|
SPEED OF SOUND I shall never forget an experience of traveling faster than the law will allow. It was a fearsome experience for me at the time. In 1954, Rev. Cleo Martin was pastor of the First Baptist Church at Hammon. He was a unique character. I don’t remember much about him except that he loved to drive fast and that he smoked cigarettes. He was the first preacher I ever knew that smoked. The reason I am able to recall that it was in 1954 is because Rev. Martin had just purchased a brand spanking new 1954 Ford Crown Victoria. It was a beautiful thing, exactly the same style and color as one in the preceding photograph.. I shall never forget the car because it was one of the very first Crown Victoria models that Ford made. It definitely was the very first such car in the little town of Hammon. It had a large tinted glass window which covered entire front half of the roof. The most memorable thing to me about that car was the color, which was a light cream over pink. It was literally out of this world to a youngster like myself. I had never seen a car which was pink in color and had glass in the roof. In addition to all of that, the ‘54 Ford was the first year the company made a family automobile which registered above 100 mph on the speedometer. The speedometer registered 110 mph. I think up to 1954, only the Thunderbird had a speedometer which registered above 100 mph. My first occasion to ride in Rev. Martin’s gleaming new multicolored car came at the expense of a sprained ankle. It was during the summer and the Royal Ambassadors of Hammon First Baptist Church had been playing a softball game. We were playing on the community baseball field down in the northwest end of town. The baseball field was located about three blocks north of the four way stop which split the two blocks of Hammon’s main street. That was back in the days when State Highway 34 took a turn at the south end of Hammon and looped down through town, making a large half moon pass before rejoining its original straight north-south line there by the Pentecostal Holiness Church. The baseball field was immediately north of Clay’s laundry. Leo Jones was my Sunday School teacher and also was the leader of the Royal Ambassadors, which was a church group of boys similar to the Boys Scouts. The RA’s had a softball team and he was our coach. I recall getting my sprained ankle while sliding into 3rd base. Leo called Mother to see what he should do about my ankle. It was a pretty hard sprain and there was a possibility that my ankle might be broken. It happened that Bro. Martin was going to be going to Elk City that afternoon to visit the hospital. So, Mother somehow arranged for me to ride to Elk City with him to get old, "Horse Doctor," Doc Standifer to xray my ankle. Now ole cigar-smoking Doc was a unique man, but that’s another story for another time. Bro. Martin had only recently purchased the new car. It wasn’t even broken in yet. I got in the car with him and went to Elk to see Dr. Standifer. As we drove along, Bro. Martin began to talk about the new car. He was obviously proud of it. I recall being amazed at the prospects of riding in a car which could exceed 100 mph. I knew that it must be able to exceed 100 mph because the speedometer showed 110. Bro. Martin asked me if I had ever been in a car that went 100 mph. I told him that I had not. He asked me If I would like to go 100 mph. I told him that I didn’t particularly care to do so on that day. However, he decided to "air it out" just to see how fast it would go. We were about two miles south of Hammon on State Highway 34. At a point just past the Red Hill Cemetery road, Bro. Martin put the pedal to the metal and in a flash, we were doing past 80 mph. He continued the climb up the speedometer and did not stop until he had pegged 100 mph. I was very frightened. I had never been in a car going that fast. He maintained the 100 mph speed for a moment or two and looked over at me and asked, "Reckon it'll go any faster?" My heart was already in my throat and I couldn’t say anything. I didn't know what to say. If I said yes, he was going to kick it on up. If I said no, he would have attempted to reach for the 110 mark just to show me that it would. I was speechless. The wind outside the window seemed deafening to me. It seemed as though we were going 1000 mph instead of 100 mph. I know that I must have been as white as a sheet. I recall that for a moment, I forgot all about the fact that I had a sprained ankle and was preparing to face Dr. Standifer in a few moments. One thing was for certain, at the speed we were traveling, we weren’t going to be long getting to Elk City. I had a hunch we might be heading to eternity instead of Elk City. At least I feared that prospect. Much to my chagrin, he put his toe deeper into the accelerator and the car continued its climb up the speedometer. In just a few seconds the speedometer was pegged out at 110 mph. He seemed proud. I was more afraid than ever. He asked me to look over at the speedometer to confirm our speed. I was afraid to do it, and at the same time, I was afraid not to. So I sort of glanced out of the corner of my eye at the speedometer, doing so just enough to let him know that I had observed it. I don’t know how long he maintained the speed of 110 mph, but it seemed like an eternity to me. After what seemed like ten minutes of hair raising high speed, he slacked off on the accelerator. He dropped back to around 70 mph and I was greatly relieved. When one is traveling at the speed of 110 mph and drops back to 70 mph, it seems tolerably slow enough to live. At that point I accepted the possibility that I may live to see another day. Perhaps going over 100 mph isn’t a big thing. However, for a thirteen year old who had never experienced anything like that, it was an awesome experience.
|
