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She
was born here, nurtured by the warm Southern California climate
and
raised by the friendly and enthusiastic people of the area
called
Orange County.
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She
was raised from a lowly street urchin to a woman of
respectability
in the area. She was protected, educated and cultured by
the
pillars of her community.
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But,
in her youth, she left Orange County to explore the sights and sounds of
the big cities. She visited Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago,
Detroit,
and nearly every metropolitan area in the United States.
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Everywhere
she went, people fell in love with her. her sensuality
drew
men from their Sunday afternoon family picnics and caused women
to
shake their heads and wonder what the world
would
bring next to dirupt happy family life.
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Now
in her teens, she has returned, more beautiful than ever, to her
birthplace,
and it looks like she's going to make an even
bigger
impact on the community now than she did at birth.
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She's
Drag Racing and when she first arrived on the scene on a back-up
runway
at the Orange County Airport in the mid-1950's she
created
a new way of life, perhaps even a form of religion, for those men
independent
and far-sighted enough to follow her.
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No
one knows who her parents were, but some say they came
from
the dry lake beds in the Mojave Desert- Muroc, Rosamond, El Mirage.
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Who
they were and where they came from doesn't matter now.
She's
made her reappearance in Orange County so dramatically that few
will
even remember that this is the same girl who was brought up
under
the guidance of police and civic officials on that quarter-mile strip
of
asphalt at the Orange County Airport nearly 20 years ago.
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Now,
at her Orange County International raceway home,surrounded by
asphalt
pits, water and electrical outlets galore, landscaping,
permanent
concession stands, restrooms and bright lights, she can once
again
entice the people of fast-moving, fast growing Orange County.
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She
might not recognize her new followers- the Mustangs, Cougars,
Camaros,
Firebirds, and other radical, stock-bodied speedsters.
They
don't look like the modified roadsters, pickups, and somewhat
crudely-constructed
dragsters who first competed for her favors.
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Gone
are the street tires, stock wheels, and mild tempered engines with cutout
exhausts. They've been replaced by 10-inch wide drag
slicks,
magnesium wheels, fiberglass body panels and supecharged,
fuel-injected
mills producing horsepower in excess of three times the
amount
produced by her old friends.
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She
took a long time to grow up. The men who followed her matured
much
more quickly than she did. But, with her return to her
birthplace,
she's finally caught up with them.
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She
was born here and she's come back to inject new life into that which
she
left behind. from the excitement generated by her return,
she
could have a long and happy life in Orange County.
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We
welcome her back.
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-California
Dreamin'-
