Honestly, I have no idea how I got to the point where I’m writing about my little red wagon, but that’s the topic of the day today.
Wagon History
So, back when I was about 8 (just a guess) I got a little red wagon for Christmas. Not a Radio Flyer brand, but something very similar. Something actually a little more stylish. I LOVED that wagon!
It started out with me walking to the Red Owl grocery store with Mom. We’d load up the wagon with the groceries and bring them home. The Friday trips to the grocery store were the highlight of my week.
Later, a neighbor kid and I, Pat Whalen, were into trucks. We used to pull our wagons around with our bikes. The wagons were the trailers and we’d load anything and everything into them as freight. We’d drive slow like we had a fully loaded hay wagon on the back of our bikes.
Mike McConley (another neighbor kid) and I would haul our DJ gear around in the wagon so we could go to remote sites. Yes, loading up the turntable and the ten 45s that we owned counted as our radio station broadcasting from a remote site.
As we got older sometimes we’d race the wagons. We’d place a blanket or pad of some sort in the bed of the wagon, kneel in the wagon on one knee while propelling the wagon forward with the other. We’d race each other in the street. We race down the “dirt hill” or Mendota Street hill by Kmart. I don’t recall ever jumping the wagon, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
The best part of the story is actually the end of the wagon.
The Indianapolis 500
As you may remember in the late 80s/early 90s Eugene and I used to go to the Indy 500 every year. I believe we went 8 years in a row. The tie in to the wagon is actually relatively simple… In Indiana they do not sell alcohol on Sunday. The Indy 500 is scheduled to run on Sunday (rainouts sometimes push it to Monday) so people have to carry in their own beer. Because of the sheer size of the track (2.5 miles around) walking to your seat can be a little challenging. Factor in carrying beer and you’ve got a real physical strength and endurance test. Enter, the wagon (yes, I’m knocking off the title of the Bruce Lee film).
Lots of people actually place their coolers in wagons and pull them to their seat locations. If you were trying to carry a cooler full of ice and beer .75 miles a wagon would make perfect sense. Once you arrived at your seat location you simply chained your wagon up behind the grandstand and went in. When you needed a beer you just ran down and grabbed a couple from your cooler and ran back.
Our Wagon Styled Like Indy Race Car
In preparation for the 1995 race Kevin Smith and I decided that we were going to make our wagon look cool (Kevin was attending the race for the first time). The very same wagon that I had as a kid was now going to be transformed. We mounted the cooler, added front and rear spoilers, changed out the tires, painted the rims and reinforced the handle. In the end we had a very cool, Budweiser themed wagon that people wanted to race. A wagon that people wanted their picture taken with.
When I say they wanted to race… I mean they wanted to race. Kevin would sit on the wagon and I would pull it. Usually the races were only about 20 yards as there wasn’t much room around the track (even in the street) and everyone had been drinking. Imagine two guys facing off against in each in a 20 yard dash (each pulling a wagon with a guy and a cooler in it). Crazy.
Getting their picture taken with it… not crazy. The wagon actually looked really cool. It had an Indy car inspired look and feel. The spoilers (Kevin custom made them out of sheet metal), the changed out wheels and the nice paint job made it worthwhile for someone to get their picture taken with the wagon. We had one hell of a weekend with that wagon.
When we got the wagon back to Madison we still had a lot of fun with it. It made it to plenty of cookouts and whatnot, always the center of attention.
The Bitter End
It died a show painful death one summer evening. We had some people over to the house for party in the garage. I believe it was a boxing match so lots of people over, eating drinking and yelling in the garage. In the early morning hours we started demonstrating our racing technique. Kevin took his position as the driver, me the puller and away we went. We didn’t have anyone to race against so as we crossed the finish line of our 10 yard dash I let go of the handle and Kevin continued down the sidewalk until crashing into the chain link fence. Everyone laughed and the MTV Series Jackass was born. I don’t recall exactly what happened to the wagon that night, but that was the end.
I’m going to say that the Little Red Wagon you bought for me (or maybe for all of us kids together?) was probably the best gift you ever gave when you consider it’s longevity, the amount of use it got and the price. I’m sure there were gifts over the years that were much more expensive, but never anything quite like the wagon.
R.I.P. Little Red Wagon
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