I had a weird feeling after seeing the vans pull up… I’m not sure why other than at the time, I just could not recall where I had seen those vehicles before. But regardless, I did not have time to think about it – I had to focus on what would be one of the biggest races of my life.
The crowd was heavy around the ‘Cuda as it fired off and warmed up. The car was absolutely wicked sounding and the huge Hemi beneath the hood growled and spat ferociously. Even though Frankie was equally vicious, I had to admit (to myself at least) that I was worried about this one.
Running the Road Runner, I really had not worried at any point – for me, it was really a matter of how much Frankie would win by.
But this ‘Cuda was another story…
I knew it had what used to be a 528 ci Hemi that had been heavily worked over. It sounded like a Pro-mod car with a cam that had lobes the size of grapefruits. The idle on the car was fairly high, most likely due to the enormous lift and duration specs. It wasn’t a ‘lope’ so much as the sound of small cannons firing in no particular order. The exhaust on the car had to be pretty much open even though it did have pipes clear to the rear – it was darned impressive and intimidating at the same time.
In seconds, we were both heading into the front of the burnout area just ahead of the start line. I noticed some girl with a flash light was waving us to hold up, so we both stopped. Bill’s Cuda was to my left and again, I was on the right, just like I like to race.
I think I had seen her with Shawn/Jonah or one of the other guys earlier but with so many people swirling about, I just was not sure. As Bill and I stopped, she walked over to his window first and then came around the front of his car to mine. I opened the door to talk to her.
“I’m going to flash this light twice” she said. On the first flash, you need to be ready because the second flash is ‘GO’, sort of like a pro-tree. Got it? Ready on one, go on two. OK?”
Up close, she was beautiful and had a gorgeous smile. It was distractingly hard to keep focused on what she was saying – but, I got it. I nodded yes.
“So, you guys do your burnouts or whatever and once you are in position I will point at you. If you are ready to go, nod your head. I will do that for both drivers and once you both have said you’re ready, I will pull the light up and aim it between you. You should have no trouble seeing it. Remember – two flashes, go on the second. Ok?”
I nodded yes again, she smiled back and turned away and I closed the door. She was very thorough and professional – not just gorgeous. Obviously, she had been around a street race or two…
I cinched the buckles tight on the harness and on my helmet as I watched her walk back to the front of both cars… I could already hear the Cuda being revved a couple of times in anticipation – even with the doors closed and my helmet on, it was nearly deafening…
We both did our burnouts at nearly the same time. Someone had poured water on the tarmac just for that purpose so in we went…
Both cars roared angrily in the night… the crowd stood silent and just watched, the anticipation thick enough to cut with a knife… thick, white billows of smoke poured out from beneath both cars and slowly wafted off towards the left side of the track…
After the burnout, I zoned in on what I had to do… I knew this was going to be a tough race. I just did not know how tough…
I pulled forward while trying to keep Frankie reined in… the enormous surges from the power beneath the fiberglass hood jerked my head. To say I had control would be lying – it was all I could do to not let him go and I knew that the brakes were fighting a lot of low end torque…
I thought back to the last time I had raced Bill. It had ended in a fiery crash and I was sure he was killed… cold sweat was on my neck now… how did it come down to this?
It seemed like years ago that we had run into each other at Tri-county, challenges were made… a race was getting set up to run with Pink’s filming it… where did the time go?
My head was spinning… I watched the girl…
Now, I was waiting to race this guy with the possibility of losing Frankie… I wasn’t fooling myself now. The Cuda was serious… and serious cars deserve serious respect. For some strange reason, I felt an emotion I had not felt a long time…
FEAR…
Part of that was because I could not figure out where Jim and his deputies were. He had MORE than enough to nail Bill, Cy, Jonah/Shawn, and the rest of the gang on grand theft auto and who knew what OTHER charges might be available… but he was nowhere in sight?...
