Right after the 1985 racing season finally got its belated start, the brakes were hit. There has been no activity at Drag City for over a week. There likely will not be for quite some time. I’m in that state of mind where everything just seems meaningless right now.
I have lost one of my best friends.
On many pages of this blog, you have seen and heard of the influence of my great friend Dale Pratley, a former professional electrician who was a classic “old school” American tinkerer. Dale wasn’t just an electrician: he was a mechanic, a discoverer, an inventor, a man who fundamentally understood how things worked and who could figure out how to solve problems. He could install plumbing. He could fix antique clocks and watches. He was a collector and restorer of mid-century vintage hardware. He was incredibly smart. He was honest. He was generous. He was cut from a bolt of cloth that is now down to its final threads. In short: he was the paragon of what we now have too little of. And as of last week, we have less.
Dale was only 3 years my senior, and since he was born in Las Vegas while I was born in Los Angeles, we were both children of the American West in the 1970’s and 80’s when society was still cohesive and sane. The two of us were nearly inseparable for 2 years prior to his getting sick, and in that time we became very close. We talked of moving to greener pastures in the deep South and starting over, and we talked of all the hesitation and fear we both had about trying to start over at our respective ages. We watched old movies and smoked our pipes and drank whiskey together, and we talked of the state of things, and how things used to be. And he helped me tremendously, sharing his knowledge of how things worked to make my life better. We wrenched on our cars and trucks together, we did home repairs together, and he helped me with some of my visions for my slot tracks, including using his prodigious soldering skills to help me install power taps on the AFX track, and designing the circuitry for the control box for my Model Motoring track.
Last week, Dale succumbed to a mysterious stomach illness he had been struggling with for months. The story of how this happened is too complex to pour out onto this blog that is supposed to be about slot cars. There is a lot I could say: about the state of American health care, about the “scamdemic” and the “vaccines” that followed it, about the monster he was forced to live with and why, and how I have some suspicions about how he really got so sick and why he couldn’t get better, and why I was unable to save him, even though I tried. This is not the place to discuss these things in detail; there are too many unanswered questions and too many unresolved issues, but I could not, in good faith, let an event that will have such an impact on my life pass without mentioning it in writing on my blog.
The world around us seems to just keep getting worse. Why do good people die prematurely, while the rapacious, the ignorant, and the deceitful thrive? Why are people who tell the truth censored and destroyed, while the vicious protectors of The Machine are rewarded? Why is my friend gone, while the monster I at least partly blame for killing him now has everything he wanted?
I am unlikely to ever get answers to these questions. Not even 5 years after losing my beloved father, I now move on into the future without another of the pillars of my life: a rock of a man who understood me and cared about me, and who taught me a lot; a man that you, dear reader, would have been proud to call a friend or a neighbor had you been fortunate enough to know him; a man without whom the world is that much poorer of a place.
REST IN PEACE
DALE EDWARD PRATLEY
5/10/1967 – 4/25/2023
You are deeply loved. You will be greatly missed
I am still occupied with trying to reach some of Dale’s out-of-state family and friends, and there are some other affairs relating to his passing that I will need to help with and take care of in the coming weeks. Maybe I will return to racing this summer. Maybe I won’t. A lot is up in the air: big changes are on the horizon.
Have fun racing while you can, dear readers. Our numbers may be up sooner than we realize.
I am so truly sorry for your loss and you have written a beautiful and moving tribute to this man. I have no doubt that he was a wonderful person and fantastic friend. Do the best you can as you always do and take care of yourself my friend.