Never the Same IC#29 Summer Rolls On

A summer for Kirk with bumps and grinds in a couple widely different ways.

 

Cue: “Racer” https://youtu.be/YT0k99hCY5I

 

Kirk went back to work on his project van, but that didn’t mean he forgot about Sarah Elizabeth. She remained front and center on his mind whether working on the van or at the dealership earning a couple bucks. He was totally taken by the little hippie chick after talking to her only once despite her brother being there and interfering. Maybe it was her look with long blonde hair, cute overbite, and her nice sexy compact body or the way she dressed. Then, there was her ever-present exotic scent of patchouli. Kirk thought the scent was the most sensual fragrance ever worn by a female of the species. 

The one prime problem that perturbed Kirk was his long-term relationship with Farrah. Farrah remained his off and on steady girlfriend for some time even though they hadn’t made it officially a “steady” relationship. As you readers know, Farrah existed as a girl or probably more correctly described as a woman when compared to Sarah. Farrah remained a steadfast friend and lover for Kirk despite occasionally leaving her in a lurch. They had never gone “all the way” so maybe that was why poised and proper Farrah remained very loyal to Kirk always ready with a kind chat or thoughtful deed for him. Maybe it was because he didn’t even try to get intimate with her. Through high school and beyond, Kirk had wished to have a female’s carnal knowledge, to learn and experience sex ever since Dee and Bonnie, but he never had the will or knowledge to initiate the act. He was overwhelmed by the frightening mental aspect of the female sex coupled with his own crippling shyness.  

Anyway, Kirk started seeing Sarah Elizabeth on a regular basis. Kirk had a few things acting against him and Sarah’s parents. First of all, and most obvious, Kirk was Sarah’s older brother’s drinking buddy. In their eyes, that was definitely a red mark against him right off the bat, but that fact also pointed out the second negative strike being that Kirk was a bit older than Sarah. Actually, a bit more older than a “normal” young couple. Then to add more ammunition against him, Kirk drove a loud, fast car. Not the thing a parent would want their daughter riding around in. The final worse strike against Kirk was his car again, though only because the fact that his Firebird’s high performance ignition system knocked out the family’s television reception whenever he drew near, that is, a few miles near.

To say the least, Sarah filled Kirk in these details because Kirk knew to keep his distance from said parents. Sarah didn’t care if he bonded with her parents because she didn’t bond with them either!  They found a common bond pretty quickly in not getting along with their parents. They went out now and then on low-key outings like cruising around, eating fast food, and lots of secluded parking make-out sessions which Kirk enjoyed immensely compared to going out with Farrah which were more of the straightlaced, routine adult-type relationships.

Moving on: Well, work at the dealership for Kirk just seemed more routine and boring by the day. Maybe he didn’t demonstrate the aptitude or the interest to take on bigger more technical tasks so he ended up, was assigned pretty much the same thing day in and out on the customer cars. This contrasted with his high, top of his class marks he received in the VoTech classes and college, but his performance there didn’t seem to convey to working on the mechanical job. There was, of course, the simple warranty work which pretty much tended to be minor water leaks, door adjustments, and minor component replacement tasks. He would normally be the one who prepped new cars for delivery that included taking off any shipping wrappers and installing things like hubcaps, wing mirrors, and the like. Kirk didn’t mind doing these things, but a lot of new car buyers wanted their new purchases to be undercoated or rustproofed. This he didn’t enjoy a bit. Spraying tar-like undercoating overhead or in holes in doors, trunks, and fender sheet metal wasn’t what he would call fun at all.

However, fun came in way of road tests of faster performance cars. These didn’t come around that often, but despite the fact that he was now racing a stock car he still had that love of blasting down a street with somebody else’s hot car.

Once in a while, Marty the service manager would give him the highly desired task, a new performance car’s engine needing the “carbon blown out.” This means the owner doesn’t very often or ever run the car hard and fast, and so carbon builds up in the combustion chambers making it misfire and run sluggishly. Kirk relished those tasks because that’s Kirk’s lead foot thing! Covered in an earlier episode, Kirk road tested a wealthy young woman’s Challenger when his service manager told him it probably needed the carbon blown out, but Kirk got more than he bargained for during that road test! The jury remains out, thankfully, on the final outcome determination, but Kirk may have inadvertently caused a terrible multicar and ambulance crash! He fled the scene before the police had arrived.

