I was never fascinated with fast cars but all that changed when I started to work here in Cebu after graduation. Growing up in Bacolod where life was good until the sugar crisis of the Eighties, I was surrounded by the latest cars then. With sugar commanding a good price at the world market, it was easy for Negrenses to avail of the top of the line automobiles. In fact you could see the latest models in Bacolod not yet seen in Manila. I remember the Corvette Stingrays, Mustangs, Transams, Thunderbirds, Chargers, Camaros and Javelins just to mention a few. My father owned a Mustang and a Corvair, which was later recalled in the market due to some factory defects. I would go around Bacolod in the Mustang. My first job was with Getty Oil Company, a petroleum outfit owned by America's former richest man Jean Paul Getty. Since we practically own the service stations, we could afford to gobble gasoline as if it was water (gasoline then costs 25 centavos per liter, so a tanker containing 10, 000 liters just costs P 2,500.00.) today, you can't even buy a drum with that. Although my sports background was basketball and track, I was asked by my managers to promote our Veedol Lube products that included the racing oil. It didn't take long before I was snapping the speedometers of my Toyota Corolla. We didn't worry about mechanics as we operated the gasoline stations. I could pretty well remember the 1969 Cebu Grand Prix at the then newly-finished reclamation area that looked like a desert. Being a rookie racer, I wasn't fielded by the Toyota Team bannered by Dante Silverio and Pocholo Ramirez. But being with the local team of Toyota was honor enough.
I will never forget the rivalry between Toyota, Ford and the Mini Coopers. One of the best racers who led the Ford Escort team was my former classmate at La Salle, the late Arthur Tuason. The Escorts was our favorite opponent with Dodo Ayuyao in his Mini Cooper acting as spoiler. Yes, another good friend also carved his name in auto racing, Joey Bundalian. During my racing days I suffered an assortment of injuries, first degree burns on my arm after my over-heating radiator splashed boiling water on it. A broken rib when the wheel bended on it after my car fell on a ditch during a car rally. Despite the injuries I always went back for more. But when my mom said I might die ahead of her if I don't stop, I just couldn't be a disobedient child. Now I'm still racing minus the car. I could very well remember what The Freeman publisher Nito Jabat once wrote in his column. Nito said I was apprehended for beating the red light, but the funny thing was I was given a ticket for driving without a car.
Bullitt starring Steve McQueen was probably the best car chase movie in cinema history. Other racing movies included Le Mans, Grand Prix and the more recent Driven. McQueen is of course the most popular among the racing actors including Paul Newman, James Gardner and Burt Reynolds. In Bullitt, McQueen was involved in a 12-minutes chase, driving a 1968 Ford Mustang GT while going after a Dodge Charger R/T. The car chase along the streets of San Francisco took 2 weeks to finish. During the filming of the iconic jump sequence, worried residents on Taylor St. called the SF Police Department and City Hall. McQueen who is also a good motorcycle rider (Remember the Great Escape?) used a green Ford Mustang GT with a 355 HP-V8, while the black Dodge Charger RT driven by Bill Hickman (a Mafia hitman in the film) had a 375 HP-V-8. In the climatic final scene, the Charger bursts into flames after hitting a dummy gas station. During the 40th anniversary of the movie next year, Ford will unveil the new model called Bullitt Mustang. It is not confirmed but it was said that the green Mustang used by McQueen in the movie was purchased by a sugar planter in Bacolod.
As I was writing this column I got word that four people died after their car crashed into several electric posts last Sunday morning. The car was definitely traveling at top speed before hitting a gutter. Lucky it didn't burst into flames or else all occupants could have died. In Bullitt, McQueen's car jumps as it hits the roller-coaster streets of San Francisco. Three pretty personnel of Novo Cebu Cindy Cajes, Aires Omapas and Neza Amog said "Your mom was right when she asked you to quit car racing, tingali tepok na sad ka karon", echoed the trio. Well said ladies, that's why as I said "modagan nalang ko". HAPPY EASTER!