1959 - Denny and I pushed the dragster off the trailer, then
ran back to the truck and took off down the road. A mile and half down
from were we dropped off the dragster we took the 1st Ave. exit. There
was a truck freight yard to the right at the end of the ramp.
I pulled
the truck and trailer into the yard and shut off the motor, then Denny
and I got out of the truck to listen.
Our car club had been working on my brother-in-laws AA gas
dragster for the past three weeks. My brother-in-law, Leroy, wanted to
make a trial run before the next meet. Someone came up with the bright
idea of making a run down the Alaska Way Viaduct at 3 AM.
The plan was to have Leroy sitting in the dragster with the
push truck behind. A club member would wait on the north end of the
tunnel and when the road was clear he would drive though the tunnel
and when he saw the dragster and truck, honk his horn, that would be
the signal to fire up the dragster.
Once fired up and on his way,
Leroy was going to count to eight, shut down, and coast down the 1st
Ave. ramp.
When the Hemi started up, the windows and buildings were
shaking. But when Leroy put his foot into it, the roar sounded like a
Titan missile was being launched horizontally down the Viaduct. Wow!
Just as we got the dragster on the trailer, our push truck and
car showed up, we all headed down 1st Ave., then over to Air Port Way.
Meanwhile there were cop cars, with their red lights and sirens on,
running both north and south on the Viaduct, looking for us.
One of our club members dad, owned a business on Air Port Way,
that had a large wooden fence area in back. We locked the truck and
trailer in the yard, then jump into the car, and headed home laughing
all the way. We waited two days, before we went down to pick up the
dragster.
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