Rick Voegelin's 55 Gasser

Thanks for the tale. Those were "Golden Days!" In California we were particularly blessed with dragstrips. There was San Fernando, Orange County Raceway, Lions in Long Beach, Pomona, L.A. County Raceway, and Irwindale, right off the top of my head. Living in Northern Los Angeles, I was about 30 minutes from any of them by freeway, except OCR. A trip to OCR took an hour!
Lions was the King, but OCR and Irwindale hosted some
awesome shows. The adds for OCR had the familiar "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!" tagline. Local Dj's would sometimes broadcast from OCR to add a little more 'juice' to the occasion.
L.A. D.J.'s all had specific personalities and of course nicknames. We had "Humble Harv, "The Real Don Steele" and eventually in his latter days even the legendary "Wolfman Jack." Yes, THAT Wolfman Jack, from the American Graffiti Movie. (That was actually Jack playing himself. When you heard his howl and that gruff voice announcing "Hey Baby, dis is da Wolfman, Baby and everything gonna be alright!" You knew you were in for a couple of hours of good sounds for Hot Summer nights. We were also bless with4- 5 Rock stations at any given time. KFWB, KHJ ("BOSS
RADIO") KRLA., and a couple of FM stations playing album cuts.
Rock and Roll, Surfing, and Hot Rods have always been linked in California, and I was blessed to have grown up in such an innocent time. Born a little to late to be much marked by specter
of Viet Nam (the draft ended a year or so after I registered), but early enough to see the advent and heydey of the Muscle car era.
One thing that was a blessing to a would-be Hot Rodder/ tinkerer, was the simplicity of the cars, and the fact that Dad usually knew a bit about autos himself, and could offer a bit of guidance. It didn't hurt That Dad also would look appreciatively at the latest Detroit offerings: GTO's, 442's, 390 Fairlanes......
He tried every one of them in a roadtest before settling on a 'sensible' Four door 1965 Galaxie. At least he ordered the Medium-High Performance 390 with the 4 barrel! Later, he went completely overboard after that car was totalled and bought a 1966 Two Door Galaxie with a 429. After that, a full size Merc,
(one never said "Mercury") with the brutish 428.

My fav was the 1966 Galaxie. It was Jet Black and had the fastback rear window just like Fred Lorenzen's Nascar entry that was on "Wide World of Sports" on those special Sundays.

Before this, the family owned a brace of 1957 Ford Fairlanes. Dad's was a black Four door he bought used with white Naugahyde Tuck and Roll upholstery. My sisters car was the same year Two Door in two paint; Yellow over black. Cars had real style and personality. Wish I had that Two door now!
One thing that is good about the passing years, is that I have learned to value what seemed ordinary back then. All generations do this, of course, and the best we can do is pass some of those memories and values to the next generation.
HO slot racing btw, seems like a real natural for this kind of Father-Son interaction that is so needed these days.... well thats whats on my mind today, my memory having been jogged by Rick's memories. How about sharing YOURS?