Quote: your the "Encyclopedia Joetanica" of Mopar Pro Stock
Now a question from me.
You have told a few funny stories since your arrival on Moparts.
What is the funniest Carlton story you have? What were some of his "pet peeves" ? Fons story? Fons "pet peeves".?
Kevin,
I'll start with Mike Fons. Probably the funniest story is the one that I already told about the truck going over the cliff in Breezewood PA. However, there are others - maybe not quite as funny but here goes...Fons and I were in Gainsville testing. We had been there for a week or so and had been staying at a Holiday Inn out on I-75 along with the rest of the Chrysler guys. We finished testing late in the afternoon and everyone decided to go check out and head for Detroit. Oldfield was driving the Missile truck and I had the Fons truck. Anyhow, we all went back to the motel, cleaned up, packed, loaded the truck, and then went out to eat. Donnie and Mike went together and decided to go somewhere other than where Dick and I went (I think that Donnie might have had a rental car or maybe his own car). We all decided to meet on the entrance ramp to I-75 at 10 PM. At that time Fons was to hop in with me and head for home - we would be caravaning with the Missile truck - and Donnie was to head for North Carolina. Well 10 PM came and went and no Fons / Carlton. At 11 PM Oldfield had enough and took off leaving me to wait for the prodical driver... 12 Midnight - still no Fons... Since this was the time before cell phones, I had no way to contact Mike so there I sat. Finally at 1:00 AM I had enough too and headed north - without Fons. Around 9:00 AM I stopped at a truck stop and called Mike's wife and told her that I lost Mike and asked if he had called home. Sure enough he had. I don't exactly know what story he told but he was headed to Charlotte with Donnie and was going to catch a flight home from there. I think Mike and Donnie found a bar that they couldn't tear themselves away from and forgot about the time - and the fact that I was waiting for him at the freeway entrance!!! The really good part of the story is that I pulled into Mike's driveway at 8:00 PM that evening exactly 19 hrs after leaving Gainsville. Oh, by the way - I beat Mike home by about 2 hours!!! You know, he never did tell me EXACTLY what the heck he was doing that made him late...
As for Mike's pet peeves - wow, that might be tough. Mike is pretty easygoing so to pinpoint something is hard but he would complain about noises in the truck - the wipers were too noisy, the tires were making noise going over the expansion joints in the road, that sort of stuff. That is pretty funny from a guy that thrives on loud engines, burning rubber, and burnt clutches...
My funniest Don Carlton story happened one day when back at our shop in Troy Michigan. As I recall, it was early in the morning and Don was in the office meeting with our insurance agent going over our business insurance policies. Dick and I were out in the shop doing our daily stuff but needed to unload Al Adam's Valiant hot rod from an open trailer that was parked in the shop. Since the trailer was not hooked up to a pick up or anything and the car was less motor and transmission (ie: pretty light) we decided to block the trailer wheels up, put jack stands at the rear of the trailer to keep it from rearing up and roll the Valiant off in no time flat. WELL WERE WE WRONG!!! In no time flat that Valiant rolled off the trailer AND that trailer shot forward like a round out of a 300mm canon - with the tongue of the trailer shooting straight through the office wall. What a MESS!!! Oldfield and I ran to the office door thinking that for sure we killed poor Donnie. We get to the door, look in, and see Donnie calmly sitting at his desk looking down in front of the desk at the tongue of the trailer protruding about 3 feet into the office. That trailer tongue was directly between Donnie's desk and the chair in which sat the insurance man. Donnie looked up at Oldfield and I, looked down at the trailer tongue, and then looked directly at the insurance guy and said, "Do you suppose THAT is covered?" I will never forget it - that was just how calm, cool, and collected Donnie could be. By the way, he never said a thing about that incident other than to ask if Al's car was OK. What a guy!
Now - Donnie's peeves. Again, you are asking about a guy that never complained about anything that I remember so I guess I will have to think about this one for a while - maybe Oldfield can remember something and if we come up with a good answer I will post it.
