Rebel without a clue

[DixieRestoParts]

Ok, so I've posted a story yesterday about my first car, and how I got in to Mopars. Here's the next in the line of one of my misadventures. Hope you enjoy. I originally wrote this several years ago.

Summer 1986

While on hiatus after my first semester in college, I moved back to my hometown and got a job at Goody's Warehouse. Goody's, at that time, in my personal opinion, was a horrible place to work. They locked you in the warehouse with no windows and you worked 12-16 hours a day for 6 days a week for minimum wage ($3.35/hr.). For a young guy, the work was physically demanding, but not too bad. You slept well, when you got home. That, in and of itself, wasn't the bad part. The bad part was the managers with very poor attitudes who would fire you at the drop of a hat and spoke to you like you were a mangy dog. It just made the working environment that much worse.

As bad as it was, it was the only place that due to all the overtime worked, paid a survivable wage. You were on overtime typically by Wednesday. East Tennessee was, and still is, economically depressed. It might be a little better now, but not much. I moved from Red Food where I bagged groceries for $3.35/hr plus tips to this job and thought it was a big improvement. Bagging groceries wasn't a hard job, but with a wife (1st one, not current one) and baby on the way, it just didn't pay the bills. Overtime by Wednesday would help pay some bills.

So, this entire backdrop is to set the stage for subsequent events. I can't remember the exact details now, but Goody's got some kind of tax credit for hiring people who were economically "challenged". They wanted to see if I qualified for that program. They asked me to report to the state employment office to answer some questions. All of this, of course, off the clock and before my shift. Well, near as I can remember, I was late for this appointment and was afraid I would be fired. I think combined with working 12+ hours the night before and the wife insisting I eat a healthy breakfast, I just didn't get out the door on time.

At the time my daily driver was a 69 Charger R/T SE, 440, 4spd car. The 3.54 Dana had been replaced with a 3.91 8 ¾ long before I got it. Great for acceleration, not great for cheap daily commuting. So, I fired that beast up and hit the road. I'm cruising down Highway 30 towards Athens, TN. and get behind a line of cars going real slow. This was a problem on a 2 lane highway with very few places to pass. You know how that is, somebody can't pedal their plastic pile fast enough to do the speed limit and the person behind them doesn't have the guts to pass them. So, the cars back up until you have, in this case, about 6 cars all going slower than the speed limit. Well, here I come around the curve, hauling butt in this big Green Charger. In a hurry and anxious that I'd be late and get fired.

So, as I come up behind this line of cars, I make a decision that only a bullet proof 21 year old can make. I see an opening and hit the GAS ! I pass six cars in a row. Did I worry about one of them pulling out to pass also? Nah. I went by them like a rocket and never looked back. I knocked the car out of gear. I was coasting, letting it slow back down when I passed a State Trooper coming the other way. I looked down and the speedo said 120mph. Oh CRAP ! I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the blue lights. I thought, what have I got to loose, so I hit the gas again. I knew 120 in a 55 probably meant a big [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean] ticket and/or some jail time. I had a headstart and figured I could outrun the trooper. He had to turn around and catch me. So, as I wound that 440 up and began passing people, I looked at the fuel gauge. It showed empty. My heart sank. This was gonna be tough. I decided to take a side road and double back to my house. I saw a road up ahead, hit the brakes, downshifted and slid the car across the asphalt highway and onto the gravel road, throwing dirt and gravel everywhere. I remember seeing people in oncoming traffic pull off the road. I didn't realize at the time the amount of dirt the car must have thrown up. It left a calling card as to where I went. The trooper knew just where to go.

The road I went up wasn't one I was familiar with. So, I slowed down to try and figure out where I would turn. 120 on a dirt and gravel road is way more dangerous than on a asphalt road. Even I knew to take it a little slower. As I saw a road to my front left that looked like one to take, I noticed some blue lights in my rear view mirror. He was close at that point, probably had my license plate. So I decided to pull over. This was gonna get interesting.

As I got out of the car, the trooper had his gun pulled and was yelling at me to put my hands on the roof. I slowly put my hands on the roof. He came up and patted me down, then asked for my license. He asked where I was going in such a hurry, and why I was running from him. I said, I wasn't running from him, I was on my way to work and was late. To which he responded, "BS!", only he didn't use the letters. I said that I had pulled over the minute I saw his lights. Well, he said I was under arrest for reckless driving and to follow him to the jail. He had my license as he went back to his car, so that pretty much cinched it that I would follow him.

