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Drag Racing Stories
Bakersfield Dream
By Ron Miller
Everyone dreams of winning the lottery. If I did that, I would, like many others, maybe try to prove a point!
I would try what the Smokers did 50 years ago: invite every soul on the planet that had even a remotely legal Nostalgia Top Fuel car and PAY them to show up! Hardly anyone mentions that a BIG part of those early FAMOSO bashes was that the Smokers paid TOW MONEY! Might not have actually paid the cost of the fuel to get there, BUT at least some of that cost was covered by the promoter.
Then, I would advertise that the winner was KING of the universe! No race next week, or the next 20 weeks, no year long points race... THIS WOULD BE IT! Until a year rolled around, who ever won THIS RACE would be TOP DOG, KING Kong, BIG MUTHA! Say $100,000 to win, no runner-up, no round money, just pay the last man standing, enough that he could light his cigar with a $100 and say "the party’s on me!”
Today’s race winners’ accolades are diluted by next week’s winners, until it all blends into a big soup /stew that hardly anyone remembers. The drama of winning THE NATIONALS, THE WINTERNATIONALS, THE FUEL & GAS CHAMPIONSHIPS, were events that literally changed peoples lives!
There is no event today that can recapture that time, long ago, when people went to an event like going to MECCA and to win that event was to be the CHAMP for a YEAR!
The only thing close is the Bonneville Speedweek.
Well, we all can dream!
Ron Miller
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