TV Tommy Ivo's First Ride

By Tom Ivo

Tommy Ivo's first ride had only four horsepower!
Photo thanks to Tom Ivo

I was making a western movie when I was twelve years old. I was cast as a little practical joking monster (good casting). I stole this full on, four horse (powered) stagecoach, after we had stopped for a "pit stop" for those with weak bladders. I charged away "down the course" (horse trail) all by myself. They had to "seat belt" me (no shoulder harnesses because it could be seen) onto the driver's seat at the "top" of the stagecoach. Eight feet off the ground and no "roll bar." You see, I had to do my own "driving" instead of a stunt (midget) double because you could see it was me on camera when it "left the line." And I launched away from the scene with a ".456 reaction time." What a ride. At that age, it was just as exciting as the time I rolled my dragster over in the lights at Pomona!

TV Tommy's said his first ride was just as exciting as this one! Photo by Paul Sadler

Of course, they had a hidden driver down in the large pocket where your feet go. He used the "steering" lines through a hole, down low in the front of the stagecoach between the horses. I held onto a dummy (perfect for me) set of "steering" straps, just for looks. When that thing "left the line" with only "four" horsepower, I bet it would have outrun Warren Johnson's pro stocker for the first 60 feet. (Or close?) <grin> Anyway, it was my first ride in a fast accelerating vehicle and it "set the stage." That ride whet my appetite for fast accelerating cars that started just four years later and lasted for 30 years. For those of you who have driven a drag race car, where did you take your first ride?

TV Tom
tvtom2@earthlink.net