Shaker Do vs, The Galaxian Star Cruiser

When you’re drivin’ down the highway at night,
And feelin’ that Wild Turkey’s bite.
Don’t cha give Johnny Walker a ride
Cause Jack Black is right by his side.
Just another night with nothin’ to do,
We broke a case of proof 102
And started itchin’ for that wonderful feel
Of rollin’ in an automobile.
You could say we was outta our minds,
And lemme tell ya we was flyin’ while blind.
Another thing Bob and I had in common was a love to drive at high speed and remarkably both of us were very good at it. One night we both wound up at the Double D and closing it down for the night (actually morning..it was 2 AM)
I had my 57 and Bob had his 1964 Ford Galaxie he had nicknamed the Galaxian Star Cruiser. Bob’s dad had brought it back from Georgia where it spent most of it’s life as a Georgia State Police car and you could still faintly see where the star and Georgia State Police lettering had been on the sides. It had the biggest engine you could get in it back then, still had spotlights mounted on the A pillars and something we didn’t know existed, a 160 MPH speedometer. (Most at the time they only went to 120). Most likely during it’s law enforcement days it was used to chase moonshiners in souped up cars and it could really move down the road.
Sometimes when we’d close down the bar in Ruth, we’d go to Deckerville, a town 16 miles south of there to an all night breakfast diner. One time, with four of us in the car, we made it there in Bob’s Galaxie in just over seven minutes and he slid it around and right up to the curb in front of the place, ala the Blues Brothers. I still remember the looks on the people faces inside the diner as we got out of the car...lol.
That night we decided to pass on breakfast and just head back to Forestville. As I left the bar I stepped on it a little spinning both back tires and sending a cloud of smoke into the air. (Bob would later tell me an old guy that was standing at the curb said "that old car sure has some giddyup doesn’t it?? Huh huh huh" Of course Bob told me in the same old guys toothless voice!)
Bob left right after me and by the time we reached the town limits was right beside me in the other lane. He didn’t pass, he just stayed there and we drove all the way to the shore ( a distance of 7 miles) and the road leading to Forestville doing 70 MPH, side by side.
When we reached the two lane road to Forestville, we did the same, settin’ the pace at 70, side by side, till we reached a curve in the road, whereupon Bob tucked in behind me and drafted so close I couldn’t see his headlights, just the glow of his headlights and my blue dot tail lights reflecting back off of my car and on him with an evil grin on his face.
After the curve, the road is perfectly straight and flat for 10 miles into Forestville, and Bob swung back out beside me and the race was on.
Both of us were side by side, foot to the floor, that’s all there is and there ain’t no more. My speedometer had long pegged at it’s 120 MPH limit, and Bob would later tell me his 160 MPH speedo was also pegged, so we were doin’ at least that, all the while side by side. (It takes an incredible amount of trust to do this, so don’t try this at home kiddies!!)
As we approached Forestville, there were a set of tail lights coming up ahead of us so we knew one of us would likely have to back off and settle for second, but an odd thing began to play out.
The car ahead of us began to weave from side to side, and eventually wound up right smack in the middle of the road, leaving us a half a lane on either side and the small paved part of the shoulder of the road to pass. Okay at 55- 60 MPH...a little trickier at over 160.
I was slightly ahead and chose the right side of the car, figuring Bob would fall in behind me...wrong!
Bob chose the LEFT side and we wound up blowing by the car on both sides and still wound up rolling into Forestville side by side.
When we stopped in Forestville, the car we passed came rolling up to us and it turned out to be two guys we knew, Craig Whitney and Roy Patterson.
Craig had been driving and was white as a sheet, Roy was laughing his ass off. He told us they didn’t know what the hell was coming, just a shitload of headlights and very quickly. Craig told us he thought it was maybe an airplane at low altitude.
That was fun then, but I think back on it now and how lucky we were. Had a deer run out, either car had a mechanical issue or if Craig would have moved an inch to either side during the split second we went past him, there would have been some serious consequences.
BTW- I still see Craig now and then, and he still remembers it!