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#1
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I've recently renewed a friendship with a fellow who ran a Jr. Fueler at our strip back in the late 60s. Mike Coker is still active in Nostalgia Racing and has been a big help to us furnishing vintage pictures for our website.
He sent me this e-mail today. Thanks Mike! You Know You're a Drag Racing Addict if: You have two dogs at home named "Snake" and "Mongoose". You want to have kids just so you can run a Jr. Dragster (Jeff Morocco) You know more about a drivers career than his wife does Your weed whacker was blue printed by Keith Black You put a 60-foot launch pad in your backyard instead of a pool After your garage door opens you "stage" and wait on the tree before pulling out After one pass around the yard on your lawn mower you read the plug and "fatten er up". During the winter you roll the windows down just to smell the tire smoke from skidding tires. You can't remember your spouse's birthday, but you know the e.t. and speed records in every professional class. You think the purpose of wings is to prevent flight You catch yourself saying, "I wish stoplights would flash yellow before they turn green." That way you could get a better reaction time You know Hookers are headers You memorize the Summit and Jeg's catalog so you can build your dream car in your mind when you're bored "Going to the lanes" means getting ready to race, not going to roll some stupid heavy ball down a wood floor, to knock down pins. Your home page is set at NHRA.com or Simply-Wicked.com. When Introducing your family, You refer to them as your crewmembers. You see burnout marks in the pavement and try to determine how serious a car it was by the length and width of the stripes. Then you say, I coulda done better. You refer to a cold day as "fast air." While your squirting dish soap in the sink , you're thinking about priming the injector. When you joined the AARP. you got mad because they didn't send you a pin, a patch, a rule book, or 48 issues of anything You talk in your sleep and your wife wakes you up in the middle of the night and wants to know who Shirley, Connie, and Yorba Linda are. You describe someone who's upset as being "on the chip" or "on the tire." You've even told a co-worker that your nutty boss finally "tossed the belt." You refer to an employee who didn't show to work as "having a cylinder out." You use the emergency brake handle as the "hand brake" while inching up at a stoplight, pretending your staging. You send a monthly letter to the city council asking it to move the traffic lights to street level because looking up is messing up your reaction time. Your wife and kids report you missing 24 times a year. Your are more enthusiastic about getting your National DRAGSTER in the mail than a check. You don't know Richard Nixon was from Yorba Linda, Calif., but you do know John Force is. You'll spend $300 for a single slick, but you won't spend more than $150 for all four new tires on your mini van. You run your mini van tires at 6psi You have a shift light in your minivan You call the freeway offramp the "shutdown area" You refer to the New zMAX Dragway at Concord and Bristol Dragway as "the happiest Places on earth"! While you're shopping for underwear, you find yourself looking for an SFI tag. You know that all the things they claimed to do to that car in Grease can't really be done at the same time. You have a CD mix of car songs, including "409," "little Deuce Coupe," "and "Shutdown." You honk and give a thumbs-up to any other car on the road sporting an NHRA Member sticker. You drive 350 miles to your sisters just because there is a drag strip 20 miles from her house You never wanted to play with your friends sister until you found out she had a dragster now you will drive 350 miles just be with her. You take your helmet along when you go to buy new eyeglasses or check out cars. When something falls off of your car, you wonder how much weight you just saved. You bought a race car before buying a house. You're looking for a new tow vehicle and still haven't bought furniture! The requirements you give your real estate agent are (in order of importance): 1) 8 car climate controlled garage with an attached shop. 2) Outside parking for 6 cars, a motor home, a crew cab dually, a 28' enclosed trailer and a 34' 5th wheel. 3) 3 phase 220V outlets in the garage for your welder. 4) A grease pit. 5) Deaf neighbors. 6) Some sort of house with a working toilet & shower on the property - or - hookups for the motor home. You have enough spare parts to build another car. More than one racer supply store recognizes your voice and greets you by name when you call. You save broken car parts as "mementos". You've found your lawnmower runs pretty good on 108 octane gas (but doesn't particularly care for alcohol). The local police and state highway patrol have a picture of your car taped to their dashboard. Instead of pictures in your wallet, you have time slips. After you tell your wife where you'd like to go on vacation she answers: "Why...is there a race there?" You are on a first-name basis with owners of every local speed shop. You are the type of person who goes ballistic when you have to sit in a traffic jam for more than five minutes, yet you can spend five hours in the staging lanes. Every stoplight becomes a practice tree to test your ability to tree the guy in the other lane's eyes out. You wash your car like it was your firstborn child, you tend to its needs like it was your own body, you protect it like it's your family, then you drive it like you stole it. When someone asks your weight, you tell them the weight of your car with and without a driver You use racing fuel as an after shave. You treat a traffic light, like a Christmas Tree
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Don't mistake education for intelligence. I worked with educated people. I socialize with intelligent people. |
#2
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![]() ![]() ![]() You see burnout marks in the pavement and try to determine how serious a car it was by the length and width of the stripes. Then you say, I coulda done better. ![]() You've found your lawnmower runs pretty good on 108 octane gas [b] And the smell makes the job much more enjoyable! ![]()
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#3
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Sam... ![]() |
#4
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i can admit to all of those....especially these two.......
You want to have kids just so you can run a Jr. Dragster (Jeff Morocco) The requirements you give your real estate agent are (in order of importance): 1) 8 car climate controlled garage with an attached shop. 2) Outside parking for 6 cars, a motor home, a crew cab dually, a 28' enclosed trailer and a 34' 5th wheel. 3) 3 phase 220V outlets in the garage for your welder. 4) A grease pit. 5) Deaf neighbors. 6) Some sort of house with a working toilet & shower on the property - or - hookups for the motor home. that is just awesome. hey Dennis, was Mike Coker at the reunion by any chance? there was a guy there that had Dominic sign a card for him and he also signed something for Dominic. he said he was the first to 220 mph in a dragster. i cant read his signature though. same guy ?? |
#5
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crap..over half of that I have been doing for years
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#6
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"was Mike Coker at the reunion by any chance?"
I doubt it Jeff, but I'll ask him. Mike ran an injected, nitro fueled SBC Front engine dragster in the day. Now his son Troy has taken over the driving duties in a similar car.
__________________
Don't mistake education for intelligence. I worked with educated people. I socialize with intelligent people. |
#7
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You forgot the plastic bushes, trees, and astroturf.
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#8
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this is the guy........
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#9
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Nope, that's not Mike. Here's an old shot of him at our strip. (Mike on the right). This is from a newspaper feature they did just after our strip opened, dated Sept. 15, 1968.
![]() And a shot of Troy in that car the same day. ![]() |
#10
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Guilty
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