Spending the past week surrounded by new and old Mustang Cobra Jets, reading recent blog items about 2010 Camaros getting built, and hearing news about new dragstrips opening has got me thinking about how we all got here and where we are going. By here, I mean the world of cars. Stories by Don Prudhomme in the new NHRA commercials, candid conversations with Shirley Muldowney in the new Hot Rod, my personal bench racing with Jim Waldo and John Calvert, and the thousands of stories we’ve all heard from Joe America hot rodder all had me reflecting on the moments in life that have defined me as a car guy, as well as the industry in general. And then I saw Dan DiVita’s Super Gas car in the lanes at Pomona. I grew up with that car!
Just when you think that the world we live in is nothing but doom and gloom, from the economy to war, we get the new 2009 Cobra Jet Mustangs from Ford, 2010 Camaro bodies in white from GM Performance Parts, and Drag Pack Challengers from Mopar. These are the cars of legend, and their early counterparts are the fabric of drag racing as we know it. The public is taking notice, as evidenced by the throngs of people surrounding the new Cobra Jets at the 2009 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona. Each of them had their own story of the one their mom had in 1968 that was just like it, but with a six cylinder, or the one they actually raced in 1968. Every story led to another, fueling the speculation, awe and wonder about the current version.
These stories, along with DiVita’s car, brought back all my memories of growing up at Fremont Drag Strip. Memories of getting timeslips from Steve Evans, getting my first autograph from Big Daddy and Shirley, and watching Snake and Mongoose run the Hot Wheels Funny Cars. But as cool as those stories are, it’s getting to drive the car off the trailer when I was 10, and guiding dad into the water box, and doing recon on the car we’d meet in the next round, that made this world of cars MY car world. Names like Walt Reynolds, Alan Pontier, the Seipel Family, Gary Strineck, Dave Schmitz, Gary Sutton, Maurice Williams, Uncle Butch, the Wann brothers, the Aceves brothers, and Jim Alves, don’t mean anything to any of you. They are the people I grew up with at the track and who helped form my car world. No race car driver in history is cooler to me than my dad, Walt Reynolds. Dad can bang gears against anyone, and I’ve met Sox and Martin. Win or lose, Dad was and always will be my biggest racing hero.
And his stories are priceless! All his buddies had them, just like we do now. Although I can’t imagine topping Don Durban pulling the chute on his dragster…while riding in it, on the trailer, on the freeway. Those guys ruled.
Undoubtedly you’ve got similar stories from your own dad, uncle, brother or whoever it was who got you into cars. I listen to the stories from all around the country, and thank GM, Ford, and Mopar for still keeping the dream alive. And to the guys still operating dragstrips, or opening new ones, thank you too. It’s these cars, these tracks, and the people in our lives that will help us keep our car world ours, and help our children build their own.
