The Car Hood Sleigh Riding Affair - "YCTTBOOTB"

Very rough draft of Car Hood Sleigh Riding - if you notice typo's and grammero's please point them out.Car Hood Sleigh RidingOne of the most popular winter games in Kingsbridge, especially with the teenagers, was “Car Hood Sleigh Riding”. This winter game had everything a teenager could ask for; speed, action, and above all - DANGER. Car Hood Sleigh Riding is similar in many ways to the alpine events found in the Winter Olympics like the Luge, or Two, Three, or Four Men Bobsledding - where teams raced against each other from the starting gate to the finish line. There were differences, mind you – like the equipment, the starting line, the track, the finish line, and everything else in between – alright the only thing that was similar was that it involved snow, a “sled”, and you went incredibly fast.The ingredients for successful Car Hood Sleigh Riding were snow (at least three inches), a car hood (the bigger the better), ten to twenty friends, and Ewen Park Hill. During the late 70’s and early 80’s it was easy to find snow during the winter months, car hoods were easily found in a junk yard across the street from Ewen Park (or connected to the cars parked along the street), and finding ten to twenty friends was easy – all you had to do was scream “Keg Party” in the middle 231st Street and Godwin Terrace and kids came streaming out of alleyways, building hallways, and pizza shops. Once the Car Hood Racing Team was assembled it was off to the track – a left down 231st street (maybe a stop at Sam’s for a slice), past the library, past Jack LaLanne’s, and on up to Ewen Hill…oh but wait…they needed a car hood. Car hoods were found in a junk yard across the street from Ewen Park, most times a car hood could be found lying around the junk yard but occasionally a car had to be slightly disassembled (just slightly mind you) by force to free a hood from the rest of the vehicle. Once one or more hoods were procured (a.k.a. ripped off) the kids were ready for the trek up Ewen Park Hill and – CAR HOOD SLEIGH RIDING!Before we get into Car Hood Sleigh Riding let me give you a quick overview of Ewen Park - it will help Kenny Croke’s insomnia. Ewen Park was named after John Ewen, a brigadier General in New York State’s National Guard during the Civil War. John Ewen passed his land on to his daughter, Eliza M. Ewen, after his death and after she passed away she bequeathed the land to the City of New York. In her “Last Will and Testament” she agreed to give (that’s what bequeathed means – I just wanted to sound smart) the land to the City of New York as long as the city agreed to certain conditions. She wanted the people of the Bronx to benefit from the land and so she required the following in her will; a park had to be designed on the land for use by the teenagers of Kingsbridge and Riverdale, the park could be used by these teenagers to enjoy basketball, baseball, football, Frisbee, picnics, keg parties, sun tanning, drug use, and Car Hood Sleigh Riding. Alright, maybe I added a few requirements but you get my point – she wanted the people of the Bronx to have a park to enjoy. The city agreed to her wishes and in 1935 Ewen Park was built - a truly spectacular park set between the middle class neighborhood of Kingsbridge and the upper class neighborhood of Riverdale.The city did a superb job designing the new park considering the difficulty of building a park on the side of an extremely steep hill. The focal point of the park is the steps which divide the park between the lightly wooded area on the north and the open grassy area on the south. The steps run through the middle of the park and lead from the low lands of Kingsbridge to the higher grounds of Riverdale. Monday through Friday, the steps were used by the people of Riverdale to walk to the city buses or the El train on their way to work while in the evening they used the steps to return to their safe, protected, Riverdale world. During the school year, on warm weekend nights, the steps were used by the local teenagers to hangout and party – during the summer, the steps were used EVERY night for partying. North of the steps the park is covered with trees and grass and is perfect in the summer for people trying to get away from the sizzling New York sun. Beginning at the bottom of the hill is a cobblestone walkway which meanders through the north side of the park under enormous oak trees past “The Rock” on the left, up to the basketball courts on the right, and ultimately to the Johnson Avenue steps. The Johnson Avenue steps were protected by the Johnson Avenue Crew; the meanest, nastiest cast of characters the neighborhood had ever seen. To be a part of their group there were several