Policing Horsepower: Do Cars and Cops Mix?
They say that travel broadens the mind. Drag-and-drive has certainly broadened mine. Through covering these events I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to all different parts of America, meet people from all different walks of life, and sample burgers from all different fast-food chains. And along the way I’ve been forced to reassess some of my previously held notions about this country and its people.
It’s funny how sometimes when you experience something first-hand, you come to realize that half of what you’d been told about it was bull and the other half was shit. Many times I’ve visited a state or a town or a neighborhood for the first time expecting it to be a certain way, only to find that the stories I’d heard were exaggerated, overstated or otherwise incorrect.
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Of course, this isn’t always the case. I’ve definitely visited places for the first time and had all the cliches confirmed. Like when I first went to Wisconsin for Sick Summer 2023 and saw that the good folks of that state really are obsessed about beer and cheese and the Green Bay Packers, just as I’d always been led to believe. But there are other times where reality differs greatly from rumor. Every time I’m confronted with a new truth to replace an old one, my mind opens a little wider.
One of my go-to tales of such mind expansion is from Hot Rod Drag Week 2019. We were at Cecil County Dragway, Maryland when I overheard a local racer discussing Maryland police officers and their penchant for being cruel and unusual assholes, or words to that effect. This person spun a grim tale indeed. They basically had me believing these cops went around ripping off heads and shitting down necks for fun. I sure didn’t want to run into any of “Maryland’s finest” after hearing that, but my wishful thinking only lasted a matter of hours.
Leaving Cecil County that same afternoon, we rolled out with a cluster of cars, including Harry Haig’s ‘Aussie Chevelle’, Robin Johannesson’s ‘OG Ascona’, and Matt Jones’s ‘Fire Chicken’ Firebird. We stopped at the nearby Sunoco and there were two male officers of the local Rising Sun Police Department standing by the gas station doorway. I was wary of them, of course, but they seemed mildly interested in the Drag Week cars so I took it as an opportunity to approach. With a friendly smile and using my broadest Australian accent, I hit them with this conversation starter: “Excuse me, officers, I’ve heard that Maryland cops are assholes. Is that really true?” After an awkward pause during which I imagine they were trying to decide if I was just joking or completely insane, they burst out laughing and we instantly became pals.
I invited them to come over and check out the cars and meet the rest of our crew. Not only did they not threaten to rip any heads off or shit down any necks, they agreed to help us play a silly prank. Harry Haig’s son Corty was only a teenager at the time, so we hatched a plan to have him put in handcuffs by these officers so Harry could snap a pic and text it to Corty’s mother – “Your son’s been arrested!” These officers were only too happy to oblige. In fact, they were literally too happy. The one who had Corty in cuffs was smiling for the camera so Harry told him: “Make it look realistic, stop smiling and jam your knee into his back!” Again, the officer was only too happy to oblige.
These alleged assholes were a lot of fun, but the best was yet to come. As our group of street/race cars got ready to hit the road, our new friends offered us a police escort from the gas station to the interstate. They called in the help of some of their fellow officers and we all set off in convoy, with one squad car at the front and one at the rear, lights flashing, sirens blazing. It was a surreal moment, and it got even better. As we reached the highway, we saw two more police cars parked across both lanes to block traffic and allow us an easy right-hand turn.
As we drove away down the highway, I turned to look back at the flashing lights fading into the distance and thought to myself: “I’m never going to believe anything I hear ever again.”
Written by Matt Reekie. Photos courtesy of Chris Thorogood.
