NEED FOR SPEED RUNS IN THEIR BLOOD.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE

Jack Davis always takes the first run of the day, folding his lanky 6-foot-4 body into the burgundy 1967 Firebird and telling anyone who will listen he just wants to make sure everything is clicking properly.

Nobody buys it, of course, least of all his daughter Nicole Lyons.

Lyons watches her dad go through all the checks, then listens intently as he fires up the Pro Gas Firebird's 506 cubic Chevy engine. Like a thundering herd of horses, it roars with power, bringing a knowing smile to the face of Lyons.

As the only child of a famed Los Angeles street racer, Lyons caught the same racing bug that tugged at her dad years ago. The love affair is as unlikely now as it was then. He was an African-American teenager attending Hamilton High in the early '60s, and the only thing he knew about cars was that he loved to drive them fast.

``My parents weren't having all those speeding tickets I was coming home with, so they told me I better go find some place where I could drive as fast as I wanted but not get in trouble,'' said Davis, who restores muscle cars at his shop in Sylmar these days. ``That's how it started for me. All my family and friends thought I was crazy. You gotta understand, this was before the civil rights movement and all of that stuff. Black people and racing, you just didn't see anything like that.''

Over the years, Davis has traveled all across the country looking for a race - legal and otherwise.

``Years ago in L.A. we'd go find an open space and race for money,'' Davis said. ``We were always trying to stay a step ahead of the police.''

When Davis raced legitimately, he would go to Lions Dragstrip Terminal Island, Irwindale or the Orange County Raceway, among other tracks.

``I'd come home with trophies and my mom and dad would just shake their heads,'' Davis said. ``They never came to see me race. Oh well, at least I wasn't coming home with tickets, right?''

Davis' daughter is a 25-year old tomboy who looks like a runway model. Like her dad, she's got a thing for cars that move fast.

``It's in our blood,'' said Lyons, who graduated from Granada Hills High in 1996. ``For as long as I can remember, I've been into cars. Shoot, I used to drive home from elementary school.''

Davis confirms this.

``Doesn't matter what kind of car it is, you put it in front of her and she'll want to race it,'' Davis said.

Davis rolls the Firebird to the starting line at the Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale for the first practice run of the day. He wants to test the adjustments he made to the car earlier in the day, but Lyons knows better.

``He just wants to let everyone know the old man still has it,'' Lyons said, smiling.

Just then the Firebird takes off on the straightaway quarter-mile track.

Two days earlier, Lyons laid down a 10.72 on the same track. She's been racing for fun for four years, but now she wants to take it to the next level. That's why her and her father are practicing in Palmdale. In a week, they'll invite a group of potential sponsors to come watch her.

With sponsorship, Lyons is convinced she can consistently lay down 8's and 9's, and that would be more then sufficient to compete with the big boys on the NHRA pro racing circuit.

As it is, Davis and Lyons have paid more than $18,000 of their own money to get the Firebird to run in the 10's, and that's at the high altitude track at LACR in Palmdale. At an actual sea level track like Pomona, the car runs in the high 9's.

``No doubt in my mind, if we had the kind of money we need she can go to the next level,'' Davis said. ``I'm not just saying this 'cause I'm her dad. She's got what it takes.''

Davis pushes the car to the limit on his practice run and finishes with a 10.77.

It's not as fast as Lyons went two days earlier, but it brings a satisfied smile to Davis.

``Let's see if anyone can do better than that,'' he says proudly.

Nicole was 2 years old the first time she climbed into a hot rod with her dad. Davis wanted to see how she'd react, and much to his surprise - and delight - she acted like she just rode a roller-coaster ride at Magic Mountain.

``She squealed with delight. She wanted to do it again right away.'' Davis recalled. ``I remember thinking, 'Whoa.' That's alright.''

Over the years, the love for racing has intensified. Lyons is married now - to former UCLA football player Damion Lyons - and three or four days out of the week Lyons, her husband and her parents are at the track practicing or competing.

``I get more nervous watching her then I ever did playing football,'' Damion Lyons said. ``But I'm proud of her. She's chasing her dreams. And she's good.''

But now she wants more.

``I want to be a role model,'' Lyons said. ``For girls and minorities. There's a a whole group of people that's just not being represented in racing right now, and that's because they don't have anyone to relate to.

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Photo:

Jack Davis took his daughter, Nicole Lyons, for a ride in his 1967 Firebird when she was 2 years old. Since then, Lyons has been hooked on racing and now hopes to turn professional.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer