12-2-2017

It's been 6 weeks since the CHRR. This has been languishing in my drafts folder for almost as long. We had a great time. I won't attribute it to anything one concern did or didn't do. It was simply because all the things we love were there.  Our friends, old and new, were first and foremost the key ingredient. The cars, sights, sounds and smells were the flavor. I was going to make this some deep, insightful piece to stir the intellect and drive home a point.  Forget that noise. Unfortunately, some weren't there due to loyalty and I can't fault that and will be the first to defend their right to do so. But, they missed a better product than last year. It was leaner in some respects, which made it better.  The photos show people, places and things, random and varied like the inside of my head. 

 Yesterday was 45 years since The Last Drag Race at Lions. I was 9 years old and as far away as the sun is from the earth. I remember reading about it a few months later in the magazines.  Even those who weren't there were affected by its closing. If you haven't seen it, you should watch Don Gillespie's 3 DVD set about Lions. You will not be disappointed.  By some stroke of luck, I possess a piece of that last race, in the form of the Hippo. What a rich history we are the care takers of. On the Hippo front, we've decided to hold off on posting photos until it makes its first public showing. I can assure you, it is in the hands of the master, Corey Conyers and he is duplicating every nuance and detail of the original Sorrell body.

Stay tuned.

NOSTALGIA DRAG WORLD - Words & photos courtesy of Eddie Buck