It's All Our Fault, Ya Know

    My only granddaughter once told me, "Ya know - it's because of your generation (boomers) is why
our generation can't do anything." While I agree that we did some crazy shit back from the 50's through the 70's, whether as kids or adults, we can't be blamed for everything. I gently remind her something to the tune of because of her generation is why we have no sense of history anymore, we scan or scroll, we don't read, and you killed numerous entertainment industries with all your streaming. So there. To be honest, however, being safe whether at work or at play, has evolved in one form or another over the past 100+ years. The work place obviously came first. But I feel at some point in the 80's or 90's is where things really spilled over into the private and home-life sector. It seems nowadays that society seems obsessed with safety - and even the mere hint that a particular product or form of behavior is unsafe causes it to be denounced as immoral. Unfortunately, the very obsession with safety fosters a climate of anxiety that makes people feel more insecure, not less. Which may be the exact points my granddaughter is getting at.

  

Without going down this rabbit hole, regardless of opinion, I still love setting the Full Throttle time machine back to what I consider a golden era of memories and madness - both in a good way. One thing you may remember, even if you are of the early Gen-X crowd, is how many kids Evil Knievel influenced (and not intentionally - he was an entertainer as he called himself) and those kids took to jumping their bicycles using some homemade ramps, usually using Dad's stuff (in some cases saw horses) from the garage along with some beat up sheets of plywood, and bounding over everything from other bikes to kids laying on the ground. I had a neighbor friend who used to attempt this when we were around junior high school age - things came to a crashing halt (no pun intended) when he attempted to jump the family Ford Bronco with his bike. Even though I wasn't present for this fiasco, he ended up damaging his bike and himself pretty thoroughly. His parents were still pissed afterwards for a long time even though he recovered nicely and the Bronco never sustained any damage. As my friend told me several months later, "... not damaging the car; that was the important thing." 

   Moving into the drag racing sector, in the early '60's, Chicago was a hotbed for drag racing - indoor
drag racing that is during the long winter months. Apparently, Chicago was home to the only indoor drag racing event in the country at the International Amphitheater. The concept was simple enough. House the event in an enormous warehouse type building with plenty of lighting. Make sure the building is big enough to have an adequate shut down and turn off area (gotta think of safety here - don't want cool cars smashing into concrete walls). Then finally maybe consider some proper ventilation to deal with all the exhaust emissions. Well, okay, two outta three ain't bad. We're unsure of the exact history of this event that was hosted by racing promoter Bill Schade. The first indoor drag racing event was held on December 30, 1962, which was a huge success. A second racing event took place on January 5, 1964. After that, indoor drag racing just sorta disappeared with zero explanations. 

  

Going back a bit further into the 1950's and hopping across the pond over to England, we delve into the wild but cool hobby of diesel powered slot cars. Apparently, even in England, fumes made things more way more fun. Back in the early years - and we’re talking as far back as the 1930's  - the electric slot cars we played with as kids and know today had yet to be popularized. In their place (in many cases) were scratch built 1/16th scale metal replicas of period race cars powered by smoky little diesel engines, running along a raised central rail. And some of these miniature buggers could scoot up to 60 miles per hour! Now, if you're the slightest bit worried about the hazards of diesel slot cars running at an indoor track, you didn't have to worry about a thing. A set of hairdryers were repurposed to blow away the smog at the beginning the beginning of the race. That’s all you need, right? These slot cars were in essence an outgrowth of the pre-World War II phenomenon of tether cars, which were similar except they were raced around a circular track while being guided by a central tether. Picture something like a kid winging around one of those model planes on a string. That also sounded like good, dangerous fun. 

Until next time, fun fun and play responsibly... or not. Peace out.