Darting through traffic, he resembled an agile water bug;
screaming around curves, he was as sparkling as light playing on the ocean;
when he got up to speed, he felt as the wind itself. He was a racing car—Smokey by name—who blew
past other racers as though they were standing still!
He was a lucky racing car because he had a driver called
Johnny D. Johnny was one of the best
drivers around even though he was getting on in years. Together, this all but unstoppable team was
the toast of the race car circuit.
Whenever a race was too close for comfort, Johnny only had to pat
Smokey on the side door and say coaxingly, "Come on, old boy, show 'em
your exhaust!" and Smokey would dig back and somehow find that extra
something which would propel them to the winner's line.
One sad day, however, a brand new kind of car appeared on
the scene. It featured a thunderous
large engine capable of reaching unheard of speeds. Smokey noticed that these cars were not so
different than himself—just their engines were bigger. He suggested that Johnny D. consider
replacing his engine, but Johnny D. snorted and said that he was too old to
change, and besides, hadn't they done all right with what they had?
"After what we've been through together, I've got to stay
loyal to my old buddy," is how he'd put it when
friends would ask the
same question of him.
It was the Fourth of July, time for the traditional Fourth
of July Traditional Race which featured the best
racing cars for miles
around. Johnny D. and Smokey all but
owned this race, so all eyes were on them as they readied themselves to meet
the challenge of the upstarts with their fancy new engines.
Alas, despite Johnny D's repeated calls for Smokey to
"show 'em your exhaust!" they were not up to the
challenge. They failed to defeat a single one of the new‑engined
cars. And before long, they were no longer invited to the better race
tracks. Things never looked so
bleak.
It seemed as though they would never be useful again.
One cold morning Smokey felt an unfamiliar metallic clunk. After being jostled about, he found that he
was
being towed! He looked around desperately and finally spotted
Johnny, head down, in the tow truck ahead.
Smokey didn't have to be told where he was headed. He had seen others make this trip but never
imagined his turn would come. Yet there
he was, in the middle of a junk yard for useless and abandoned
automobiles! And there he would have
remained if Mr. Grimley, a children's amusement park owner, hadn't happened
by.
"That's just the ticket!" exclaimed Mr. Grimley as
he drove by the yard. "Exactly what
I need for my new park."
And so as quickly as Johnny and Smokey had found themselves
in the junk park, they found themselves in Mr. Grimley's Children's Amusement
Park.
Instead of rusting away in an abandoned field, they were
polished clean as new and became the star attraction in the kiddie bumper car
ride. They would park in the middle
while the kiddies would drive by and sometimes into them.
Children would clamor to ride near old Smokey. Parents stood near by, smoking their pipes
and reminiscing about Smokey's past victories.
Every time a particularly fast bumper car would drive by them, Johnny
D. would all but stand up in the driver's seat, throw out his chest and proudly
yell, "Come on, old boy, show 'em your exhaust!"
Even in such modest surroundings, Johnny basked in the
limelight and adulation. And the
children would go wild with excitement at being so close to glory.
But things were not so sweet for Smokey. Despite Johnny's nightly pep talks about how
lucky they were to
finish out their careers
bringing joy to children, Smokey longed for action. He grew more sullen and withdrawn until one
day he hit upon a strategy.
It was a brilliant plan which played on old Johnny's keen
sense of pride and competitive spirit.
All Smokey had to do was to wait for Johnny's inevitable war cry. Smokey went to sleep that night thinking
about the action he just knew was in store.
'Let's face it, boy, you're excited about the glory that will soon be
yours again!" he said to himself as he fell off to sleep.
Sure enough, just ten minutes into the very first ride,
Johnny cried out for Smokey to "show 'em your exhaust!" But this time
Smokey was ready. Reaching back for that
special something that had made him a champion, he shouted, "Shut up, you
old fool! Can't you see that we're
nothing, we're finished. We might as
well be rotting in that junk yard for all the respect we get here! You're just a broken down loser, a side show
diversion in a jerkwater park. I'm
nothing, you're nobody. It's over. We're done."
Echoing in the stunned silence, those words went right
through Johnny like daggers. He tried to talk, but nothing came out. Parents and children just looked away. Johnny
died soon after of a broken heart.
Since they had been such a prime attraction, Mr. Grimley
decided to hire another recently retired race driver to take over Johnny's job,
just as Smokey assumed he would.
The new driver had a firm grip and a steady hand, just as
Smokey assumed he would. So one day,
Smokey whispered to him, "You were meant for better things... I know where
we can get one of those new engines..."