SPRING... adapting to the changes (Part 80f)

I could barely get in my car to go and get the race car to flat tow it to the track. I told Elle to call Eric and to have him come over. When he showed up I told him he had to drive the car to the track. Andy and Jim were going to arrive at the track a little later so Eric had to get the tow bar attached by himself... no small project. Once at the track I knew there was no way I could drive the car. The only way to get in the seat was to climb though the window and I could barely get out of the passenger seat of my car. When I told Eric he was driving it there was no way for him to hide his excitement. My helmet was a little big on him but he didn’t care. When practice started I made my way, very slowly, to the fence located at the edge of the pit area. It only took a few laps to see there was a very serious problem. The car didn’t want to turn when it got to the end of the straightaway and Eric came very close to hitting the retaining fence. He brought the car in and made an adjustment to the front end of the car and went back out. The change helped but not a whole lot. When practice ended he made another adjustment but with no more practice time it meant he didn’t know exactly what the car would do.

My car was in the Flathead division. There were well over 30 cars signed in and only 24 cars would start in the Main Event. To get those 24 cars there were three qualifying events with the first seven cars qualifying. All the non qualifiers had a last chance with the top three getting the last three starting positions. Because it was the first time my car had signed in it had to start in the back of the first qualifying race. I think Eric started 12th. The race was 10 laps and, much to my surprise and delight, Eric had moved up to 7th by half way through. I swear I didn’t feel any pain as I watched him move up. But then, as he went into the first turn, another car dove underneath him and hit the left rear tire and didn’t stop. The other car literally drove up the side of my car and the two of them ended up crashed into the retaining fence. When they stopped the front of other car was up on on the hood of my car. They stopped the race and as much as I wanted to go to the site of the wreck the pain in my back wouldn't let me move. Andy and Jim ran down the track along with the track’s emergency personnel. After a few minutes I could see Eric with them. He was fine but the car wasn’t.

When the car was towed into the pit area I could see the front axel was bent as well as some of the steering components. I had absolutely no spare parts and there was no way to tow the car home in the shape it was in. The father of one of the other racers came over to look at it. I knew him a bit from when I’d had my first race car. He told me that when the races were over for the night that he and his son would come over to try to give us a hand. By the time they did I was in such pain, both physically and mentally, that I didn’t care what they did with the car. After they worked on it we were told that we could move it very slowly but that we really shouldn’t think of taking it back to the mobile home park. The man suggested that we tow (it was more like drag) it to his place which was about a mile away. To be truthful, I don’t remember doing it but Eric managed to get it there.

I went to the see the doctor on Sunday (remember, it was 1963) and he felt that I probably had a bulging disk that was rubbing on a nerve. The cure was bed rest with a couple of pillows under my knees. I got prescriptions for a muscle relaxer and a pain killer. I don’t remember anything but going into the doctor’s office. By Wednesday I felt good enough to attempt to go to work... much against Elle’s wishes. Jay had gone to the races on Saturday night but he and Jo had sat in the grandstands. He said they’d gone into the pit area after the races and had talked with me. I didn’t remember it at all.

By lunch time I was in real pain again. However, I didn’t go right home but went up to where Eric had left the race car. I had taken the little Polaroid with me. When I saw it I remembered the accident but was amazed in seeing the tire mark of the other car running right up the drivers side. I hadn't seen (or remembered) it. It was then that realized that the left front fender had been ripped entirely off and wondered where it had ended up. I could definitely see that the axel was bent and seeing it I wondered where I’d get another one. They were very scarce as they were from pre WWII Ford cars and pick up trucks. Those old Fords were the car of choice for most stock car racers and the front axel was the most vulnerable part. I knew that if you could find one that they weren’t cheap. Not only did my back hurt but now I knew that if I wanted to continue to race that my wallet would hurt as well. As I drove home I wondered if I’d ever actually get to drive in a race.

If there was one benefit to being home and laid up was that I got to do some reading, something I hadn’t done since college. I also got to see a lot of Elle in just her panties. When the kids would take their naps she would take off her skirt or slacks to give me a “free show”. I remember wishing that we could have some extended time to do just that. Lying there in bed I was right next to Elle's panty drawer. I spent some good amount of time thinking of combinations of panties that I'd like to see Elle wear. Being at home she didn't need to wear a "package" but she'd found that it was still a good idea to wear a pair of heavy cotton panties to catch the "dribbles". I remember asking her to wear a pair of Plymouth nylon satin ones over them and asking her to let me have a feel of them when she'd come in to check on me. It was almost as good as the pain killers I was taking.

To be continued...