Tragic 69 Camaro Crash of the Year !!!!!!!

Laugh at me if you'd like, but I discovered something that surprised me about trailer towing not that long ago. I sold my last trailer years ago when I "officially quit" drag racing so now I rent them when needed. A little over a month ago, I had to go to the local U-Haul place to get a trailer because the normal outfit I used was totally booked. After I slid the drawbar into the receiver on my pickup truck, I greased the ball. The U-Haul guy looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights. When he finally recovered, his only comment was: "I've been renting trailers for more than ten years and I've never seen or heard of anyone greasing a ball". My response was pretty simple: "You never grew up on a farm with my (late) Father. He'd have had your ass for not doing it."

Now, I know a few of my old drag racing buds still grease trailer balls whenever they hook up the trailer. They couple and uncouple easier. They don't make a lot of racket when you tow and they never seize up (can you imagine something simple like a ball joint if it never saw grease?). My pal Alf Weibe likes to tell the story of how he got his butt chewed by his wife on one of her few trips to the track...wearing white slacks. She encountered the receiver on his unhooked-Suburban...and the rest is history. But I digress.

So are Alf, me and a few other guys I regularly hang out with the only ones who hate the squawking when you pull a trailer with a bone dry ball and hitch? Or am I (and a few other old farmers) missing something?

Putting my asbestos fire suit on now <g>.

Wayne Scraba