Wednesday, August 23, 2006


I remember winning a little drag race....

It was summer down in Southern Alberta, and it was hot. HOT. HOT!!! Our family was driving to Lake Newell near Brooks to spend a day at the lake. My little sister and I were sitting in the back seat of Dad's 1974 Mercury Montcalm, legs sticking to the vinyl from the heat.

As we pulled up to a stop light in Brooks, a very shiny red fancy car pulled up beside us. I don't know what kind of car it was, I was only a kid. Dad, with a twinkle in his eye, looked through Mom's open window to the young driver and revved the engine. The guy looked back at Dad, saw the family sitting in the giant boat of a car, and laughed. Dad revved the engine again.

The light turned green. The young guy put the pedal to the floor and pulled away, but Dad only let him get up to the front bumper, and then Dad hit it. We soared past that sports car and left him in the dust!! My little sister and I were bouncing up and down in the back seat from excitement! Wahoo!! The family beat the young hot shot! We looked back at him through the rear windshield and laughed and hooted.

At the next red light, the sports car pulled up beside us. "What do you have under the hood of that thing?" he asked my Dad. Dad told him some big number, 235 or 438 or something (I was just a kid, I don't remember!). The young man looked very impressed. He learned not to judge a car by its cover that day.

Too bad they weren't racing for pink slips!

6 comments:

Spoke said...

I was at a light in my trusty 20 year old 72 Ford Cortina when a guy in a Triumph pulled up beside me. He kept gesturing with his head "you wanna go?" I laughed and shouted that I was in a Cortina. He kept gesturing never taking his eyes off me. I quickly checked for cross traffic and punched it while the light was still red...the kid whipped ahead and through the "red" intersection. I stopped in the crosswalk. My light went green and I carried on. When I got along side him again, he didn't look at me.

RC said...

what a fun story, your dad sounds like a fun-loving adventuresome guy.

--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com

layne (herman) said...

Drag racing the family car!

My dad never did that, though he would playfullydrive down the street making my mom chase after the car on a couple of occasions to my sister and mine amusement... it was one of those things where just as mom got to the door, off 20 feet dad would go.

He never carried it too far though, Mom was a good sport.

No Longer Here - see My Own Lamp Post said...

I work with the new and fancy cars of today's modern world and let me tell you when one of the gorgeous older cars made of metal come in, we all ooh and aah and hope we'r eth eone driving it, even if it's a bomb. They just don't make em like they used to!

Anonymous said...

Hey, summer's over. We want some new posts!!
Sincerely,
The Paula's I Remember Fan Club

Anonymous said...

I remember that car!!!