Nervous Idle

Thanks to John Kraman of the Velocity/Mecum team for this term.  I've called it a lopey idle, but like Kraman's description much better.  From now on, in my dictionary, it's a Nervous Idle.

Here's lopey.  We've all heard it.   (The car sounds good at higher revs and I don't disparage a lopey idle: I paid extra to get one.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71rGFVP6kRQ

A lopey idle is a Cheetah cruising the Serengeti, looking for prey.  A Nervous Idle is a Cheetah getting ready to pounce.  If all you brung was your lopey idle, you're the Wildebeast calf.  Move more toward the center of the herd.  Here's a Nervous Idle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlKkds2Lhx8

A nervous idle doesn't necessarily require a big-block.  Small-block unblown gassers and Trans Am racers had one.  All you really need is a radical camshaft, big compression, and a fairly open exhaust.