Jake Palmer's The Big Race

The Big Race

Men and their machines line up against each other to try and better the other in speed and performance. The roar of the engines…the squeal of the tires…green light…high octane…….drag racing is a life. Raised in a small country town in the middle of nowhere, Jake
Palmer had always loved cars. His father, Raymond Palmer, had served as a mechanic in the
Vietnam War and after the war was over he settled down in the modest town of Caldwell, Texas and opened up his own little auto shop. Jake at the young age of 15, started working in his father’s shop to further his knowledge about the inner workings of cars hoping that someday he would become a famous NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) drag racer. Since Jake was as
After thousands of newspapers, after hundreds of yards, and after countless hours of working in his dad’s shop until he was dead tired, he was now able to purchase his own car. After many phone calls and visits to neighboring cities in search of the right car, he finds a reasonably priced 1970 Pontiac Trans Am and purchases it. Jake was so excited that he had finally gotten a car of his own that he hadn’t checked the condition of the parts within the car so when he got home with the car he was astonished to find that many of the car’s parts needed to be replaced. Not having the money needed for the purchase of new parts
Jake goes to the bank and, with his father as a co- signer, the bank issues him a loan. The bank loan and his continuous work at his dad’s shop enabled him to purchase the needed parts for his car. After many days and many hours, as well as busted knuckles, he completes the task of replacing the parts. Excited about how his car is performing he goes to the local country road drag strip. Jake pulls up in his smoking, unpainted, rusty muscle car to see a familiar face but unfortunately a face of someone who he would rather not see at this place or time. Wes
When Jake drove his car onto the track area Wes began to make fun and insult Jake and his car.
Jake chose not to entertain Wes but went straight to the starting line. Racing against the slowest car at the track Jake wins his first race, but when Wes heard about his victory Jake was made to look like the fool again. Never the less Jake was proud of his car and its performance so he continued to race and continued to win to the point of winning a good amount of cash. During a period of several months Jake had won and lost races, his time in the ¼ mile was down to about
15 seconds, and he had worked his way up to be one of the fastest cars on the track, this of course was the same class that Wes Corbin was part of. Jake and Wes had never raced each other before but today that would change. Before the race Wes started the insults once again but to his surprise Jake reached out his hand in good sportsmanship and said, “Good luck today”. Wes declined to shake but instead said, “I don’t need luck”. Jake and Wes drive their cars to the starting line, rev up their engines, the light turns green and they speed down the straight