How Extreme Are You?

Every once in a while, I like to take a slight detour on things and this week is one of them. Now that I'm over a half century old, I can look back on some of my personal automotive history and think to myself that I've done some crazy things in my life. Examples that come to mind quickly are as follows:
 - The time I drove through the 2nd largest city in New England on an early Saturday morning in my 1971 Dodge Charger R/T with a 440 six-pak, to a buddy's garage to fix the front brakes. What made it eventful was the fact it had zero brakes at the time. The fact the car was a 4-speed helped. My loving wife drove in front of me as we crawled down the four lane road with our hazards on doing about 20 mph, until we got to the side street and snaked into the garage where my friend worked on old cars in his spare time. To this day, I'm grateful that the old-style Ford Bronco my wife was driving had the rear bumper prepped with heavy duty foam and several blankets wrapped around it, just in case she had to apply the brakes and I bumped into her; which of course happened. Thankfully, neither we nor the vehicles were any worse for wear. Why didn't we just tow it? Simple - nobody we knew had a trailer, nor a tow vehicle, and the local AAA drivers were clueless about towing an old vehicle. But more honestly to the point, we were just young, way to adventurous, and slightly stupid.

- The 2nd example was the time I installed new u-joints in a 1968 Coronet R/T I had after the Charger. One of those u-joints just didn't feel right, but I test drove it anyway. Of course, I didn't give it a gentle test drive; after all, it was a Hemi 4-speed car. I power shifted into 3rd going up a hill, doing well over 90 mph, when the rear u-joint let go and the driveshaft came up through the floor board. Now I had to explain to my wife about how two u-joints suddenly blossomed into more u-joints, a driveshaft and bodywork... lots of it. And this took place back in the day before the flood of aftermarket parts hit the market by the late '80's and early '90's. Again, I was young, too cocky, and stupid. However, both events were pretty extreme in my book.

Fast forward to last week. I was writing an article for a client about some bizarre automotive sports. Some I was familiar with, others were a new discovery. One of these discoveries was the unofficial sport of Automotive Polo. It followed the same rules as regular polo, except they used cars instead of horses. After viewing several photos for the article, I can honestly say these guys were hardcore. Apparently, the sport was very popular at fairs, exhibitions and sports venues across the United States and several areas in Europe from 1911 until the late 1920s. The man who is credited with being the inventor of auto polo is Ralph "Pappy" Hankinson, a Ford automobile dealer from Topeka who devised the sport as a publicity stunt in 1911 to sell Model T cars. Leave it to a car salesman to come up with such an insane idea. The reported first "game" of auto polo occurred in an alfalfa field in Wichita on July 20, 1912 and was witnessed by over 5,000 people. While there was numerous injuries and broken bones as one can imagine, not just to the players, but sometimes the spectators, there were only one or two deaths during the span of the almost 20 years the sport existed. As you examine the photo above right, groove on the lack of body padding, and totally open cockpit vehicles.

That was then, let's look at now. One motorsport that is still extremely popular, as well as downright hilarious, is extreme Barbie Jeep racing. Whenever I see highlight footage of this stuff, I laugh so hard, my sides hurt. I honestly don't know why. My wife, on the other hand, just shakes her head, and tells me, "This is why as a society we cannot have nice things. Because we're just too stupid." Nevertheless, what most likely makes this sport extreme are two facts; One, is that the drivers gain so much speed, the cars literally fall apart from the drivers weight as well as the bumps. We're talking tires, hoods, and even steering wheels. Face it, Mattel (or whomever) never made these rigs for this type of punishment. Two, is the fact that some drivers wear little else besides a helmet and jeans (which are required). Some of the participants have been doing this gig long enough, (I'm still unsure if that's kinda sad in a way), that they know you can get really banged up if you have a bad spill. Some of these guys literally dress as if they're in a full-on motocross race. And for good reason. Google it if you don't believe me.

I guess it all goes back to that famous phrase, "There's a hobby or sport for everyone." 'Nuff said.

Until nest time, peace out
Dave

Is Your Car Honest?

Before we get started, I'm going to lay down a few confessions: I'm aging, (not old - that's a negative state of mind), and I like things, especially go-fast vintage automobiles, to be honest. Let me explain a little deeper. I can dig just about any year or make, car or truck (heck I've even seen some flat-out cool buses and oil delivery rigs) as long as there isn't some sort or level of bullshit involved. I can remember a few car aficionados talking with this young guy about the 1974 Roadrunner he had brought to a car show last summer. He said the vehicle ran 8's in the quarter mile. "It's unbelievable!" he told us. Yup - he was right; it was totally unbelievable. It had a modified 440 engine (unsure of the year), no turbos, no nitrous, and almost a stock suspension setup. As bad ass as the Plymouth was, there was no way in hell this Mopar B-body was that fast. We asked him details about the drive-train, chassis, etc., to which he had none... because it was his old man's rig.

I kinda get the same feeling in my gut when I browse the classifieds on Racing Junk. I have a yen for the "Radical Street Cars" section under the Drag Racing Cars section. But how many grains of salt do I take when I see a beautiful classic car that's "regularly street driven" but the motor has 13.5:1 compression? I don't know about you, but racing gas is stupid expensive to buy and not widely available. We're lucky if we get 93 octane. And with what passes for gas these days, even that can be a crap shoot. Maybe racing or 100-octane fuel is available in your neck of the woods. If it is, be uber grateful - because most of us don't have that Cadillac problem.

Remember a few years ago that insane 1970 Chevy C-10 that came out of Oklahoma that went viral all over the net and even eventually found it's way into the pages of Hot Rod magazine dubbed "Farm Truck"? The formula was simple - take an absolute beat C-10 (but with a nice interior I might add), stuff a massive big block between the front fenders, give it nosebleed amount of nitrous, add some massive slicks on the back and viola - one of the best sleepers that went deep into the 12's at first and finished into the 11's. The details on this truck

were incredible as well as honest. Like many popular rigs, it spawns copies -  which is not a bad thing - as long as it's honest. A guy in our local area built a similar truck, (except his was a '67), and he used a small-block LS motor with twin turbos. The truck never pretended to be something it wasn't. It was beat, but well thought out, the time slips spoke for themselves, (as well the rubber from the racing slicks), and it was totally true to itself. 

So whatever you're building, riding in, about to purchase, or pass on to a new owner, stock or heavily modified, make sure your ride is honest - no bullshit. The hot rodding world will thank you for it.

Until next time, peace out.
Dave