There is a above average steak house, if you exit I40 at Alamance Road traveling west to Greensboro.  When I am in North Carolina I usually meet with good friends at The Cutting Board.  The steaks are excellent, w. baked potato-sour cream-bacon bits and a fine salad bar.  In the foyer is displayed a collection of photos of well known individuals who have been patrons.  On my last visit I noticed a photo of a Plymouth Barracuda race car.  The photo was autographed by Ronnie Sox.  I gazed at the photo and remembered that Piedmont Dragaway was a few miles away.  It made sense that the Sox and Martin factory race team would have dined here in the past.  I remember seeing them race at another track.  I felt absolute admiration for these guys who tuned and drove the 426 Hemi powered racer to a record number of wins.

The late 60s were the heyday of the muscle car and drag racing.  I once heard a guy who owned a Plymouth hemi muscle car say that the car was hard to tune, but when it was right, it made gobs of power.  What came out of Detroit  was the foundation of American prosperity.  The saying went, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.”

This was the apotheosis of the American industrial age.  The industrial age began in England with water powered textile mills; transitioning to steam power. Edison and GE developed electrical power.  The internal combustion engine replaced horses unlocking hydrocarbon based energy.  From the factories of Detroit and Dearborn came the automobiles that gave great mobility to the average American citizen.

What was distinctive about the Sox & Martin Hemi Cuda?  Ronnie Sox shifted the 4 speed manual transmission.  He was called “Mr. Four Speed”  by competitors who he often put on the trailer.  To hand shift a manual transmission was becoming rare in that day, as automatic transmissions were reliable, and less likely to break under the extreme forces of competition.  Air-shifters, computer assisted starting line launch devices were coming into play.  Sox expressed distain for technology that took driving away from the driver.

Over the years I’ve owned a number automobiles.  Without exception they have been 5 speed standard transmission vehicles.  The stick shift in my right hand just feels right.  I listen to the rising rpm of the motor and at the optimum point, move to the next gear.  Under passing conditions I can sense the torque of the winding motor, the slight twist to the right, and feel the bite of the tires to asphalt……all arising from direct, tactile, contact with the machine, —which Ronnie Sox was unwilling to relinquish.

Contemporary manufacture of automobiles is now achieved by robots on an assembly line.  A late model automobile is referred to as a computer on wheels.  Driverless cars are now under evaluation.  Cybernetics are substitute for human judgment and human participation.

If you are curious for a sense of what it was like to pilot a 4 speed, Super Stock Ford Mustang, you will enjoy this video.

If you’d like to learn more detail about Ronnie Sox as a human being and the significance of his career, here is a excellent article.   http://www.ronniesox.org/CompPlusArticle.html