Preparing police cars for service wasn’t so bad a job for Kirk. He had to do the regular new car prep, but on the police cars, he had to install light bars and wire up the police radios. He was explicitly forbidden to operate the siren. He never found out if they used “SCMODS.” This was the State County Municipal Offender Data System as the “Blues Brothers” revealed in the movie. Legally, he wasn’t allowed to road test the police cars.

 Kirk continued to work on his van project. By this point, he had most of the dents filled and smoothed out. The whole van had been sanded. Whew! What a job. Not knowing about how to hide/fix where the sign had been painted when the van was a work truck, he continued to ponder the problem. Pressing on, he applied a couple heavy coats of primer with the thought of covering the sign area and other imperfections when he sanded the primer. That was a whole week of hard work and then it was time for another weekend of racing.

Kirk, not being into racing all that much, prepared the stock car with the minimal amount of care and work. This amounted to checking fluids, tire pressures, and charging the battery. Again, a hard-core racer who lives and thrives on the racing scene with endless anticipation would work on his car, tuning the engine, adjusting the suspension, and doing whatever he could to get the car to go just little bit faster. Not Kirk, he was along for the ride so it seemed.

The entire weekend of racing at the two tracks went the same as the other weekend meaning that Kirk ran the heat and the consolation races finishing last four times. At Holland Speedway, that black 039 sedan still hung out there almost within reach for Kirk, but even though he felt up to the task his underpowered heavy coupe wasn’t quite. We ask: Was passing one car, that old 039 become the catalyst for Kirk to try harder, to push and go faster, no longer satisfied with finishing last? We’ll see, but in the meantime, he didn’t work on his old inherited stock car being just satisfied to race, but not go intense, exhilarating wheel to wheel with anyone.

Kirk found out after just a couple weekend of races with a perusal of the racing programs that his standing was posted in the class lineup. Of course, he knew from his years of attending races about the points accumulated by racers, and of course, the more races you won the higher number of points you got and the higher placing you attained. This didn’t mean much to “Last Place Kirk,” but as the weekends slid by, he found a most wonderful thing: even with his coming in last every time, he had a higher place just for showing up for every race than those guys who were faster than him but only raced at one track or showed up when they felt like it! This realization piqued his interest momentarily, but really didn’t change anything in the short term. Still and all, Kirk sat in twenty-six place in the class, but at least he wasn’t last! Being the responsible guy, he was showing up like he had at all those high school athletic events just to come in last or cheer on someone else which translated to racing stock cars as well. He reassumed his personal motto: Just show up!

And so it went with Kirk, work, racing, his van, and Sarah Elizabeth. He spent a lot of time with Sarah. She was fun, sexy, and cute. Kirk seemed at ease with her, in contrast of trying to be someone he wasn’t like courteous and stiff with Farrah. He could be himself not that he could pin down exactly what he was! Sarah, besides those attributes already described, was a talented art student. Kirk admired her paintings, even though he didn’t have much experience in judging paintings, thinking that for a young high schooler chick her paintings were very well executed.

Eventually, Sarah asked if she could paint something on the back of his stock car. Kirk was puzzled at first but shrugged to himself asking why not. Apparently, she had an idea for the car’s trunk lid before asking because she told Kirk she’d paint a squirrel. Kirk didn’t know why a squirrel but thought, well, she had that fashionable overbite and pudgy cheeks, and her brother called her rodent at times so he guessed why not paint a squirrel. So, she painted him/her on the back of the silver car and Kirk though the fuzzy rodent indeed came out cute and well-painted. No one else had a squirrel on their cars. Maybe others had those signs, slogans, and bumper stickers of various sorts, but no squirrels!   