I was at the line now. The transbrake was engaged and all I had to do was mat the throttle up against the converter… to my left, I could hear the Cuda bellowing loudly in the dark night. It looked squat and evil and I could see the body shake with each pulse of power…
What was up with the vans? I was racking my brains trying to figure out how they might be involved in the equation… They were behind me now and out of my line of sight but still, I could not connect them with anything yet I was certain they were there for a reason. Most likely, not a good one…
Focused completely on the light now…
There! One blink…
I matted the accelerator and Frankie lurched as the immense torque felt like it was trying to twist the car over… I heard the Cuda do the same…
The tiniest bead of sweat trickled down my neck beneath my shirt… my left hand was tightly on the wheel… the right was on the transbrake switch… and Frankie was in for the fight of his life on this one…
Once again, time slowed to a crawl… a second felt like an hour…
I was staring at the light, waiting…
Waiting…
The big block shuddered and rocked beneath the hood, trying to rip the motor mounts loose…
BLINK!
Immediately, I released the transbrake and Frankie was loose. To my left I heard an enormous roar from the Hemi as it too was now free to wreak havoc…
Once more, the nose of the Buick lurched toward the sky. People told me later that the Cuda matched the wheel stand but touched down a little sooner.
And that was where it gained an advantage… when Frankie touched down, the Cuda already had half a fender on the GSX and was pulling strong.
But now that Frankie had all four wheels back on the ground, he was really pissed… while the Cuda was not pulling away, Frankie was trying to claw back up to at least equal… I could not tell – it was all I could do to hang on. The shifts were neck snapping brutal… I knew all the carbs were drinking in bucket-fulls of night air and mixing it with the high octane in the tank… and yet, Frankie wanted more…
I looked over only once, probably shortly ahead of the eighth mile, and it felt even from my perspective… but I knew I was not pulling him either…
The Cuda hung tight and the finish line was coming fast… there was no way I could tell who was leading – or, if either one of us actually had a lead at all.
The last shift hammered home and it was all over now except for the ride…
Cars and lights and trees and pavement slid buy in a liquid blur… faster, faster, faster…
And in an instant, it was over. But I could not tell who won.
At the end of the track as we neared the turn, Bill flashed his lights and stopped, leaving the Cuda shaking violently as it idled. He jumped out and ran over to my window as I stopped. Not sure what he might be up to and knowing that NO one was nearby, thoughts of violence crossed my mind…. He neared my window and I opened the door.
“Who won?” was all he said.
I held up my hands in the “I don’t know” gesture. He nodded his head and then leaned down and spoke something that really, really stunned me.
“Keep your eyes open when we get back up front. Some black vans showed up and I think something is about to go down. You’ve been warned…”
I could not see his face but his words made my blood run cold. ‘You’ve been warned’? What the hell did THAT mean? He brought up the vans – what could that mean? He must know who is driving and my guess was that it could not be good….
The Cuda pulled away quickly and I followed. Numerous people waved and gave thumbs ups as we drove by but I had no clue who they were waving at. Apparently they thought one of us won but I sure could not verify it.
As we got to the front, all looked the same as when we left. Cy was on his phone and the gang was all standing near as if trying to hear what he was hearing. I had heard another race and saw the cars flash by as we were coming back up but I didn’t know who it was.
Until I got back. I found out it was Brandon, ripping some poor guy driving a nasty ’70 SS454 Chevelle a new one. As I was stepping out of the car, B was pulling in behind me and Stacy and Kel were running up. People were all over B’s car and the GSX, slapping me on my back and cheering.
But – so were the people around Bill’s Cuda.
It was obvious that NO one knew who won. And just as Kelly reached up to pull me near, all hell broke loose - over by the black vans. So many lights were going flashing and high powered search lights that seemed to come from nowhere lit up the night sky.
There were screams and cries, curses and threats…. From behind the woods two helicopters leaped skyward, their giant nose mounted searchlights dancing all over the ground in 40’ diameter blazes of white light.
