Second only to their parents (one hopes), kids are influenced most by their mass-media heroes. They may be actual real-world humans (sports people, actors, musicians, insipid influencers, ugh) or purely imaginary (your Luke Skywalkers, Men of the Spider, Super, and Bat varieties, you get it). Thankfully, well-meaning adults have, for the most part, given kids pretty good imaginary heroes and role models (exception: Caillou). As for flesh-and-blood heroes of sports and entertainment, well … your mileage may vary.
But for better or worse, media heroes shape kids, and I’m sure you can think of a few childhood heroes and recall lessons they taught you, and how they altered your interests. And since you’re reading this at The Autopian, there’s a pretty solid chance that includes your interest in cars and/or motorports. Would I have been a car-kid had it not been for Speed Racer? Probably, but boy, Speed sure helped. Five-year-old me was absolutely glued to the tube when that jaunty theme music kicked in with a piercing horn hit and the knockoff started spinning. I was all about the powerful Mach 5, exclamation point, and cars were my thing.
Spacer
My other race-car-driving hero was Richard Petty, who was at the peak of his powers when I was at my most impressionable. But he wasn’t really a person to me, he was a car. That blue and red number 43 was my jam, and it was an exciting day indeed when my Dad returned from the auto parts store with a new fan belt and a genuine STP sticker (that was the exciting part, not the fan belt) and stuck it on the seat of my tricycle. Instantly, power was increased by 100%, and the handling went from sluggish understeer to snappy oversteer. Such was the power of Richard Petty and a logo.
Speed Racer and Richard Petty were huge for 1970s kid-dom, but one figure loomed large over them all: Evel motherhumping Knievel. What an absolute badass. Evel was everywhere, jumping on motorcycles very much not designed for the job (good lord Evel, use a dirt bike!), breaking hearts (one assumes) and breaking bones (his own, and definitely). Evel’s Snake River “jump,” an ill-fated blast in a steam-powered rocket that Evel was all but certain would kill him, was the event of the decade. Ideal’s line of Evel Knievel toys was the hottest thing going, and kids around the world wrecked themselves emulating Evel’s antics on their Sting-Rays. That certainly included me, and plywood-ramp-jumping led to long run as a (not very fast) BMX racer. Unfortunately, there was fear that kids would also emulate Evel by taking retribution on their perceived enemies via assault with baseball bat just like Knievel did, which killed the toy line and, for the most part, Evel mania itself. Waddaya gonna do?
But enough about me (booooring!), let’s talk about YOU. Who were the heroes of your childhood who helped make you the car or motorcycle person you are today? The Autopian is asking!
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