[ponyakr]

our b-ball coach in high school had a habit of giving everybody a nickname. he gave me mine when i first went out for the team. he looked at me & said " boy you're big around as a tub" & to this day some who knew me then still call me "tub". & by the way, he didn't leave me in that shape, he ran me 'til as a senior i was a lean mean fightin machine.(if you'll forgive me i'll post a picture to prove it) it was the thrill of competition & the desire to excell i learned during those b-ball days that would later inspire me in racing. i guess i picked up the habit from "coach". ever sense, when i hang around somebody long enuff, something about them will inspire me to hang a nickname on 'em. sometimes kenny would get that far away look on his face & i would say "boy, you look like a goose in a fog, where are you?" well it stuck, from then on, we called him "goose". in the south there,s a "bubba" on every corner. i would say to goose "hey bubba hand me that hammer" so he started callin me "bubba". he'd call & say "hey bubba, what time you want me to be at the shop?" "til this day, his greeting to me is always "hey bubba" well goose learned quick & soon started winning rounds & gettin in the $. our records show that he was winner & i was runner-up at 1 race. & 1 special race he won when me & T.J. were already out. on the next to the last time trial he slowed down, so when he came back he told me there was no 2nd gear. well, i'd already been here, the guy lied--stock spag--not hd. but he said it would still go into hi. so i told him to run it up a little higher, then hit the shifter twice real quick & maybe it would go straight from 1st to 3rd-- it worked & only ran a couple of tenths slower. so we dialed accordingly & he marched right on thru the field for the win. after the last race in '79 i sold him the truck & gave him the bird, thinking he would keep on racing. but i guess he was young & hearing the call of the wild. i later found out that he sold it to the owner of a chopper shop who wanted a street racer. i was told he was a tatooed, hard core biker type they called "squirrel" don't know if he ever raced it or not. but if he did his oponent would have to beat a 12.50, which it ran every pass like a sewing machine.