MOTOR MANIACS

BEASTS OF BARSTOW

It was around 5 am when I reached Los Angeles from San Francisco. I had not time, as my pick up for package tour was at 6.30 am from China Town. I landed there in 10 minutes and waited for pick up.

It was a three-day tour to Los Vegas and Grand Canyon. Many buses came, but I realized that too many people were heading to Vegas and no one was interested in Canyon. As the bus, along with other 25 passengers hit the road by 8 am, our guide Alan Lee took over the charge.

Alan briefed about the tour schedule and gave some tips on dos and don’ts during the journey. After traveling for an hour and a half, I was still undecided whether to take a nap or keep awake. The dry land outside looked beautiful, when Alan announced that we were passing through California deserts near Lake Calico.

Suddenly I noticed some camping caravan vehicles, known as recreation vehicles (RVs) passing by. After traveling for some distance, I could see a group of vehicles parked in middle of the desert. It was away from the highway and I could notice some small motorcycles climbing the desert hillocks. From a distance, it looked like line of ants, raising dust.

I sensed what it could be. I had seen it in couple of movies and they were the drag racers. I was not sure in what form the entire thing happened. After another half an hour drive, we were stopped near a shopping center of branded goods. I was not particularly interested in shopping and came out to see what it looked like. I could see some vehicles moving in the desert at a distance. The place was called Barstow, which had nothing but a hotel, shopping mall, food court and couple of gas stations.

Alan told me that we would be going to other part of the road for lunch and I waited for an hour. When we reached other part, I realized that these vehicles were still at long distance from us. However, I noticed three motorcycles parked at half a mile distance, which was being guarded by two people. I decided to take a chance and started walking towards it.

Alan had warned me that gangsters were involved in drag racing and there was a lot of illegal betting. He cautioned to be careful. While I approached the motorcycle, I saw two huge guys sitting there. Only after reaching the place, I realized that one man was in his 50’s and another was his teenage son. While father was fit, his son was obese.

Father introduced himself as Roger (could not catch up with his surname) and could not catch son’s name. The two were calm and their friend had gone to gas station for getting a flat tyre fixed.

Roger, hailing from Los Angeles said that he was frequenter to Barstow and admitted that he would take part in drag races. Pointing at lean motorcycles, which looked like 100 CC bikes, Roger said that each one of them were have around 40-50-horse power.

``You need to be careful while negotiating on these rough tracks. You lose balance; you are lucky to escape with broken bones. Some get neck broken and that is the end of it. I heard that at least eight people were killed in such accidents during last two months. But this is fun and I enjoy it. For the last 20 years, I come here and now, my son is joining me,’’ he said.

When asked about gangsters and illegal betting, Roger smiled; ``the racing takes place all over the desert and we need not compete with gangsters. I have heard of some ugly incidents, but it is among them. No one bother you.’’

As we were talking, couple of bikes passed by roaring and raced towards nearby mountains, while a buggy driver was practicing to negotiate a small trench. ``We spend around 6000 $ over bikes and buggies are expensive. Cars can be still expensive – upto 100,000 $,’’ Roger explained.

Taking a leave from them, I headed towards the bus. I noticed a lot of beasts roaring around and heavy motorcycles like Honda, Harley Davidson being parked around. Suddenly I noticed a huge truck and its luggage space door was being closed. I saw a car parked inside and realized that it was a mobile body shop. I just ran to the huge person closing the door and requested him to open it again.

Mike was really huge, but was very soft. He had parked an old Cadillac in the truck and the spare parts of automobiles were neatly arranged. Mike was an automobile mechanic and loved fixing vehicles for drag racing.

``It is a nice feeling and I come here every weekend. There is a lot of activity across the desert. It feels good to see a bike or a car you fixed winning a race. Engine tune up will be extremely important here,’’ he smiled.

There are couple of people, who are due payment to Mike. ``Some people simply vanish and when I meet up, I will get my money back. More than business, I enjoy doing this,’’ he said.

As we left Barstow, I could see buggies being ferried on vehicles to the spot. A group of youngsters riding heavy motorcycles like Yamaha and Harley over took us. They did not seem to have anything with the drag race – they were just riding on highways. Till such time we reached Los Vegas, the beasts of Barstow kept roaring in my ears.

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