Riverside 1965. The Riverside drags were held on the back straight of the
"road course." The strip went backwards to the normal direction of
the track. Many of the teams used the "road course" pit lane over
on the other side of "turn nine" to work on their cars. You would
pull off to one side and work on your car, then push down the middle of the
pit lane to go back to the starting line.
OK... it was a nice warm sunny day. We finish working on our car, and
start to push down the lane. Sorokin is in the dragster, Skinner is driving
the ‘55 Chevy push car, and I'm riding "shotgun," when this very
lovely young lady, who is obviously getting a good start on her summer tan,
walks across the lane in front of us. All three of us are staring at this
wonderful sight while the dragster runs into the back of Ed Pink's brand
new "high buck" Dodge station wagon.
When the dragster hits, it knocks Skinner forward and he hits the gas on
the push car and squashes the dragster further into Ed's new wagon. Our
"wadded up" dragster now has the front wheels almost back up on
top of the blower when it finally stops. We are still looking at this young
lady as it all "crushes" to a stop; she looks back over her
shoulder, smiles, and continues on her way.
Pink was working on his dragster at the time and saw this whole deal go
down. To Pinky's eternal credit, he didn't say a word to us; he just shook
his head and looked at the ground. He knew his car had just been trashed by
something as natural as gravity, young boys and young girls...
He knew we didn't have two nickels to rub together and didn't even ask us
pay for the damage that surely was worth more than everything the three of
us owned. Fortunately, we didn't hit his race car or anybody; the only
damage was to his wagon and our dragster.
Tom Jobe..."Surfers"...