In 1964, I was visiting relatives in Ohio, and was introduced to a guy my cousin had married. It turns out he had just purchased an aluminim nosed 64 Hemi 330 sedan, and it was parked in the wash bay of a Sunoco station in town. He took me down to gander it, and I was hooked from that moment. I was able to accompany him to a lot of races that summer, and I never looked back.

In 1965, I attended a NASCAR drag event (yes, they did have a drag division) and the winner was a guy named Melvin Yow driving OB Hewett's "Big No. 1" 65 Dodge Ultra stock. I fell in love with it, and patterned my car after that one.

My cousin has retired to Myrtle Beach....does not even think about drag racing. The Sunoco station is long gone, and PID has closed many years ago. I understand that Yow is still kicking, but wants nothing to do with drag racing.

But, I'm still around.