Days of Thunder

Days of Thunder

We set off from the garage,

me and my co-worker in the cars.

We raced like fuck.

The roads were our race track.

He was in the two litre Ford Sierra estate

and I was in the one point six Orion.

Both were new fast cars.

A joy to drive and be eighteen.

We were taking a works car to a customer,

I’d give my workmate a lift back.

Only it never happened that way.

We chased one another, a game of chicken.

Breaking the speed limit and laws.

Why should we care?

We can and do what we want.

I swear I wanted to do a hundred.

See the needle way up the dial.

Feel the acceleration and turn up the radio.

Miles ticked by in seconds.

There were no speed cameras back then.

I was young and that way inclined.

With a host of issues and attitude to match.

It happened past Ashton at a roundabout.

Bang! I went into the back of him.

Braking almost as hard as I could.

Not enough! Frontal impact, a touch to the right.

Bonnet up to the windscreen, front end fucked.

Bust radiator, water pissing out, smashed right side headlamp.

His Sierra was fine,

it had a tow bar bolted to the chassis.

The cover for the electric plug came off.

₤5 damage compared to ₤1600.

Me and my workmate almost had a fight and bad words were said.

We had a lot of issues, me and that guy.

He got whiplash, pay back for his evil words to me.

Karma boy, don’t you know?

Be nice to Jimmy or else.

The trip to the customer was aborted.

Back to the garage and report the incident.

Time to lie like hell.

Fill in accident form.

Were you racing?

No.

What speed were you doing?

30mph.

Did you break the speed limit?

No.

Did your workmate keep touching his brakes?

No.

Right, you’re fired!

Thank fuck I’m not fixing cars.

I hated the job and worked with a load of bastards.

Not the job for me.

Though I learnt how to fix cars.

The guy I hit saw my accident form.

We almost had a fight on what I wrote!

He obviously never liked my words!

And the truth fucking hurt like his whiplash.

My dad took a life insurance policy out on me!

My son is crazy and drives too fast.

When will he learn his lesson?

I still street raced and drove fast.

Till another crash almost killed me.

I was racing again on my own.

An old guy hit me from the side.

I almost spun into oncoming traffic.

It’s the one you don’t see that gets you.

That finally taught me,

slow the fuck down!