Hi gang. Checking in from the road... tonight, it's Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Tomorrow, on the road to sister Judy's house in Kent, Ohio...
Time on the road has been great. At York Saturday we had a nice visit with dozens of great guys and gals. Met the beautiful and cool publisher of Vintage Nitro magazine. We are gonna do some ad trading. She was great and enjoying the East Coast scene (she's from Vegas). Had fun with Barb and Wally and Beverly Bell as I said elsewhere. Ate at Mama's Pizza that night. A little place off the beaten path in York. What a GREAT pizza! Man, that thing was huge and it was just like I ate in the old days in Cleveland. Such a small place that we had time to talk to the owner and the handyman, Steve, who filled us in on his daughters, one a pharmacist and another a chemical engineer! Steve leads a simple life, but he's done great things for his kids. He told Jason and Emily that story to pump them up for success through hard work.
Had a comfortable night and went to Beaver Springs Sunday morning. Got there at around 1pm. Again, met several terrific folks that I've met over the years. Beaver Bob McArdle runs a terrific track there. He's been after me to come up to his nostalgia event for about five years now. When he saw us at the track today, he said, "NOW we can start the event -- Bill Pratt is here." I told him I'd come one day!
But it gets better... before the race, Bob called all the "Legends" up to the starting line for a group photo and to say a few words each to the fans. I told Denise, Emily, and Jason that I was going to go out among the photogs to get a few shots of the legends with my camera. As they are setting up the drag racing stars for the photo, Bob spots me and says, "PRATT, I want you over here... You're a legend just for finally coming." So there I am, back row, just behind Big Daddy Don Garlits, just to the left of Hemi Hunter driver Dale Thierer, and among such luminaries as Bud Faubel, Bruce Larson, Jungle Pam, Bob Fermier, and the list went on and on. I got the mini interview and everything... just said that it was great to finally be here, how nice the track was and everything (it was). Anyway, there I was -- a wannabe among true stars, but nobody threw anything. Neat to have the family there to see it...
Got to talk to tons of great racers, including the great guys with the Rubber City Connection and Army Armstrong, the guy who runs the new Flying Dutchman tribute car. Those guys staged a great first round match, with Chris in the Connection car taking a close 7.57 to 7.67 win, after which Army blew the blower and put her in the sand. Hopefully Army gets it put back together soon. First round also had a local guy in a 6.30 capable turbo pro mod 63 Corvette against the Hemi Hunter top fuel car! The Mill Road Boys were supposed to run the Hunter, but couldn't make it. The Hunter had the Corvette until about 1000 feet, when it got a little squirrelly and had to lift, allowing the Corvette to eke out a 7.04 second win! Lou Sgro, in his newly painted Underboss Demon, faced off against Bob Rosetty in the beautiful Rollin Stoned Cuda. Lou got a 6.8 second win... didn't catch Bob's times. The Tweety car was there, too, but Bob didn't run it.
It was sunny and beautiful when we first got there, but as the first round began, some BLACK clouds came rolling in over the mountain, and soon the winds came and the temps dropped about 30 degrees! Everybody headed for their cars and not a moment too soon as the skies OPENED UP! Denise and the kids just made it to the van in time. At the same time, I was by the Rubber City Connection trailer and their pop up had blown up over top of their trailer! I and another crew guy grabbed it and pulled it back down, and just in time to get underneath from the deluge! We had to hold it tight... the two funny car crews rolled up then and got those cars into the trailers ASAP! The wind was blowing so hard that I was afraid that it would lift up the propped up bodies just like it did the pop up tent. The guys got the cars loaded in like one minute and then came and joined us under the pop up... the rains were MASSIVE... but the pop ups kept us mostly dry. This area had just been hammered in the flooding from the last few weeks, and there was no where for the water to go (couldn't soak in). It was about an inch deep in places on the grass.
Denise and the kids came and searched me out and I made a run for it to the van. We drove to nearby Selinsgrove for dinner and hotel. Ate at a place called Tedd's Landing. Server was amazing, when she could get to us. As many places do, there were not enough wait staff for the folks there. Food was about a C plus, especially considering the price. Weak drinks, stale bread on the hamburgers, burned steak, mushy Halibut, stale crab legs. The appetizers were good, but everything else was so so. Denise said it best, The food didn't live up to the atmosphere of the place. Might have been the best place in this town, but we are pretty spoiled being from the big city... (at least when you're eating in a supposedly top end place that charges 40 bucks a head on average. Oh well... hit the Dairy Queen on the way back for sundaes and then kicked back in the hotel to rest up for a big highway ride tomorrow...
Will get photos up here as soon as I'm smart enough to remember to bring the cameras in from the van... talk to you with another installment tomorrow... bp