It's Not The Destination - It's The Journey

Relax - I'm not going to get all zen and philosophical on you; at least not too much. By the time you read this, it will be way old news, but the headline is just starting to make the magazine and print life cycle. Tom "The Mongoo$e" McEwen died more than two months ago on June 10th. I'm not going to expound greatly on his life, career, and other worthwhile signposts of his time on Earth. Back in my youth, I can remember playing with the matching Hot Wheels sets of the Snake & Mongoo$e Plymouth Duster and 'Cuda funny cars as well as the top fuel dragsters. I still have those die cast gems. I'll admit the dragsters are in better shape than the funny cars because the dragsters couldn't roll for shit because of the uber-skinny front wheels, their light weight, and the fact they were so long, they never worked all that great on a track, so I didn't play with them nowhere near as much as the funny cars. I have other Mongoo$e memorabilia ranging from magazines, Fleer drag racing cards, as well as historical books on the golden era of drag racing. The kicker was, I was never really a huge fan of Tom.

Looking back, I can honestly admit that I wasn't a huge fan because McEwen was never in the winners circle all that much. I can remember grunge match races he had with Don Prudhomme when I was younger. The number of races McEwen won you could count on one hand... and they match raced a lot. Reading into Tom's career, I discovered that his razor sharp skills were in sales and marketing. In this arena, he was a master pitch man. It was McEwen who nailed the multi-year contract with Mattel and Hot Wheels back in late 1969 and carried that relationship going almost into the mid-70's. Ditto could be said for his sponsorships with Coors and English Leather and also after he retired from driving in the 90's, with Drag Racing magazine when he worked as Motorsports Director.

You could say, when looking at McEwen's career in the rear view mirror, that while he was not a frequent winner, or set cake-loads of NHRA records, it was how memorably he raced and engaged in the sport of drag racing. And the sport is better for it. Good speed Tom.

Now that were done with what has passed, I wanted to delve briefly into what could very well be the future. I was at a car show last month where there was an absolute plethora of muscle cars, street rods, antique trucks, and drag racing machines. I was chatting with a friend of mine who owns a screaming yellow 1963 Chevy II that has a nasty blown 327 that competes regularly throughout the Northeast in nostalgia events. A woman and her 5-year old son approached us and asked if we knew the owner of the Chevy as her son thought it was cool. My friend spoke up and informed her that he was in fact the owner. Mom asked if her son could look inside the car. My friend is a more than gracious person, especially when it comes to kids. He told her, "We'll do even better, " squatted down and asked her son, "... how would you like to sit in it?" The young lad was so psyched, looked at his Mom for approval, and she replied, "If you want to." My friend opened the drivers door, hoisted him into the front seat, and even had him put his helmet on. While the boy couldn't even reach the pedals or steering wheel, you could still see his smile through the helmet. His Mom was so thrilled, she was almost in tears. After about 30 seconds in the car, the boy got out, as both he and his Mom thanked my friend. He said the pleasure was all his. My friend turned to me and said, "You know this as well as I do. Start them young. That's what will keep this hobby going. And they're not on the damn cell phone. It's a good thing."

This is one of the major reason why I dig car shows and family drag racing events. It's the people. Despite our differences, we all have to get along. Will this one event make a difference in the boys life? Maybe. Maybe not. But that's not the main point. The bottom line is, if all of us can make positive differences, big or small, we'll all enjoy the journey more than arriving at the destination. Way more.

Until next time, peace out.
Dave