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“I'm reminded of one of my racing adventures. I took...”

written by on 09/03/2010

I'm reminded of one of my racing adventures. I took my 998cc '63 Mini Cooper, to Fremont Dragstrip sometime in the summer of '64 to dispel the myth that cars that go fast around corners can't go fast in a straight line--allowances for whatever classification notwithstanding.



If you recall how giantized the cars of the day were, you'll guess at the pile of greasy hot rodder derision heaped upon humble me and the red and black "shoebox". I basically just wanted to see how quickly my red and black turtle could go in a quarter. My wife and a couple of friends were along and sat in the bleachers.



My big mod for the day was to let some air out of the front tires and pump up the rears to somewhat alleviate the weight shift. Since tubes were required for auto-xing, I wasn't in terror of losing a bead, at least not in a straight line. The tires were the standard Dunlop, whatever-by-10", bias ply's, no less.



For giggles, the starter lined up my first pass against a "C Gas" '57, Chevy, a very hot car of the day. I remember that car was orange, but I knew nothing of classes for straight-line racing.



Everyone in the bleachers snickered as we toed the line, but then hushed as the X'mas tree greened and I beat the guy off the line and still had the lead as we roared (in the case of the chevy), and buzzed loudly in my case, past the stands. My wife attested that the entire amazed bleachers stood and cheered as we went past. Fists were pumped!



Of course, the orange blur I to my left had already reconstituted into solidity and was burbling into the far exit ramp when the red-lined "I-think-I-can" Mini got to the 1320 foot mark. Later however, I won my class and took home a nice trophy, one of my favorites.