Oil Paintings

F1 HOTTIES

In North Kansas City the Riverside Race Track was three blocks south of the big RED X bargain barn, which sat due east of the two lane Fairfax Bridge, where traffic flowed both ways over the Missouri River. At dusk during that summer of '60, right after the John Deere tractor had fogged the mosquito laden air with DDT, the Riverside Demolition Derby kamikazes crashed out of the starting gate to the roar of the crowd. During every heat, a dozen or more Detroit junkers speeding in reverse tried to ram each other into submission. Gas was only 19.9 cents a gallon, making the car-crushing sport a cheap thrill of adrenalin, and giving me a chance for lights, camera, attention.

At Riverside it didn't make a diff if you were a Mick, Spic or Kraut, pay the 5 buck entry fee, sign the waiver releasing the track's owner of all liability, and you were IN the race! As for me, I was a last-ditch stand-in because the reigning queen of Riverside was knocked up. Standing barefoot between two older girls on the aircraft carrier-size trunk of a '59 Impala convertible, I was a fuel-injected thirteen year-old, who could shimmy in a mini all night to the blare of 'Rock Around The Clock'. We were three Riverside Race Track Trophy Girls, waiting to deliver the ultimate prize to the driver of the last car left wheezing --- a kiss and a shiny trophy.

Fifty years later with the white shimmy mini hanging in my closet, I've painted a stacked deck of Formula One beauties. These racy inspirations in oils portray sleek racing machines that look like they've been fabricated by renegade toy makers. So, let's take a few laps around the track with these F1 HOTTIES, and keep an eye on the curves.