What a drag

Regular viewers of the "Today" Show on NBC know it's getting toward the end of the week when jocose weather guy Al Roker (they call him MISTER Roker) is talking about the forecast for the weekend and all of a sudden the sound guy puts the echo on and Al says "Sunday SUNDAY!" and I wonder why.

Turns out, a little kid named Justin Gunter, Jr. is thrilled by hearing Al bellow this, so much so that his parents schlepped him to New York to meet the great man and say his catchphrase. What a time little Justin must have had!

But when "Today" put this on their Instagram, several people wondered what this "Sunday SUNDAY!" business was all about. Fortunately, I am old (very fortunately), so I can tell you that 50-60 years ago, there were drag strips all over the country.

I hasten to explain that a drag strip is not a place where people wear clothes of the opposite gender and then take them off. A drag strip was a place where people could take their hopped-up hot rods and race, two at a time, down a quarter-mile track. There were people who were just amateur shade-tree mechanics and there were people who made a living making and racing fast cars, both regular stock models and built-from-parts custom machines.

Drag strips came to life on weekend nights ("Friday night, under the lights at beautiful York US-30 Drag-O-Way!") and Sunday afternoons ("Sunday SUNDAY at Budds Creek Dragstrip!") and the way to get a crowd to come out and watch was to run radio commercials, some of which were recorded by yours truly, screaming his 20-year-old head off with echo effects in full effect and the same music every week. Da-da-da-da-DAT-dahhhhhh. Here's an out-of-town sample:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_YmA0cd3kg

I guess there are still some drag strips in operation, but I'm sure the real estate that some of the closed ones once occupied has gone to paved lots for WaWa Stores and nail salons. Still, next time you hear Mr Roker echo about Sunday, think about the golden era of Don "Big Daddy" Garlits, who was also known as "The Swamp Rat," and Shirley "Cha-Cha" Muldowney, the cream of the drag racing set. Vroooooooom!