MEMORIES OF "THE FREIGHT TRAIN"
We are up to the Spring of '85. Jim Turner had purchased Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro North Carolina and had booked me in for his first race in early March. T-Bird had freshened up both motors for the new racing season. This would be my last year of racing. I was busy with my Muscle Car business and needed to spend more weekends at car shows. I'll admit I still liked the thrill that I could only get from racing this bike but my sons were growing up fast and my wife had put up with my racing for 16 years. She was overdue us doing family things we could all enjoy. And, instead of me losing money racing I would be making it buying and selling more cars. It was time to wind down my racing. Plus, I had made a deal with Turner to rent Piedmont a few months later (in June) for an all Muscle Car/Reunion race I was organizing.
It was chilly and VERY windy that day in early March. I knew we were not going to be able to put on as good a show....but at least there was 0% chance of rain. I had raced before in extreme windy conditions....but not this bike. As i got ready for my first pass T-Bird and I talked about the 50 MPH winds and I told him I would make a half track pass and shut it off. But after doing the burnout and staging I popped the clutch and it pulled me back like never before. The tuneup on those two fresh engines were perfect. When I got to half track in that 1/8 mile track (330 feet) I was already at 100 MPH and it felt so good....against my plans and better judgement.... I pushed the shift button and into high gear it went and we set sail for the finish line. I was in the left lane and the wind was blowing across the track to the left and I went across the finish line on the edge of the track at the best times in the 1/8 of my career. A
5.19@145.17. But I was struggling to keep it on the track. I was leaning as hard as I could to bring it back....but I was losing. That 14 inch wide slick was unforgiving. I ran off the track at about 140 and believe it or not stayed calm. I had never crashed before and believed I could "ride it out" and get stopped without crashing. I was doing pretty good on the dirt......until I got to the pavement that connected the strip to the return road and the front of the frame being only an inch or so off the ground caught that pavement and sent me over the handlebars. It knocked me out and when I started coming around I hoped I was waking up from a dream. But as my senses came back so did the pain...and I knew it was not a dream. I could see my wife and two sons looking down at me with grief on their faces. It was very scary to wonder how bad I was injured.
The lifesaving crew was there quickly and Suzanne rode with me to the hospital. T-Bird would bring the boys after loading the bike. After being x-rayed all over I had two broken feet, a separated shoulder and serious hip injury. I was released from the hospital after 3 days and was back to work on a limited basis in a couple weeks. The picture below is "pitiful me" about a week later. You can not see the casts on my feet. As a result I had to have a shoulder operation about 6 months later and a hip replacement 6 years ago. And it would end my career with "The Freight Train".....well almost. I sold it to T-Bird, who had quit as service manager at Harley Davidson of Charlotte and bought his own Harley dealership.
Three months later I was healed enough to conduct my first Muscle Car Race/Drag Race Reunion at Piedmont. The 25 years since have been very rewarding getting to know hundreds of drag racing legends from the '60-'70s.