[ponyakr]

i find myself in the position of having to print a full retraction. it seems that i have unintentionally printed a falsehood. it concerns my tale about a racer finding a snake in the trunk of his racecar. i saw him today & he told me i had it all wrong. he said i didn't call him snake, i called him "copperhead". you gotta watch us old dudes, sometimes we remember things a little bit different than they actually were. i tried to remember, but i just don't recall copperhead. but it does make sense, when i think about it, 'cause his hair was red. it sounds just like somethin i'da come up with. anyway, a big apology to "copperhead". by the way, its been rumored that copperhead is planning a big comeback tour this year out of semi-retirement. ya see we're old, but we ain't dead yet. good luck copperhead! now this brings up another tale. copperhead had 2 brothers that were also red heads. i saw 1 of them the other day & ask him if he remembered me comin over to their house & taking them riding on my cushman scooter. he said he did then asked me if i remembered letting him ride it in his yard & having a wreck. no i have no recall of that happening. here's what i remember of how it went down. i was about 14 or 15 & had just discovered girls. well, as boys will, i sized 'em up & made my choice. this girl was sorta tall & shapely & good lookin--she was my pick of the liter. now it just so happened that this girl was copperheads sister. so i concocted me a plan. i'd go over to his house & take him & his brothers ridin on my scooter, if in return they'd promise to try & talk sister into going riding with me. & NO, it didn't work. lookin back on it now, i figure the only reason she ever rode with me was to shut her brothers up so they'd quit pestering her. anyhow, for the few times she did go, it was really a thrill to a young boy who knew absolutely nothing about girls. as i remember it was about 2 years later before i ever had a date. so to all you red headed brothers, i say many thanks for trying to help me out back then. that scooter was the 1st of many 2-wheel street rides i had. it was a red cushman with a wisconsin husky engine & a 2 by the tank shifter. any of ya'll had 1? after that i had several hondas, a couple of yamaha dirt bikes & finally a black harley sportster with lots of chrome. but once i started racing, the thrill of 2-wheelers faded away, so i sold the harley. i also quit hunting & traded my duck gun(an 870 wingmaster pump 3" magnum) for a '67 goat with a blown up 400, th400, & posi rear with 4.11 gears. precious memories.