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But the E-Towners had it all doped out. Some genius, probably suffering from too much ambiance, looked across the dragstrip during this dreary exercise on a Thursday at the '75 Summernationals, stood up with the help of an eight-pack of Little Kings unplugging his circuitry, and eyeballed through the blur the fans on the other side of the track. Weighing the risks, he (or maybe she, for that matter) thought it over and after careful consideration, cleared the throat and bellowed, "The Other Side Sucks!"

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Then someone near him, scratched his head, logicked it over, and thought and figured, "You know he's right" ... and he stood up and opined, "Yeah, the Other Side Sucks."

This fervor soon spread like liver cancer. In a matter of minutes, several dozen fellow inebriates and reckless funsters picked up on the momentum and soon the declarative sentence took the form of a massive tribal chant. Mindset? Nothing short of total war.

The other side that "sucked," soon picked up on this.

"What are they saying over there? The other side .. hey that's us ... sucks??!! Hold it, Leroy."

And they responded in kind ... "The Other Side (meaning you creeps 100 feet across from us) Sucks."

The side of the crowd that initiated this sucking critique quieted down enough to hear their neighbor's rejoinder.

"Oh yeah."

Well, "The Other Side Still (meaning our original targets) Sucks."

And it went on like this for the entire oildown clean-up. Better still, these maniacs kept it going for the entire race. Four NHRA drag race days filled with rains, occasional runs, and a whole lot of sucking around.

Some artistic type on Saturday decided heavier ammo was needed and amended the original "The Other Side Sucks" mantra, to something on the order of "Eat Sh*t." And that's something to hear when 500 people across the track are bombarding you with that chanted in the harmony of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Of course, "The Other Side", not to be out done, broke out weapons of mass destruction with a simple "F"ck You" chanted with equal precision.

After the 1975 Summernationals, I knew my perspective on drag racing had changed irrevocably. The show would never be the same. Somehow, some way, I had to know at what over track, whatever event ... which side sucked.

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