My dad had the ability to take a look at something and immediately figure out how it worked and could usually repair it even if he’d never seen it before. I was just telling mom that I don’t think I ever bragged on him or gave him enough credit for this while he was alive.
Prime example of this was in 1982 when we had the pinewood derby in the parking lot of the old Gibson’s department store in West Helena. He never got to be at an actual race because farmers back then couldn’t just take a day off during harvest or planting.
Well, my first car looked great but didn’t win. I can remember telling him what the cars looked like that were winning, they looked different than my car. I can vividly remember us getting into the truck one evening and meeting my Uncle JV up at his workshop behind their house and we started with a simple block of wood and 4 wheels laid out on the table… in just a few hours they had constructed the exact car I had described to them that I thought would be a winner.
I can remember how precise they were in keeping everything within the rules and guidelines. We even had a weight watchers food scale on the table to keep track of the cars weight. Keep in mind that Dad had never carved a car out of a block of wood or even seen them race in person before, Uncle JV may have but it would’ve been years before I came along… the next morning my car was undefeated and I came home with the 1st place trophy!
I know for a fact I didn’t appreciate the magnitude of what my dad and uncle pulled off that night until I became a dad. They both were on their feet all day working hard and took time that evening to tackle something they hadn’t ever seen before but somehow they bested everyone in not only the city but the district. There were probably kids there that their dads were engineers and no telling what else… but their cars got smoked by a 10yr old kid w/ the best dad and uncle of all time!
A couple of years ago I needed shelf space in my office so I boxed up these old trophies (mom saves everything). I just found them and they are going back on the shelf tonight. Sometimes you never realize how special a moment is until years later when you are the only one still around to recall it.
If you are still able, you should call your dad right now and let him know how awesome he is. I’ll never be as good mechanically as my dad so I’ve got to do a better job in other ways, and pray that Spencer never brings me a block of wood home to make a race car!
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