Engine Summer

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Yep, Sonny, this is sure enough Engine Summer. Don't know what that is, I reckon, do you? Well, that's when all the homesick ol' sportscar drivers come back to play. You know, a long time ago, back in your pappy's time, there used to be heaps of fur-in roadsters around here - thousands - MILLIONS, I reckon, far as that's concerned. Reg'ler sure 'nough European sportscars. None o' yer Japanese jobs - not much! They wuz all around here - right where yer standin'. Aw, don't be skeered - hain't none around here now, leastways no NEW ones. They been gone this many a year. They all want away and died, I s'pose.

But every year, 'long about this time, they all come back. Leastwise their sperrits do. They're here right now. You can see 'em off down the roads. Look real hard. See that kind o' hazy, misty look out yonder? Well, them's ol' sportscar drivers...sperrits drivin' along with their tops down in the sunlite. That's what makes that kind o' haze that's everywhere...it's just sperrits o' British car nuts all come back. The're all around us now. See off yonder; see them autocross cones? They kind of look like corn shocks from here, but them's cones, sure as yer a foot high. See 'em now? Sure, I knew you could. Smell that smokey sort o' smell in the air? That the gas a-burnin' and their exhaust pipes a-goin'. Lot o' people say it's just leaves burnin', but it ain't. It's the leaded gas an' the nuts are a-tearin' around to beat ol' Harry!

You jist come out here tonight when the moon is hangin' over that hill off yonder an' the harvest fields is all swimmin' in the moonlite; an' you can see the Triumphs an' MGs just as plain as can be. You kin, eh? I knowed you would. Jever notice how the leaves turn red 'bout this time o' year? That's jist another sign o' leakin' antifreeze. An' ever' once in a while some o' those lights flicker an' die out. That's Lucas wirin' for you. See here now - look at all them colors on the leaves. That's them lousy paint jobs. They rub off on everythin'! Purty soon all the car nuts'll go a-caravannin' away agin, back to that big gimmick rallye in the sky. But next year you'll see 'em troopin' back...the sky just hazy with 'em, an' their gear-boxes going SNIC, SNIC...an' their exhausts a-going BBRRAAPPP jist the way they used to...a way back in yer pappy's day.

Engine Summer was written by Rick Dentino, who was inspired by the annual Injun' Summer article in the Chicago Tribune Magazine. Our sincerest apologies to the Chicago Tribune Magazine...

Last updated October 14, 2006