This is my bestie from high school, Sheryl (on the right, 1985).

This is also my bestie from high school, Mindy (on the right, 1987… no giggling at the funny old pictures).

We were as close as sisters and were always there for each other no matter what.  And the trouble we used to get in… well, that’s a story for another day.

Anyway, just before our senior year of high school started, Sheryl’s dad won a car.  Not just any car, but a 1985 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z and the very first one to come off the line.  The license plate read CAR-001.

It had a factory stereo in it that could blast the ice off the windows.  Turn up that bass!  Which we did… often.  You could hear Sheryl coming from a block away.

One day we decided to go test just how sporty this little car actually was.  We went across the river to the backroads of rural Graham County, Arizona, where we had miles upon miles of empty road with all kinds of hills and twists and turns.  Sheryl managed to exceed 80 mph on one stretch… keeping in mind that this was back in the day when the legal speed limit on every major highway was only 55 mph, so hitting 80+ was a big deal.  If we would have been caught, Sheryl surely would’ve had her license revoked.

Needless to say, Sheryl acquired many speeding tickets during the next couple of years.  It’s a really good thing her brother was a cop.

The following was a song we would crank up in that sporty little car of hers with the kick-ass stereo whenever we would cruise the backroads because it was oh-so-true. This is also my pick for James’s Motivational Music Monday this week.  After all these years, it still gets the blood and the heart pumping.

Sadly, Sheryl died in 2012.  However, 30+ years later, Mindy and I are still in touch.