“FREEZE!!! NO ONE LEAVES THE PREMISES. YOU ARE SURROUNDED!”
It had to be Jim! YESSSSSSSSSSS! F-i-n-a-l-l-y!!!!!
I grabbed Kelly’s arm but just as I did, I saw Bill reaching into the Cuda and pulling something long and sinister from behind the seat. Cy and the rest were racing towards him now, confusion all over their faces, screaming something at Bill and not knowing what to do….
And that was when Bill leveled some sort of scoped assault rife at them and yelled something that we could not hear. What ever it was, it made them stop dead in their tracks with fear on their faces.
My God, I thought as Kelly turned her head away… I was about to witness someone getting killed.
And at the same time, two enormous men in dark suits, both of them brandishing what looked to be machine pistols broke through the crowd with someone in cuffs between them. Who ever they had in tow had a dark hood pulled over his head and could not see where he was going.
But it looked clear to me they were coming right at us. I saw them look over towards Bill and nod. Bill raised his rifle and pulled off three shots in the night air which in turn froze EVERYONE in place. Immediately, he lowered the gun on Cy and the gang.
What was bedlam and mayhem before became quiet as a ghost town. The races that happened just moments ago seemed like from another lifetime.
Bill pointed at me and motioned for me to get down. To make sure I complied, he seemed to wave the gun in our direction and yelled it – “GET THE F*CK DOWN, NOW!”
We didn’t argue. He had the guns, Jim was nowhere to be seen (WTF?) and it looked like some extremely heavy hitters were about to do a record car theft out in the middle of nowhere.
Where the hell were Jim and the deputies????
As Kel, B, Stacy, and I squatted down, I noticed that some of the lights flashing looked like they might be from sheriff’s cruisers. Yet – no JIM?
While before I felt some fear, now I was totally confused. Who were THESE guys?
It was then I noticed that the three men were near.
“Stand up, please” one of them said. I wasn’t sure he was talking to me so I did not move.
“You guys – with the GSX and the Shelby - stand up…”
No doubt who he was talking to now…
As I stood, Kelly and the rest did also. The three guys from before (including who ever was obviously being held against his will) waited but did not speak.
Then, another man in a suit walked up, holding a powered megaphone in his hand. He was wearing sunglasses, just like the other two – in the night time no less – and just stood there for a few seconds. He lifted the megaphone…
“No one leaves, got it? Not until I say you can leave. And if anyone TRIES to leave? I can assure my friends down by the road will not be happy to see you. You need to wait until I and I alone tell you it is ok to go. GOT IT?”
We could hear the crowd murmur something like, “Got it…” but regardless, no one was moving.
No identification. Nobody we knew. And definitely not Jim or any other deputy was nearby. Feelings of complete powerlessness gripped us all.
“I want you four to come with us.”
That was it. He turned on his heel and walked away.
Big guy #2 (or was it #3?) spoke.
“Do what he says.” He nodded to emphasize our need to follow the person obviously in charge.
Which, we did. The crowd parted as we neared the black vans and it was then a light bulb went on in my head. I could not speak but immediately, I knew who we were probably dealing with…
Just then and as he neared the first black van, the man in charge stopped abruptly and turned to face us. I could see the side door was open on the van but no lights were on so I couldn’t tell what was inside – but I was pretty sure it wasn’t pastries.
“Clear this area around the van and give us some privacy” said the man in charge. Immediately, more men in suits appeared as if from nowhere brandishing equally menacing weaponry. In seconds, the area was clear but the people outside the area looked in, trying to see what was going on…
“Go get the others.” He barked again. With that order, the men who had just cleared the area went over and motioned for Bill and those he had covered with his assault rifle to come over as well. In no time, Bill – along with Cy and the rest – were standing nearby.
I now desperately hoped my earlier hunch was right…
And if I was wrong? Well, we were all about to take a ride somewhere none of us wanted to go… and, maybe never return from…
To be continued…
