Thirty-two years ago I packed a negative away in a big cardboard box and tried to forget it. It was a picture of my first love: a 235 mph monster of a Corvette funny car that was in real danger of ruining my marriage and maybe my life.
In those carefree years between college and responsibility I worked as a crew chief for a professional drag racing team. I had grown up with a wrench in my hand. My grandfather was a mechanic, and I built my first race car, a Pontiac-powered '34 Ford when I was fifteen, followed by a little digger at eighteen. During college I worked building racing engines at Simonsen's in Chicago. By the time I graduated, I could build motors in my sleep, and a local racing team recruited me to wrench their car. I loved being alone in the shop with a fresh engine, turning it and listening to the new piston rings scrape the freshly honed cylinder walls. Feeling the drag on the wrench that was locked onto the front pulley. Checking cylinder leakdown and working hour after hour to get it to three percent. I fell in love with the smell of nitro and tire smoke, and the thrill of watching something I put together streak to over 200 mph in around six seconds. Burning that motor down, only to build another one for the next race. It was an incredible rush. In the interim I discovered women, fell in love all over again and got married, but the race car remained my focus. Seventy hours a week. From Miami to Maine, Texas to Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto. We toured the continent, made some money and had the time of our lives. We were on the radio: Sunday, Sunday, Screaming Yellow Fever, the world's fastest Corvette. And at 6.35, 237 mph, we were just that. And my wife was at home. She wanted no part of it, so it just didn't work. And I gave it up, and put the negative in a box along with the memories and the addiction. Over the years I forgot where that negative was, but today, while looking for something else, I rdiscovered it. The track photographer at US 30 dragstrip in Gary, Indiana shot the pic at a Wednesday night event thirty-two and a half years ago. I think he used a C2 Mamiya TLR. His name was Sundberg. I know because his name is written on the envelope that holds the negative. I just now scanned it and made myself a 13 x 19 print for the wall. I can look at it now without wishing I was back there. It's here: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6849463&size=lg Paul -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
