Reflections of the Long Past

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I was sitting here listening to old music from the 60's and thinking of all the people from that time that I knew. A lot of them are gone now. My best friend was murdered in 71 by having his motorbike run through a chain link barrier fence into the 50' flood channel and splattering on the cement below. Closed coffin for the bits they scraped up. I put the word out to find who ran him off the road but it got quiet everywhere. Lost quite a few to Viet Nam, more came back not all there. Pulled up one day to the Shack a bar that was said, rightly, to be a bad hangout and the shooting started inside with bullets flying through the wood walls. Pissed me off one of them took out the back side window of my 50 coupe. Try even back then to fond another one of them! The friend I was coming to see just happened to be the target of what bullets didn't miss. Got the hell out before the cops got there as I did not want to explain my window or my glazed eyes. It was the 60's after all.
I remember earning money showing, called handling, German Shepherds and Great Danes. At 16 I walked up to the Gulf station and got me a job. I worked there until we needed state license for smog and headlight installation and repair. That meant going to school to be a mechanic. I did and was hired at $2.00 an hour + 50% labor. I found out later I took home twice what GE's head of maintenance made in a week. So much that the IRS held up my refund the first year until the lady who filed for me in October called a friend in the NAACP. Got my refund that week!
I caught the street racer bug about that time and built my first motor and car with the help and advice of Serita, who owned the parts house with her husband an old racing team. Loved that old 62 Ford Fairlane 500. Built the motor, trans, and picked up the exact rear end I wanted. My boss told me everyone was watching to see how I did so make it good! Nice being the local station and repair spot. Not! Worked out well enough. A cop friend went up on unfinished highway 60 and radar clocked it at 147mph!! Not bad for an 18 year old mechanic. Had a bad side though. Over 600 tickets the first year. Thank god after I got to know every cop in about a 40 mile radius they quit stopping me. Spent a lot of days in local courts and some days in jail!
I went to visit a cousin in Ark. and worked there for awhile to get away from my local area. Got a call from Chris my wife about some trouble and decided to head home. Went from Benton east to Little Rock got on the highway and hit it. Cops back then at night ignored for the most part anyone doing over 100mph and I did fine until I hit Flagstaff. The AHP closed the road right behind me. Closed pass over the mountain. I made it over into California and was screaming down to San Berdo, downhill with gentle curves 4 lanes wide feeling good when a car full of GIRLS passed by like I was parked! We raced side by side for miles keeping in control was hard at the speeds we were going some of those curves were not banked at all. They waived and got off after one good run.
I was on the last few miles into San Berdo when I think my east coast turn around wore off. I did a short blank out, realized I was going what felt like a crawl looked at the speed and 70? Floor boarded it again and the red lights came on. Nice state trouper who told me that this was the first time at that speed the car in front of him squatted down burned some rubber and taking off. Went to jail but he let me drive my car to the station and I was bailed out right away. Made it home to Ontario in 25 hours. Last high speed run.
Stopped all upper use, stopped street racing, said goodbye to California and moved to the south. Been around here ever since and will die here someday. Chris told me when I got home it was time to settle down as my boys were old enough to see my ways as the way to live. My oldest at 4 at a stoplight had rolled down his window and lucky for Chris he couldn't say his s's well asked a cop beside her "hey tucker (yes Tucker) want to drag"? An eye opener for sure.
Now I'm old, don't smoke, drink, take anything not legal and don't get into trouble. I think I had one ticket in the last 30 years or so quite a change from my youth. Would I do it again? You bet! I had a sudden urge just before I started this for a cigarette and a quart of the old Coors from 40 years ago to go with an 18" pizza. Anyone remember those? I wanted to go home again to a place gone for 40+ years. Now I know what mama meant about wishing to see her home city before she died.

Well take care all "see" you later.

 

Yes, I lived for the drag or road race! Had a couple that were epic. Two of those tickets were for over 300' of rubber and are still around somewhere. Sounds like a lot but they were through the station, across a road airborne for a ways then down an alley. Twice a cop saw me and I beat both tickets because I should have been written ONLY for the road distance instead of total distance.