The "Good Old Days" were really good....There's no way you could do that now....

I lived in the golden age of musclecars and racing-the late '60s and '70's. Back then a lot of the "Stars" were still "Grass-roots" "Hometown" guys." Not like now. My dad worked in the same Chevrolet Dealership as Dino Fry-who is a legendary racing engine builder. My dad and I and Dino used to have lunch at a small deli across the street from the dealership that made awesome Pastrami sandwiches. Dino was quoted several times in HP books classic-"How to Hotrod Small-Block Chevys" which was published in 1972 and has had several updates since. He got me and dad to meet Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins when he came to town with his famous "Grumpy's Toy" Pro Stock Vega, and he introduced us to John Greenwood-the famous SCCA Corvette racer.  But he wasn't a celebrity-he was just one of my dad's pals. In my mind. The same for Dave Aldana. He was a factory backed Honda Flat-track motorcycle racer that fought Gary Scott-a Harley backed rider fiercely for the championship. Their duels at San Jose Speedway- the famous "San Jose Mile" were legendary-they became three-way duels when Kenny Roberts riding for Yamaha came into the fray. Dave had a Honda Motorcycle shop on Mission street, and my dad and I used to buy parts there for our dirt bikes. Since my old man was a master mechanic-he was a legend at tuning multiple- carb setups-people with Tri-Power Pontiacs and Six-Pack Mopars, and sports car guys with Porsche 911s and Datsun 240Z's sought my dad out to synchronize their Webers or SUs for track days. Dave Aldana had a Pantera and a friend of his had a Ferrari Daytona 365 GTB. ( The coupe version of what Don Johnson had on "Miami Vice" ). They wanted to race each other for big bucks on one track day at Laguna Seca. Not wanting a tuning problem-i.e. points, bad wires, bad carb jetting etc- to decide the matter-they had my dad tune both cars the weekend before the race. The guy in the Ferrari won, but just barely, and a great time was had by all. Thankful to my dad for tuning the cars-Dave got us pit passes to his next race-we not only got to hang with him, but we got to meet Gary Scott and Kenny Roberts and Dick Mann. When I got older and my family moved to Nevada my dad went to work in Bill Harrah's dealership that sold Ferraris and Mercedes and other exotic cars. I too, went into the car business and guy I worked with was Wendy Foreman's son. Wendy Foreman was Bill Pennington's cheif mechanic-if you don't know Bill Pennington owned the Circus Circus casino-and raced hydroplanes and boats and Lamborghinis. I got to visit Pennington's shop several times when they were prepping a Countach or a 'Vette. Besides Lamborghinis-Bill had a thing for Rat-Motored 'Vettes too. Me and Tim were just other gearheads that were allowed to play-partly because we knew the boss and partly because we loved the cars and the crew guys liked us. But nowadays racing is such big business-there's no way average guys could hang out with Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt Jr, or Micheal Andretti-and be allowed to hang in the pits or the shop and eat lunch with them and have a few beers. Some Nascar or Indy league official would have to cite "Liability issues" and kick you out, or the race teams would be so paranoid that you were going to steal a secret or say something about tuning to a magazine or put it on Facebook that theres no way a "Average Joe" would be allowed into the inner circle like that. And that's sad. For example-Colin Kapernick-the quarterback for the 49ers went to UNR- and when he's in Reno he goes to my sister's church. He's a great guy. Always nice to people, willing to chat or sign an autograph for kids. My nephew think's hes the greatest. Which is cool-I liked Joe Namath when I was a kid and never got to meet him. But the way things are-even if he offered-which he hasn't-I'm just saying if he did-there's no freaking way the NFL or the 49er organization would let him take my nephew onto the field or into the locker room to meet the rest of the team. "Liability issues" again. It's sad-because when I was my nephew's age-I was in the pits at the San Jose Mile-screaming my lungs out for Dave Aldana-who'd been to my house many times-and when "Grumpy" ran at Fremont-I was there with my dad and Dino-while Dino helped Jenkins jet the center-squirter Holleys for sea level!! That's things from a bygone era that aren't going to pass this way again. That's what I'm mourning. Mastermind