Bullring Days One: On the Road
Copyright© 2012 by Wes Boyd
Preface
I've heard a lot of people say that the fifties were dull and drab with nothing much going on, while the sixties and the seventies were the wonder years. As far as I'm concerned they're full of crap. In my book the fifties, especially the early fifties, were a golden age, a time when everything was possible, and it seemed like it would never go away; the sixties and the seventies were dull as hell.
Life was good back in those days. Of course, when we're talking about any "old days," life is always good, but looking back from this distance it was particularly nice. It was before the Interstates, so when you went anywhere it took you longer, since the main roads ran slowly through every little town. But since we were going slower, there were always interesting things to see along the way, and you got a chance to see them, rather than just looking at the blur of farm fields while trying to keep from getting run over by the passing semis.
It was before the days of fast food chains, so when you stopped for something to eat everything was always a little different; there was a sense of adventure when stopping at a strange roadhouse. It was before Lady Bird Johnson went to war against the billboards, so there was a lot of individuality along the road. People talk with nostalgia about things like "Burma-Shave" signs; we really had them, and some of them were pretty good. Yes, there were billboards all over the place, at least on the main roads. Some of them were pretty ugly, but they gave you something to look at as you were driving.
Most of all, it was back before television really took hold. People didn't just settle down in front of the box and tune out the world; they made their own entertainment and were a part of things. They went out, and went out as families. Although gas was fifteen cents a gallon, the average annual income was around $3,000, so often people didn't go far. It was a treat, a special occasion, to go out to a ball game, or to a movie, or to the races.
Yes, especially to the races. I won't say that every small town had its own little dirt track speedway, but there were a lot of them around. Add to that horse tracks just about everywhere, even baseball fields or hay pastures were among the places that you could hear a small Offy or a V8-60 in a midget, or a larger Offy and other bigger engines in sprints and modifieds, not to mention stock cars of every description.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.