requirements; first, you needed tattoos all over your body, second, you had to have a pony tail which reached to your waist, also, dealing drugs and heavy drug use was a must, and finally, you had to have murdered at least one person in your lifetime. It was possible to get around the murder requirement as long as you had a couple of assault and battery charges with at least six months of jail time. Other than the tattoos, long hair, drugs, and murder – my dad told me these guys were willing to do anything for a person - especially if you needed someone killed or maimed. “The Rock” was located in the middle of the north section of the park, surrounded by trees and off the beaten path – perfect for large groups of teenagers to hangout, listen to music, and party. On the south side of the park was the most amazing hill you could ever imagine; in the summer it was perfect for sun bathers (babes, babes, and more babes) working on their tan BUT in the winter this beautiful piece of land, when combined with three or four inches of snow, was transformed into the ultimate winter wonderland and the perfect hill for Car Hood Sleigh Riding!Back to Car Hood Sleigh Riding...My dad told me, “Carrying a car hood to the top of Ewen Hill was hard work but it was well worth the effort especially if you liked speed, action, and most importantly danger!” On the first run of the night, my dad and his friends usually started out fairly conservative; they took the car hood only halfway up the hill but by the end of the night the starting gate was the Johnson Avenue sidewalk – the highest point on the hill. My dad said, “Riding down the hill was awesome! We started in the same way a Bobsled team starts in the Olympics. Some people were responsible for “steering” while the others were responsible for “pushing” to get the Sleigh Riding Team started. We usually started with about five guys sitting on the hood and five guys standing behind them ready to push to get them started. When the bell rang, the “pushers” ran and pushed and pushed and pushed on the “steerer’s” shoulders until they reached a high speed and then they hopped on the back of the hood - and held on for dear life! Unlike Bobsled racing where the spectators watched the event – in Car Hood Sleigh Riding the spectators actually jumped on the hood as it barreled down the hill. The ten racers who began in a neat, organized formation at the top of the hill invariably had two, three, four, or more “Car Hood Sleigh Rider Wannabees” jump on halfway down the hill making it a chaotic mess. The most dangerous position to be in was in the middle of the hood underneath the “Wannabees” who jumped on - because it made it difficult to jump off the hood – and jumping off the hood was critical if you cared about your life! You had to jump off before you reached the drop off point at the bottom of the hill; if you didn’t jump off before the drop off point you were sure to smash into one of the city benches or parked cars at ramming speed! I’m not saying that you couldn’t survive a collision with a concrete bench or a parked car but it wouldn’t be easy and it was more likely you would walk or crawl away with a few broken bones.” I almost forgot – you’re probably wondering why the end of the run was so dangerous. If you’ve never seen Ewen Hill you probably won’t understand but for those of you who have participated in Car Hood Sleigh Riding or sleigh riding in general you know the landing area at the bottom on the hill was only about fifteen feet long – too short for a heavy car hood traveling upwards of 50 miles per hour to come to a complete stop. To put it in perspective - trying to stop a car hood on such a small landing area is the equivalent of trying to land a Boeing 747 on your driveway. In other words, my dad and his friends used the benches and the cars to stop their sled which was fine but if they were on it when it hit the bench or car it would have been a disaster. There were some bumps, bruises, and bloody noses that resulted from Car Hood Sleigh Riding but the greatest pain was felt by the unfortunate owners of the cars that happened to have parked their cars at the bottom on the hill – my dad often wonders what these people must have thought when they walked to their cars the next morning which looked like they had gone through Demolition Derby during the night before…Car Hood Sleigh Riding lasted anywhere from two hours to all night long depending on several variables, including but not limited to the following:· Broken bones and bloody noses.· Frost bite on the feet of the competitors wearing their Chuck Taylor High Tops.· Cops putting an end to the sleigh riding because of all the damaged cars at the bottom of the hill.· It was time for OB.