The Sory of Dirty Dan
This is the story of Dirty Dan.
Of him, I am certainly no fan.
1959, A sunny Saturday in May.
Out at Twin City Drag Strip, just to play.
Teenagers letting off adolescent steam.
Listening to the racing engines scream.
Leo and I were hoping to keep pace.
With my Ford Coupe, the flathead was full race.
That flathead was used to drinking 50 weight oil.
Cuz on a dirt track for two years it did toil.
It was bored and stroked, ported and relieved.
Number six cylinder had to be sleeved.
The valves were opened by an Isky stick.
And the three Strombergs were really slick.
A Merc crank was welded and ground.
Sure made that mill roar and pound.
The finned cast iron heads were really rare.
I was lucky to have found a pristine pair.
No helmet, no seat belts, this was old school.
I don't think we even brought along a tool.
This was our first time with the drag racing crowd.
Hoped that the Coupe would make us proud.
We made a run to get used to the track.
The flathead sure barked when I gave it a whack.
Down the strip the Ford did roar.
But the time slip would tell us what was the score.
It felt pretty good, it felt pretty fast.
The time slip said we were fastest in class.
We walked the pits to see who we'd be racing.
Over by our Coupe there was a guy that was pacing.
We headed over there and I yelled, "Hey!"
Startled, he looked up and quickly walked away.
The announcer said my class would be next.
Now we'd find out who would be best.
One last check before our race.
On top of my engine, sand all over the place.
I looked down the carbs, there was sand in there too.
I knew it was sabotage, into a rage I flew.
That guy that was here and hurried away.
Was the SOB that ruined my day,
He opened his door and got into his Merc.
And on his face was a telling smirk.
Well, Dirty Dan won the race that day.
I never found a way to make him pay.
In all my many years I've met many a man,
But none were as rotten as Dirty Dan.