Folks Of Interest Autographs...who ya got?

I got better. I have the memories of Arnie Beswick helping me to teach my mom for her 50th birthday how to drag race. Also the time Shirley Muldownie asked me to pack her parachute for her for the weekend. And a ton of other adventures like that from over the years. Nothing like having Herb McCandless busting your balls everytime you talk to him. Or hanging up on Dick LaHaie because he woke you up on a Saturday morning when you were hung over. Yea, I’ll take my memories over a piece of paper.

 

Hello,

Teenage years were some of the best times to remember and enjoy, then and now. Looking back to influential people during our turbulent teen years, my high school social studies/history teacher was one of the smartest, nicest teachers anyone could want. He had a way with students and other faculty members. His classes, as boring as the subject was, were some of the most popular ones in school.

When registration in the prior year came along, most of my friends selected his classes to make it through those years. World History in the 10th and U.S. History in the 11th grade were the fun two classes that we all liked. It also may have been that I was able to sit next to the coolest girl in school, both years. But, the teacher was the one to make the classes fun and informative. Informative as a timeline of history could muster. So, the addition of my friend, the cool girl, made it palatable.

Who was this guy? His name was “Mr. Komarnicki.” His own history came from a long background from Russia and he was one of the most well read teachers in the whole school. Not only was he smart, but, his feeling of getting information out to us and his methods of getting along with others was passed on during his classes. He was one of the most supportive teachers for most students.

Jnaki

One day after the World History Class, we saw him at a local grocery store at lunch time. We were allowed to go off campus for lunch at the time. He saw us and talked to all of us for a bit. Then he noticed that I got into the driver’s side of the 58 Black Impala. The next day, commented that the Impala was one good looking car, to me, in front of a bunch of students. That certainly made me feel pretty outstanding. One of our favorite teachers liked hot rods and fast teenage sedans.

It not only added plus points for him from all of us, but we now knew he was a hot rod enthusiast. He said he and his wife went to Lion’s Dragstrip once. They enjoyed the new surroundings and action, even though, it was too loud for the both of them. But, he still liked that we all had a good interest in custom cars/hot rods/sedans and drag racing. He drove a stock, 2 door post 1955 Chevy sedan in beige.

When he saw me drive up to school and park in the 40 Ford Sedan Delivery, he made it a special point of talking about how unusual and very cool the sedan delivery was for a teenager. (In the classroom, no less.) He said he had never seen one, but knew of our surfing adventures through my notebooks and drawings.

Then, when this article came out in our senior year, he tracked me down and highly approved of the feature in the last school newspaper for that school year of 1962. Then, just before the final day, I gave him my school yearbook to look at and he signed the book with a great comment.

"Search for the mystic path of truth..."

Those will always have me remember those good old days and some wonderful, teenage recognition during those times. Thanks, Mr. Komarnicki…

Where were you in 62?

 

My two favorites are Dale Earnhardt Sr. and A.J. Foyt. But, have several older Nascar and World of Outlaws also.

 

John Lydon AKA Johnny Rotten AKA singer of Sex Pistols and PIL

 

I got Alex and Pete's with a SOCAL diecast order years ago

 

I got these, when times were good !

 

I had some times shooting the shit with Scott Kalitta, Paul Lemat, George Barris, Gene Winfield, and alot of people in the industry, racers etc... One thing I always found was if you didn't do the fanboy crap and were genuine and just had a conversation with them, you can have alot more fun... Scott and I spent an hour in staging lanes checking out ladies and joking around... That's memories that a autograph cant produce. Smoking Cigarettes with Paul and shooting the breeze, Helping George at his display just cause no one cared enough to give that old man a little help with setup, checking out ladies with Gene...

Most of these people that people beat up for autographs just want some real conversation... Hell Finnegan and I have some old friends in common so we shared stories about that for a while for sure. I don't ask for autographs... I guess I am old fashioned... Id rather have a picture making memories... Too bad most of that happened before camera phones....

 

I have to autographs on the dash of my 1962 dodge lancer one of the late Darrell Alderman and one from Dean Skuza.