“Time goes slowly, but time can do so much….,”

according to the lyric of the Righteous Brothers anthem Unchained Melody.  We are bound to time.  When there’s plenty of time ahead of us–we  seldom reflect upon times passage.  At least that is how I’ve lived my life.

Several weeks ago, I decided not to be present for a Saturday afternoon at the drag strip. Am I suddenly possessed by an alien spirit? For the first time as an adult I chose not to go,–to witness, to feel, to savor the raw sensation when a thousand horsepower is applied to the sticky asphalt, and with a ground shaking roar a pro-modified door-slammer lifts its front wheels, the Goodyear slicks launching the car toward the timing lights a quarter mile distant.  For me being there was living.  Everything else was “just waiting”–to paraphrase some words from Karl Wallenda the famed high-wire walker.

But I decided not to go, for a few reasons.  The immediate reason has to do with climate change, the palpable impact of erratic extreme weather, caused by disturbance of normal climate patterns.  There is no doubt in my mind that the rate of warming of the atmosphere, and of the oceans is the result of human activity.  There are many homo sapiens, taken altogether around the world, and the way-we-aspire-to-live is damaging the earth. Climate change is a manifestation of human impact.  The internal combustion engine, using hydrocarbon fuel is iconic of our way of life.  We are killing the earth.

I just did not feel comfortable standing on the starting line at what has always been for me a cathedral of horsepower and speed.  Of the gods to which I have given allegiance throughout my adulthood, the quarter mile has been one of the most enduring.  The time has come for that god to pass as the planet warms, as Nature sends us a message and we must take action.

My instinct tells me that the only race that really matters now is the one to save our planet.

I took these photos at the Roadster Shop, where guys and gals who are adept at design, engineering solutions, and aesthetics, build street rods.  These in the main are rarely driven.   They are expressions of artistic achievement, a mindful riff on Detroit’s original product when the American automotive industry was in its heyday.  These automotive works are to be admired, to be appreciated, –a combination of form, of eye catching color applied to sheet metal, to compliment a high performance engine under the hood.

The next phase of my  passion for the automobile, will find enjoyment in such works of automotive art.

The 1965 Mustang photographed here is an understated ghostly gray.  The emotional impact comes with the absolute simplicity of it’s classic lines.  The wheel wells are flared to make room for the competition rubber. The custom suspension lowers the center of gravity of the vehicle.  In the early days of the Mustang one would have been hard pressed to fit a supercharged engine under the hood.  This one has a 785 HP coyote T56 crate engine under the hood.  Yes it is supercharged and very expensive.

And there’s the 1964 Dodge Polara.  I am told this one belongs to Jessie James, a Hollywood celebrity.  A radical contrast to the Mustang the Polara is an artifact of the time when the Dodge and Plymouth divisions of Chrysler were achieving notoriety as formidable competitors with their 426 Hemi engine.  The factory hemi was a challenge to tune but would produce gobs of horsepower with skilled tuning. This one has a hemi engine under the hood with two turbo chargers to make lots of power.  The 64 Polara is a “rat-rod” without the colorful paint scheme and chrome.  It displays the patina of weathering, as if this one has been parked at the local drive-in on summer evenings since the 1960’s.

Kudo’s to the guys and gals at the Roadster Shop for what they do.  May they and we always be “forever young.”

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A note in reference to the Animal Jim pro-mod Mercury in the first photo.  That race car was powered by an aftermarket Ford Shotgun motor, designed and produced by my good friend Chuck Seyler.  Chuck demonstrated a love for the sport, and a generosity of spirit that included me in a circle of unforgettable individuals and amazing experiences at race tracks around the country.