DySfUnKtiOnaL GaRaGe

You should create your own MySpace Layouts like me by using nUCLEArcENTURy .COM's MySpace Profile Editor !My mom was a go go dancer in the 60's and 70's,one of my earliest memories was being baby sat in a bar in Colorado springs by the other dancers while my mom danced her set,I can still remember the smell of stale cigarettes and the the beer cooler.I remember being facinated by the neon lights in the dark bar,I must have been 3 or 4 because I wasn't in school yet.My whole life as a kid was spent around beautiful women who danced for or with my mom.She had managed pretty much all of the local Wichita Go Go joints at one time or another and she met a lot of intresting people along the way.Most of the guys she dated either raced or were into bikes, a lot of them were in the military as well so we moved a lot but we always seemed to end up back in Wichita.She became friends with a guy in one of the local Hells Angels chapters when I was in 4th grade.I can remember coming home from school to a house full of H.A.'s and the smell of insense in the air,they would hang out with my mom and her dancer friends and smoke bud.They were always really nice to me and very protective and respectful of my of my mother.We were always at the races on the weekends cause she was the trophy girl at 81 speedway and good friends with local circle track legend Pinky Mullins.Pinky also owned a salvage yard in Northwest Wichita that me and my cousin used to play in as kids.Home for me was a small town 15 minutes south of Wichita Kansas called Derby,My grand parents had lived there since the 1950's and I moved back and forth to my grandparents house a number of times when things got crazy at my moms.It was a stones throw from one of the original kings of custom Daryl Starbirds house.Both of my grand parents were machinists at the Boeing aircraft plant until they retired in the late 70's.My dads parents owned an adjoining cafe and barber shop in the old part of down town Wichita right off of broadway.They would babysit me during the week,I would get there and my grandma would always have a big plate of pancakes ready for me.After breakfast I would hang out with my grandpa and watch him buzz flat tops all day.He drove a 62 bubble top that he took very good care of,I used to love riding in that car,It was white with red accents and a red interior.After work we would cruise it to the Tiki Lounge on south Broadway where he was a regular,He used to let me pull the tabs on his falstaff's for him,I thought I was the shit.He had one of those girlie pens that stripped when you turn it upside down,he let me play with to pass the time while he flirted with the woman tending bar there.The old man passed a few years after that but I will never forget him and the times we spent together drivin around in that Impala.By the time I hit high school I was living with my Grandparents(moms side) and for the first time I actually went to the same school for three years in a row until I graduated from Derby.My mom bought a house there and I did live with her my junior and part of my senior year until she hooked up with a dude from Newton and moved out leaving me with a friend of hers named Randy Oaks and a dancer Named Angela Davis for roommates.Randy was a pro boxer and he also cut hair,wierd combo I know but I wasn't gonna say shit.He ran with the hallesy brothers back in the day of the old Gold Diggers club on North Broadway they were all bouncers there.He was there to keep an eye on me but he was rarely home,He would usually show up about 3 in the morning to help me clear the party out when people wouldnt leave and yes we did have us some partys.I ended up moving a friend of mine in with a similar background(broken home)and we were both gearheads so most of our time was spent street racing or partying.Neither one of us worked at that time but my grandmother made sure we always had food and I had been making a little bit of money racing professional bmx enough to buy some car parts anyway.All of our friends worked for fast food chains at the time,we provided the party house and the beer..and our friends brought us donations from corporate america.We had giant cans of corn and restraunt condiments,boxes of frozen hamburger pattys,all kinds of wierd shit donated to the cause.We had a friend who worked at k-15 auto salvage hooking us up with complimentary parts and scouting out new project cars coming in.Our class president was even in on it,lets just say we were well connected.It seemed natural,I grew up in bars around questionable people,I knew the drill. We charged a 10 dollar cover to help pay for the kegs(normally 2-3 a night on weekends)back then we were paying about 35 bucks a keg from my moms friend who drove a truck for coors.I was wrestling for Derby at the time so we had the wrestling team for bounce staff in fact the very few scuffles we had were usually between friends trying to prove their manhood .It was beautiful,we even had the top guy from the parks and recreation comission who lived across the street coming to our partys and picking up on young high school girls.Sounds fucked up but frank was tight with us cause he was a well connected member of the city council and I learned all about connections from my mother at a very early age,what happened at clarks house stayed at clarks house.We had kids from the surrounding towns driving by on weekends to see if there was a party.We didn't have bashes every weekend but every weekend we weren't racing or cruising the strip we did and quite a few nights during the week on summer break.The cops did show up on a couple of occasions but frank covered our asses because he was well respected in the community.Hell,back in those days if the cops caught you with alcohol they just made you pour it out and drive home anyway,that was the beauty of living in a small town,everybody knew everyone.Dui's were only given if you were in an accident,we didn't have all the candy ass dui laws we have today.At that time Wichita and all the surrounding towns to the south were a hotbed for customizing and drag racing(gas crunch??) and I spent many weekends dragging Douglas and South Seneca looking for races.You could buy 105 octane race fuel out of the pump at a full service station down on west street,although we normally mixed our own with av-gas,it was cheaper.It wasn't uncommon to see a car trailered in for a street race on west street or k-42.Complete tube chasis rides,nitrous cars,blown alcohol cars you name it it was there.This was back when super shops were the place to get parts.We used to hang out in the parking lot after they closed and watch the show up and down seneca.I had a 69 Carousel Red (orange) GTO Judge that had a dealer installed 428 w/ram air IV heads,variable pitch stall converter,factory headers and a 390 geared 10 bolt posi at the time I was running 12.90's with slicks and an old tri power set up.Neal chance had set the tranny up back when he was still alive and I shit you not the car would bark the tires at 30 mph when it shifted,every time it shifted.The car was fully restored to original condition and looked very intimidating, it was respectable in anyones book but no match for a lot of the cars that rumbled the streets of South Wichita at that time.We did occasionally drive out to Wichita International but it was a long drive if you broke,I blew a head gasket out there once and had to drive it home,ended up smokin the motor.We normally stayed closer to home.South Wichita was pretty rough,and it wasnt for everyone,but it was right up our alley and there was always plenty of action there.Eventually they shut the street drags down,it isnt anything like it was then.Nobody drags douglas anymore they shut that down by building a bunch of bars and restaraunts in old town and they close the street off on weekends now.I guess we all had to finally grow up....well..not all of us.