As we left the area, two county deputies, and I think, another trooper showed up. So, I had an escort to the jail. At the jail, I parked and as I walked in a few steps behind the trooper, I heard a Deputy call out to the trooper, "Well, will that car run?" The trooper said, "Hell yeah, and that boy can drive!". Being the consummate smart [Edited by Moparts - Family Friendly Site - Keep it clean], I walked in and said, "Will this hurt my application with the Sheriff's Dept.?" To which they replied, "No son, we've all been there before". (Side note – yes, I did have an application in the Sheriff's dept, but they never did call. So I guess it did hurt. Then again, I didn't know anybody on the force, and that small town stuff is real political).

So, the trooper says, I'm gonna write you in the jail, but as soon as you pay your ticket you can leave. I think it was $110. He said, next time, stop and take the $60 speeding ticket. At that point, I realized, he didn't have me on radar. He just knew I was speeding. As he left, one of the deputy's said, "You got caught by the best, boy. Trooper Cooter (name changed to protect the innocent), doesn't loose 'em and doesn't let 'em go." I just smiled as I thought to myself. He got lucky. I guess at the end of the day, that doesn't matter, but I had the faster car and was the better driver. So, the other Deputy's asked me about my car and we talked for awhile. They let me call my Dad. So, I called him and asked him to swing by my house and get the money and come get me out of jail. He agreed, but let me sit there all day. Yep, about 8 hours of sitting outside the office on a bench watching people come in and out. The visitor's to the jail, the good shepherd's coming to minister to the misguided. One elderly gentleman sat down beside me on the bench and showed me the pin he had for not missing Sunday school in 30+ years. He asked if I was a Christian and had been saved. When I answered, Yes, he was shocked. What was I doing here? Well, sometimes I get in a hurry. He failed to see the humor in that. He went on to minister to other folks and left me on the bench.

Another person that didn't see the humor in that was my father. He eventually came by and paid my ticket. He lectured me on being responsible and not driving like an idiot now that I had a family. I wish I could say that it made a difference. But, I wasn't that mature. He had let me sit there all day to teach me a lesson. I wish it had, but I had many more years of driving craziness in front of me. Afterall, I was 21, bulletproof, and a Rebel without a clue.

[DixieRestoParts]

Story notes:

1) Well, I didn't make it to work that day or to the employment office, and they didn't fire me. I guess I did a good job there; they eventually promoted me to an assistant supervisory role. I didn't have to do a lot of the hard labor. I supervised. No pay increase, just less physical work. I did bend the bumper on a new large delivery truck they had one night by accident. Oops! I didn't get to move the trucks around after that.

2) Once while on lunch break I pulled out from the parking lot and hammered my car, just in time to notice a couple of County Deputies parked at the upper end of the parking lot chatting it up with some girls who worked in the office. As I slammed second gear, I could see them straining their necks to look at me. I knew what was gonna happen next, so I quickly pulled over and popped my hood. One of them came after me, lights and sirens blazing. I told him my throttle cable had stuck open and I had pulled over to fix it. I explained that I worked for Goody's (where he was just parked) and that I was leaving for lunch. I had seen him there and would not have executed such move purposely with him there. He radioed down to have his buddy ask one of the girls if they knew me. Of course, they didn't. However, one of them did know my brother-in-law who was with me. After using up all of my lunch break, they let me go without a ticket. I guess an empty belly is better than a ticket with large fine.

3) I eventually returned to college and completed my degree in Aerospace. Yes, I'm a rocket scientist. No, I've never worked in the industry. LOL. So much for that game plan.

Come see me and my street brawler at Carlisle. Spaces J187-188 across from Building Y.

http://www.dixierestorationparts.com/products.cfm?ci=E5445801-B7AD-B1A3-46E9385B7FF77E23

[F8-4life]

Great story with a great car!

[nvrbdn]

 

[68RT440]

Hey Dixie, first off, great story. Second, is the car in the pics the same car that sits under your tent at Carlisle and the Nats? A couple years ago my dad and I were at Carlisle and it started POURING. We were under your tent at the time looking at the car when the skies opened up, so I got to look at that car close up for a good half hour while waiting under your tent. The only thing that I notice that's different is the car under the tent had steelies and redlines and a white butt stripe if I remember correctly...

[tan top]

   good  story !! thanks for sharing , love reading about  back in the day war stories etc  about chargers and stuff  

[dual fours]

Hey Dixie, great story's, you gotta have more, Please.