Perhaps Sarah inspired Kirk with her squirrel painting, but while sanding on his medium gray primer painted van, his answer that had been bugging him for some time appeared out of nowhere. The answer arrived suddenly to how he would disguise the work van’s distorted metal from the sign being painted on it. This will be revealed soon in steps. For the time being, he sanded the entire gray van by hand with fine grit sandpaper. This provided a velvety smooth finish to the primer and revealed any of those minor imperfections he resolved with a bit of body putty. That putty delighted Kirk in a couple of manners. Red in color, dispensed in a fat metal tube, he squeezed it out in a glob and quickly smoothed it out with a plastic squeegee. It revealed all the pits and scratched made with fixing dents especially on body fill that probably would have been missed. Delightful, you ask? The putty smelled like lacquer paint with a strong sweet chemical smell that you could get high from if so inclined, and easy and fast to use because it dried almost instantaneously. You could sand it in a handful of minutes. How much is a handful? I don’t know, maybe ten like your fingers. Bottomline, Kirk quickly fixed those many minor imperfections. If Kirk knew one thing well, he really knew how to prep an auto body flawlessly for paint.

So, adding more onto Kirk’s busy schedule were the ofttimes fun of baling hay which his father who was pretty adamant for, no demanding, Kirk’s help. No need for details about that.

Most major holidays required a visit to the relatives domiciles for barbeque, games and fun. In his teen and young adult years, Kirk could have bowed on these excursions, but he had a recurrent allure to attend these so-called parties. That enticement was his long-time cousin crush. Ever since Kirk went through puberty and decided girls were desirable and not yucky, Kirk had been attracted to a certain cousin. His aunt and uncle only had girls and one of the girls was about Kirk’s age. Being religiously trained in his younger life, Kirk had moral boundaries on ‘being with’ close relatives of the opposite sex, never mind his science studies that taught him the hazards of scary genetic problems with relatives, specifically cousins, reproducing. He never thought that far into the crush, that is, reproducing, but he somehow knew that a relationship like that was high on the taboo list.

Anyway, the cousin remained the real reason he agreed to go to these ballyhoos. He spent a lot of time talking with her and the sisters, going on hikes and playing games, but not with her alone, oh no. It seemed over the years of growing up he heard via whispers and rumors that Kirk’s father had been a regular “horndog” in his dating, younger adult life which allegedly extended to his aunts before any of them were married. Kirk hypothesized that his uncle lived and operated under the old adage “like father, like son” which obviously applied to Kirk and put his daughter, Kirk’s cousin, in the crosshairs of a younger “horndog.” With that in mind, the uncle remained close by, in between the young cousins at all times. It remained blatantly obvious to all parties involved, namely Kirk and his cousin. It goes without saying that Kirk kept his hands and other body parts to himself far from any possible involvement and so “nothing ever happened.”  Nevertheless, the cousin remained a constant girl of desire for most of Kirk’s young life.   

Back to racing. Kirk now became one with his stock car. Yeah, it was slow and rather clunky, but instead of becoming anxious every weekend of racing he began to relish the experience. In fact, he began tinkering with his car trying to get a little bit more “oomph” out of it. He didn’t have many extra bucks to put into pricy high-performance parts but did what he could with what he had and that was knowledge and time. He readjusted the ignition timing with a more precise setting and advanced it a bit. He rebuilt the carburetor and changed out the metering jets. He staggered the tire pressures so that the car wanted to maintain those constant hard left hand turns. He felt good, ready to take on the entire racing field.

That next Saturday night at Holland Speedway had him in the slower second heat as usual with the other slow pokes. His heart rate went up when he found that he lined up next to on the outside of that old sedan number 039. In anticipation, Kirk gripped the wheel with white knuckles under leather gloves of course as they sat ready to enter the track. The rumbling of his engine along with the other cars seemed especially loud and reverberating in his helmet covered ears.  He stared at the closed track gate, not daring to look over at the other driver�"the enemy 039�"is going down!

