All across America, the automobile has been a fascinating subject since its invention in 1885, and those early engineers began inventing motors to make the auto go faster! Thus, the beginning of racing, and thus, we have today the various kinds of racetracks, with their beautiful racing machines. Then came the dirt tracks and the straight tracks, which got the label of drag racing. This type of race was designed for a short burst of speed on a straightaway road that ran about the length of a football field.
Growing up in the 40s and 50s in Pampa was a dream come true for owners of automobiles. We kids became obsessed with these cars and loved to go fast…Being in the panhandle of Texas with good flat land, we had good straightaways just outside town.
There was the Perryton highway, the Lefors highway (but it had canyons and curves), and the Amarillo and Borger highways. However, for bragging rights, you wanted to be the fastest on Cuyler Street (our main street), from one red light to the next. There was excitement in the air, and you can’t forget the sound of the tires racing on the bricks in downtown Pampa!
Well, Gene Smith bought a new Chevy in December of 1953. It was a Bel Aire, two-door, hard top, manual shift. The engine was a crate 350 with 375 horsepower, and the car went from 0 to 60 in 19 seconds. He had no idea what he had and what he was setting up for future records! He came home that day and told his wife, “Mother, I’ve bought you a beautiful red and white Chevy.” Looking out the door, she saw a beautiful tan and brown car. You see, Gene was color-blind and often confused his colors!
Drag racing was considered something only the guys did…but in 1954, ‘55, and ‘56, a girl showed up on Cuyler Street in that tan and brown Chevy, and after that night, she was the “talk of the town” among the dragsters. Never losing a race…
Wellsir, I dated this girl (always driving my auto), and she was a shy, tall, cheerful, and beautiful girl. I never knew she was the “drag lady of Cuyler Street!” I have now been married to her 65 years. She became so popular that she was selected as the first “Miss Pampa of 1957” in the Miss Texas contest.
One evening, not long ago, I interviewed this gray-haired elderly lady. I asked her, “What did you do differently to beat all these people?” She answered, “I drove the drag enough; I learned to count the seconds each light stayed red. Then I learned that the second gear was my power gear, so I double-clutched it from first to second, the whole way to the next light. I never lost a race, and I didn’t stay around to visit afterward. A guy from Shamrock they called ‘Catfish.’ was my biggest competitor.”
One of the stories she told me one night after five years of marriage was her father had a rule that she could only put 25 miles on the car each night she went out “cruising!” So, she noticed when she put the auto in reverse, the speedometer would also go backward. This saved her many a night due to her going in reverse down a dirt road in order to run the extra miles off the speedometer! She can go in reverse as well as going forward. Don’t get excited, young people. Cars don’t do that any longer.
I later bought her this 1984 Mercedes 500SL convertible with an aluminum motor that had 375hp! The speedometer had 160 mph on it. Yep, you know what happened next. She always said that it made her happy to know if she needed to go faster, that little car could do it!
Today, motorsports are in the top ten in popularity. Two things I never miss: the Kentucky Derby and the Indy Five Hundred! That’s just part of American culture, and I hope it’s still around for my grandkids.
One final word…I always buckle up first when I’m in her Mercedes 550L, a four-door sedan with a 400hp engine. I keep white knuckles to this day!
Ahhh, those were the days!
