I grew up at the Drag Strip during a time you might call the "old days." (although not as old as some of you!!! late 50's and 60's) As a little girl, it was the thrill of a lifetime hanging out in the pits around the great hot rodders! Cody Parr, Big Daddy Don Gartlit, Al Carter, Frank and Charlie Smith, Jimmy Nix, Reggie Cordrey, Roy Spradling, to name only a few! Riding in the push car, sitting at the top of the strip and counting the seconds before the christmas tree lights started, hoping and praying we don't get a red light, seeing the front tires lift off the ground and the cars disappear down the track in a blaze of smoke and flames and holding my breath as I watched and waited for the chute to open to ***ure me the drivers were safe! These are the memories that hooked me for a lifetime of loving old cars, hot rods and drag racing! When not at the drag strip you could find me bugging my dad and brother as they worked on engines, built new race cars, tore them apart or simply schemed on ways to make the car run faster! Other little girls my age played with dolls---I climbed all over the framework of dragsters and roadsters! My dad was one of the old guys (he's 90 now) that built airplane engines during the war---so you can imagine his ideas for gettin' a car down that quarter mile faster than the next guy! Alas, I became a professional musician! Music is my first love! It's a good thing my mother would not let me drive a racecar when I wanted to ---she was determined to make certain that I protected my hands at all costs! Being a music teacher still leaves plenty of time for my second love, though!!! Old cars, fast cars, street rods and the nostalgia of the early days of drag racing!
The Jalopy Journal
