When I was a drag racing funny car mechanic in the early seventies, we
used to race in Miami once a month in the winter. The car was owned and
driven by "Fast Eddy" O'Brien. I was the hired help. I built the race
cars and motors and kept them running. We were based in Chicago. It was
1373 miles from our shop on 50th and Damen to the race track in the
Miami suburb of Hollywood. We'd leave Thursday night, arrive Friday
afternoon, race Saturday and Sunday and head back Sunday night. We
pulled a 22 foot, 15,000 lb. trailer behind a Chevy pickup truck with a
454 rat motor. We always had at least three people. Sometimes we
brought our wives or girlfriends, which meant six. Of course it was
just a one seat truck. But we had a cap over the back, so some of us
would ride in the bed wrapped in blankets. We were all in our early
twenties and mildly crazy. I remember having sex with my wife in the
bed once or twice with another couple next to us doing the same thing.
Sometimes it was only twenty degrees back there in the bed when we left
Chicago. We always drove straight through. Our best time was 17 hours.
We averaged about 90 while on the road. I drove all the way home by
myself once, because my boss decided he wanted to steal a car from the
hotel parking lot. (He was a part time racer and a full-time crook. I
usually didn't hear about his illegal exploits, but I couldn't miss
that one. He served time some years later.) I made it all the way on a
handful of amphetamines and half a dozen joints. Luckily my wife was
along to talk to me and tell me when I drifted off the road. Eddy was
following us in the steamer. He said I put three or four cars in the
ditch, when I passed and pulled back over too soon. So it goes.
On Mar 10, 2006, at 5:30 PM, Kenneth Waller wrote:
Daytona is a 21-to-24-hour drive from Toronto, done non-stop if you
have two drivers
I did that from Detroit, back in 1969, for the 500, with another
driver in his brand new Mercury Cyclone (19 hours IIRC), Saw the
Prelim race (a driver was killed in front of us), we had enough and
left Sunday morning (before the 500) drove back & was @ work Monday
Morning.
Kenneth Waller
----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Robinson"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Sorta OT: Old bike racing photos (Daytona)
On Mar 8, 2006, at 20:53, Pat White wrote:
Now for the gee-it-was-tough-back-in-the-day part: Daytona is a 21-
to-24-hour drive from Toronto, done non-stop if you have two
drivers.
*Drivers?!?!?*
4 wheels to a bike event?!?!
Since there's a strong likelihood of mountain storms on I-95 in
early March, you'd take I-75 all the way from Detroit, but you
might have to drive through blizzards from Toronto until you were
well south of the Motor City.
Oh. OK. Maybe that makes it OK.
-Charles
--
Charles Robinson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Minneapolis, MN
http://charles.robinsontwins.org
