PREVIEW

 

Chapter 1

 

As I sat back and looked at the pictures – pictures that were taken at our reunion. ItÕs hard to believe that it has been fifty years since we graduated from high school. Gazing at the photos of the old gang, I began to reflect on how very fortunate I was.  We tend to think we have control of our livesÉ but, too many outside elements alter the way things happen to us. Wars, depressions, accidents and any number of circumstances that are beyond our control. Our fates decided by events of the times or by pure chance.

 

                However, you want to put life into perspective, for me, my life changed when I became associated with a group of boys later to become known as the Igniters. The Igniters of Culver City, California, was one of a number of new hot rod clubs that were springing up at the time. In the late forties, Hot Rods were the rage. To be a member of a hot rod club and drive around with a metal plaque on your car was like wearing a badge of honor. At first, we were the new guys on the block, but eventually, we became one of the top clubs in southern California with members that participated in the first official drag races in Santa Ana. They also set records at the lakes, including the worlds land speed records.

 

The amazing thing about our club and its members wasÉ not what they did while in the clubÉ but the accomplishments that they achieved in their later years. To have one or two members of a group to become successful would be normalÉ but to have almost everyone in the group to achieve some form of success is quite a phenomenon, especially when you consider the times and circumstances that most of them endured.

 

After our reunion, I began looking back trying to figure out what made this rag tag group, stand head and shoulders above the rest. What made them so inventive, creative and industrious? I wanted to see and to understand how we, as a group, developed a very special camaraderieÉ one that carried us through our formative teenage years and through friendships that have lasted a lifetime.

 

Looking at the photos, I remembered how I first became involved with the groupÉ.   

 

Copyright 2008 - The Igniters by Marvin Gelbart

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