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'Akron' Arlen Vanke

heminut

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I was doing a little reminiscing just now and thought I would put up a post about Arlen. A lot of the older guys here will remember him from his drag racing days. I met him years ago when he first moved to my town, Deming NM. My car nut buddy Jeff brought him over to the house to see my 70 Cuda which at the time had a Chrysler 392 Hemi in it. He was pretty impressed with the swap and after looking it over he asked if I knew of any 426 Hemis lying around. I laughed and told him "You think if I knew of any 426's lying around I would ave a 392 in there?"

I don't know how Arlen actually ended up in our little town , but he stayed pretty active in the car community. He would always come out for the annual Smok'n Oldies car show at the courthouse park, usually setting up a small table to sell some die cast cars and autographed posters to pick up a little extra cash. He spent more time talking to all us car nuts than selling stuff though.

I've met NHRA stars before, our town is right on I-10 and they would stop in around the time of the nats in Phoenix. A couple of those guys (I won't mention names) were downright snobbish! Arlen wasn't like that, he was just a normal, everyday gearhead and if you were into cars you were his best friend!

Arlen ended up in the local nursing home, where my wife had the honor of taking care of him. She said he was one of her best residents, always polite and he loved to talk about his racing days. Jeff and i stopped in to say hi every so often until his passing. Arlen was great ambassador for our sport, both racing and classic cars. I still miss him!

 

WDO72

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Great story. Thanks for sharing.
 

heminut

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Location
Deming, New Mexico
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