 and LS1 F-bodies of the '90s, and the 4.6L Mustangs. These cars and their affordable (by comparison) prices are what sparked the new horsepower wars that prompted Dodge to try to knock the Corvette off its perch.
Anyone that asserts that there was nothing prior to the Viper is a fool and ignorant of history. I'm a former Ford owner and current GN driver who will gladly stack my pre-Viper-era G-body up against his much-hyped Viper and prove to him there was muscle prior to the introduction of his Viper.
Shame on him for embarrassing his National Club by writing such blatant BS.
The common man can't afford $60k for a fancy sports car. The muscle car market has always been powered by common men with affordable muscle cars. That's why we enjoy putting rich men and their expensive toys in their place with cars that are a third of the price. The pain in their faces is priceless! Long live the lowly muscle car!
Tim Pryor, VP Turbo Six Club
Louisville, Kentucky
Funny thing is Tim Pryor says that the Viper and Corvette "aren't muscle cars but are sports cars" yet in a magazine called Hemmings Muscle Machines there were 9 different articles written on the Viper and Corvette through the months
Take a chill pill Pryor
and have fun with your little club
Viper strikes nerve
George Mattar's recent column about the "New Golden Age of Muscle" ("NGAM") is right on. I easily identified with his images of driving in the 1960s with my family and identifying/studying passing vehicles. I do have one significant footnote. I believe the NGAM is already here and owes its resurgence to one word: VIPER. Our current plentiful crop of super high-performance cars is a direct result of the stimulation of a long-dormant muscle car demographic spawned primarily by a small group of courageous execs and engineers at Dodge who shocked the auto industry with the late 1980s roll-out of the raw and uncompromising Viper. History shows that, despite production of hundreds of thousands of 'Vettes, GM's icon, the only survivor of the 1960s muscle era, could not, as hard as it tried, rekindle the muscle era. Then came Viper. I would also add that, in addition to stimulating the entire performance car industry, it also kicked butt on every major racetrack it competed. Sure, bring on the Challenger and Camaro, but I think we all owe a little gratitude to that first lonely snake. Great article, George!
Bob Carroll
National President
Viper Club of America
Bob must have stuck a nerve because the VP of the Turbo Six Club has this response...
Turbo strikes back
I'm a recent subscriber to your magazine and would like to give you guys major props for your unbiased and well-balanced publication. You do an excellent job of representing all marques from Detroit. While on the subject of unbiased, I wish to point out and respond to a recent response by the Viper Club national president that Vipers are responsible for the recent resurgence called "New Golden Age of Muscle" (NGAM). It is true that we are in the midst of a muscle car era right now. But I must set the record straight for this man blinded by pride.
I find his assertion absolutely arrogant and ignorant of recent history. He shows his complete bias with statements like "I believe that the NGAM is already here and owes its resurgence to one word: Viper." Let me clarify a few points (facts): He believes the Viper is a muscle car. Wrong, it is a sports car, just like the Corvette and the Shelby Cobra, and is not included in the conversation about muscle cars, which are commonly sedans or pony cars.
Most importantly, he should refer back to the early 1980s, when Chrysler and Dodge were a joke and almost extinct and remember that it was the Ford Mustang and its new 5.0L that sparked the gradual escalation through the 1980s and '90s to today. He conveniently forgets the 5.0L Mustangs, 5.7L IROCs, Grand Nationals and Turbo Trans Ams of the 1980s, as well as the LT1 and LS1 F-bodies of the '90s, and the 4.6L Mustangs. These cars and their affordable (by comparison) prices are what sparked the new horsepower wars that prompted Dodge to try to knock the Corvette off its perch.
Anyone that asserts that there was nothing prior to the Viper is a fool and ignorant of history. I'm a former Ford owner and current GN driver who will gladly stack my pre-Viper-era G-body up against his much-hyped Viper and prove to him there was muscle prior to the introduction of his Viper.
Shame on him for embarrassing his National Club by writing such blatant BS.
The common man can't afford $60k for a fancy sports car. The muscle car market has always been powered by common men with affordable muscle cars. That's why we enjoy putting rich men and their expensive toys in their place with cars that are a third of the price. The pain in their faces is priceless! Long live the lowly muscle car!
Tim Pryor, VP Turbo Six Club
Louisville, Kentucky
Funny thing is Tim Pryor says that the Viper and Corvette "aren't muscle cars but are sports cars" yet in a magazine called Hemmings Muscle Machines there were 9 different articles written on the Viper and Corvette through the months
Take a chill pill Pryor
and have fun with your little club
is obviously high on 
G6 maybe 
