Young Paisano, The Public Prattler

As I was stashing my December 1, 2012 “Letter To The Editor” in a folder of other letters, I came across a yellowed newspaper clipping of something I had written to a local editor the year after I graduated from High School.  It was mostly a self-serving appeal, considering I built and was driving a modified car, and was one of the more “literate” car guys who might have a shot swaying public opinion to the benefit of all the hot rodding brotherhood. Anyway, as most of these opinion letters go, it ended up as an impotent exercise that only vented our collective frustration.  It never changed one “establishment” mind about the subject, and didn’t move our cause ahead one inch.  It did, however, have an unexpected benefit.  My image soared among other backyard mechanics who liked what I said, and it became my first, “fifteen minutes of fame.”  Anyway, here it is… the opinion of a gadflying teenager with grease under his fingernails.

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Letter To The Editor:

In a front page article on August 2, a familiar and often reiterated statement was made by an irate city judge as he viewed a case at hand.  It read, “We have to do something about the speeding and racing going on around here.” His apparent solution: A $100 fine imposed on each of the two guilty individuals.

I must say that this $200, while no doubt increasing the city’s treasury, contributed little, if anything, to the curbing of this ever increasing problem.

First of all, there are things that the average person should be filled in about concerning the topic, “Niagara Falls vs. Speed.”

     1. While being comparably small in size, our city has a higher percentage of modified cars (either licensed or strictly competition) than do cities of double population.
     2.  There are hundreds of cars being built in backyard sheds, that while unfinished today, will be on the road in the future.
     3.  Also, Niagara Falls has the honor of claiming the fastest car in New York State and surrounding areas, as well as Canada, one which also holds a “World’s” speed record.
     4. Car enthusiasts spend thousands of dollars each year, for racing and speed equipment.
     5. Finally, Niagara Falls has scores of victory trophies from various sanctioned speed events as far away as 500 miles.

Now, let’s face it!  Speed is as much a part of our city as the Falls itself. Although officials have pondered this problem endlessly, the only hope instilling answer comes from the car enthusiast himself.  For at least two years the plea for a local supervised drag strip has been made.  Land and financial backers were sought.  Sheriff and State Police Departments were asked to supervise these events.  And even though a majority of people were for it, a varied few blocked the move with such “flimsy” arguments as “cars making too much noise while in competition.”

All in all, to those people I say, if standing a little noise one day a week is harder to bear than perhaps attending the funeral of a child who was hit by a speeding car, your concepts are warped beyond reason.  If the speed urge needs an outlet, give it a safe one in the form of supervised, clean competition.  Let’s get the horsepower out in the country where it belongs… with the rest of the horses!

Paisano  (August 6, 1960)