To those of interest:
I received a letter the other day from Alice Wyley, retired secretary
for the Iowa Highway Patrol; It was in regards to the passing of Bud
Crayne, childhood hero of many back in the 50's in Avondale Iowa.
Although Bud and I had been good friends, I've had no contact with him
for almost 40 years. The notice was short, but I decided to fly back
home the next day for the services. Afterward, I met a polite young man
named Jimmy Clymer. He said he was Jake Clymer's grandson, and that Bud
had worked for his granddad for almost 50 years at Jakes Garage . That
Bud had never married after Laverne's accident, and had a small shop
near Harnton and lived in a room in the rear. Jimmy asked if I'd like
to look around town, and I agreed. We stopped and bought some film and
headed towards Clymer's old garage, now a radiator shop. It still
looked pretty much the same as I had remembered..
I asked about Pop's tavern, and he told me that it burned to the ground in the 70's and was never rebuilt. We looked south from the shop over the bridge towards Trenton.
Jimmy asked me if I would like to retrace Bud's famous Trenton run. I agreed and we headed towards the S turn underpass where the boys had been killed over 50 years ago.
He told me that 90 mile curve had been displaced by the new bypass built around Avondale in the 60s. We continued on past the crossing that Bud had beaten the Rocky Mountain Rocket that night,
and on through Harnton and Blairsville and finally into Trenton.
We tried to retrace Bud's return trip down the backroads and finally ended up at his place just outside Harnton. We stopped to take a couple photos of his shop and some projects that Bud had never gotten to.
Then, finally back into Avondale,
past the church where Bud's services were held,
past the road to Laverne and Marge's places and the old jalopy track, all now gone.
and on to Jake Clymer's new garage.
Arriving finally to Jake Jr's place where Jimmy said he had some things to show me that he thought I'd be interested in. He told me that when they moved to their new garage, Bud and he had taken most of Bud's stuff to his dads place. Out behind the shed, there it was.. Bud's disassembled coupe...
I couldn't believe it.... After 50 years I was looking at that same old coupe that was roaming the streets of Avondale back in the 50's. He told me he had some other things to show me. A 427 powered coupe that Bud had built him
It came as no surprise. Bud was still building real hot rods. He showed me Bud's first jalopy racer with Bud's name still barely visible above the door.
It was almost 7:30, getting dark and starting to rain. Jimmy said he had one last thing to show me . He opened the door to the shop and rolled out Bud's last project. a restored jalopy racer that Bud had raced back in the late 50's.
He thanked me for helping him to retrace Bud's famous Trenton run, and I thanked him for bringing back many memories from a long time ago.. We said good bye and promised to keep in touch.. I thought to myself as I walked back to the motel the hundreds of lives Bud had influenced with his love of cars... He will be missed by everyone who had the good fortune to have known him......
Sincerely,
Ted O'Day
Sgt. Iowa Highway Patrol
(retired)