After a few minutes, the other heat competitors rumbled out and a few moments after that the heat winner came out. That overpriced, cash laden car again! Kirk gritted his teeth; he hated that guy! Kirk’s heat filed out onto the track rounded the turn. He quickly put the car in second gear and pulled up into his slot. The 039-driver hung back a car length or so. Kirk stuck close to the blue car in front of him, thinking that if the 039 driver remained so loose in his position, Kirk could just drop down and take his position. One lap before the green flag. As they picked up speed around the first and second turns, 039 still hung back. Kirk stuck to the blue car’s bumper. They picked up speed on the back straight and 039 came roaring up beside him and tucked in tight behind the car in front of him. Kirk wouldn’t have it easy. Through the third and fourth turns they roared and the green light/flag dropped. They were off!

Kirk didn’t like being on the outside as in this race. It seemed to be out of the groove where you can go the fastest where 039 ran down low. Just like before, Kirk stayed right with the blue car through the turns and the 039 dropped back but not making a big enough gap because Kirk didn’t have the confidence and experience to know how tight a slot he’d fit. Kirk kept his excellent peripheral vision on 039 looking for an opening, but just as before on the turns the slot opened up but then 039 closed it up again. After a couple laps the main pack of cars had pulled away from the slow-paced dueling duo. If the pack came around from behind, Kirk knew he’d get the dreaded blue with yellow slash “move over” flag. He’d have to drop in behind 039 and all would be lost in his challenge.

Kirk knew that his groove position equated to just a little farther around the track than the lower groove, but he didn’t want to give up his side-by-side position. He debated dropping back and following 039 with the hopes he would mess up and allow Kirk to pass. Bang! Bang! in his concentration ahead, Kirk had dropped down beside 039 and bumped into him! Damn! No damage done. The 039 waggled a bit with the impact but didn’t give up the position.

Pissed, Kirk gripped the wheel harder and tensed his arms more yet. He eased off the gas and let 039 slide ahead. As 039 went by, Kirk tucked in tight, so tight he couldn’t see 039’s bumper. He eased back on the gas. Hard! Bump! Bitty-Bump bump, grind! Kirk hit him from behind. At the end of the straight, in his mirror, he saw the leaders come around behind at the start of the straight. Kirk dropped back a little and then went hard up high. He got his front end even with 039 read end again. That was no good. He dropped back and fell in tight behind 039 again. He got as low as he could in the turn and when 039 started pulling away on the straight, Kirk stayed low hoping that he’d keep the other car from dropping down in the turn and so would allow Kirk ahead. But the other car was just that much faster and dropped in front of Kirk. Kirk tried it again and again. With only two laps left, Kirk tried the move again, but realized that he was unconsciously slowing for the turn. On the straight, he pushed as hard on the gas as he could. It seemed like he stayed a bit closer to 039. He stayed on the gas. Bump, bump. Kirk hit 039’s corner bumper on the turn. 039 let off the gas and moved away from Kirk, so Kirk ducked down, underneath 039 keeping the accelerator floored. A hard-fought single position, but he competitively passed a car! He kept his foot down on the gas and saw in his mirror that he now actually pulled away from 039 on straights! Either Kirk found a little more speed or he had spooked the 039 driver. With a lap to go, Kirk stayed ahead of the main pack before the checkered flag dropped. Second to last, a milestone. With his usual grim, determined expression, Kirk smiled to himself. Wow! What a rush. I need more of that! 

As he sat on the pits stands watching the rest of races while eating his vinegar fries, Kirk had a sudden insight about his car’s performance with his victory over one car. He couldn’t wait to check it out, but he waited until he got the car back to the garage. Reaching inside the cockpit, he weighted the gas pedal all the way to the floor with a heavy ball peen hammer. This was with the engine not running, of course. He took the rudimentary air cleaner off and peered down the carburetor and saw just as he thought�"and hoped. The carburetor throttle was not all the way open! He was ecstatic. With a little work in way of adjusting the linkage and grinding some of the gas pedal stop off he hopefully solved the minor problem he had discerned. Checking the carburetor again after the work, the throttle butterfly was all the way open with the gas pedal pressed to the floor. Would this slight change give him some more speed? Kirk wouldn’t know for sure until he got on the track again, but he sure hoped so! 

Sometimes, it’s the little things that you overlook that make a difference…