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THE EQUINICS TORCH DIARY
CARRYING THE EQUINIC FLAME FROM MARYLAND TO DELAWARE
AS RECORDED FOR HISTORY BY "STRETCH"
DAY 1
I was very honored when DelPenn head honcho, Revelation, asked me if I would head up a team of DelPenn trainers to carry the Equinic torch from Maryland to Delaware on it's way to the final destination of Vermont. Revelation hadn't really asked me to do much of anything in the past so I was a little surprised. The previous evening I went up to Revelation's office on the top floor of the Delaware track's Clubhouse level. He handed a travel voucher to me which I quickly stuck into my pocket and said "make us DelPenner's proud Stretch". It was about 2 years ago that I had moved my stables from Texas to Delaware to win a lot of races here and I was pleased to take on this task which to me was an honor and a pleasure.
Our Torch Run was planned to take us from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C. and around the White House, then from the White House to Dover, Delaware and finally from Dover to Wilmington, Delaware. We had 8 trainers meeting us at different points along the way. Below are 3 maps showing the routes we took from city to city. All totaled we must have walked, run, and rode over 250 miles.
 | This was the first leg of the trip from Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, D.C. This was a very hard part of the trip for us because we were actually going in the opposite direction from Wilmington, Delaware but we were to honor the people of Washington D.C. and the race track there by letting them all view the Equinics Torch. |
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 | The second leg of our trip was very very beautiful taking us from Washington, D.C. to Dover, Delaware. We saw everything from the Washington Monument and the White House to some beautiful bridges and countryside. |
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 | And the final leg of our journey took us from Dover, Delaware back to Wilmington, Delaware. Beautiful countryside and many people came out to meet us along the way.
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The plan was for Madamson, who for the rest of this story will be called Labreche since this is the name he is better known as, and I to go up to Maryland and pick up the torch from the Terrapins (I guess that a Terrapin is a big constipated turtle by the looks of their logo). Anyway, Labreche and I were to drive up in my Mercedes-Benz SUV. On the trip back with the torch we would call some of the other volunteer trainers to meet us along the road and pick up the carrying of the torch. I picked Labreche up over at his double wide at about 7 a.m. and we headed over to Delaware Downs stable area to check on a couple of our prize horses before we left. He was real worried about leaving Whoops Apocalypse and wanted to make sure the stable hands were carrying out all instructions. As I arrived at the Trainer's entrance I saw several of the Delaware trainers at the gate. They were having a protest. Well, as best as they could protest anyway. They were sitting in lawn chairs at the gate holding up posters that said "UNFAIR" and "BOYCOTT". Here it was 7:30 in the morning and they were already passing around a 1.75 liter of Crown Royal and taking slugs off of it. As I slowly drove past them I could hear them laughing. Sitting there was TheAvenger, Morrissey, and if I could believe my eyes, Revelation. He was holding a sign that said "IF YOUR GOING THEN WIN FOR US". Mmmmm. What a bunch of jokers. I gave them that look, you know the one, the I smell manure look. I didn't stop, I just slowly drove on by. I drove all the way down past the end of the last stable then circled around the back side and came up close to the front were the jokers couldn't see me. I told Labreche to go in the back of my truck and get my scatter gun. "What the heck are you going to do Stretch?" I said that I was just going to scare up some crows. "Man are you crazy? Besides those guys have their right to protest if they want too". Yea, right, yea sure, they have their rights. I now started remembering that I have a liberal in my SUV. I turned it off and got out and got the scatter gun myself. I loaded the shotgun up with some rock salt cause I really love those guys and would never really want to hurt them. If they got hit it would just burn their skin a little. I quietly walked up to the corner of the front stable. I could see TheAvenger, Morrissey, and Revelation real good and they had not spotted me. I aimed a little over their heads. *POW*, bull's-eye, they jumped up out of their lawn chairs whooping and hollering and running into each other trying to run away. All I could see was the bottoms of their shoes as they hooked it out of there. I walked back to the truck and put the gun up in the back. The drive down to Baltimore was a real quiet one as Labreche was white as a sheet and didn't say one word.
We arrive at the Maryland racetrack and head for the Terrapin Jockey Club. The passing of the torch ceremony was going to happen before race number one on the card and it was getting close. I walked ahead of Labreche into the club. I looked around at the fancy white table cloths over the wrought iron tables. Nice looking place. Then a very strange thing, I notice that everyone has a laptop on their tables and they were all busy writing computer programs. One guy at a table was on a cell phone with Madman and was saying something like "yea, Madman the hypotenuse hypothesis seems to be correct that should give us the speed calculations". I am thinking where in the Sam Heck am I? The guy gets off the phone, I later find out its Graywolf10 and looks up at me. He says "what can I do for you Tex, you lost?" I was dressed as I usually am in cowboy boots, blue jeans, bomber jacket, sunglasses and had on my 10X Silver Belly Beaver felt cowboy hat. "Yea, I guess I am. I must have walked into the Microsoft office, is Bill Gates around"? Then I heard some laughter from an adjacent table and "hey Stretch". It was TheOrchard. "Hey everyone its Stretch and Labreche. They are here for the passing of the Equinics Torch ceremony". A loud Whoo Whoo Whoo went out amongst the crowd. I said yea, whoo whoo whoo to you too. TheOrchard said we had to hustle down to the winners circle because the ceremony was about to begin there. I watched my back as we went out the door. Down at the winners circle they had a very nice ceremony with an announcer talking over the loud speaker telling the crowd of how proud everyone was at the Maryland Jockey Club to officially end their part of the Torch journey and pass it on to the Delaware contingents. I handed Labreche the keys to the SUV and told him to meet me out by the front entrance and I would take up the first part of the journey and he could follow along in the truck until I got tired then it was his turn. I accepted the torch and said a few nice words to the crowd on what a great job they had done. I then pulled out my pack of Winston's and lit one of them with the torch and took off running for the front entrance coughing and gasping already. I should have quit smoking and done some exercises to get ready for this thing. Great time to think about that now. The crowd was on their feet cheering as I left. I got to the front gate and out into the street, I saw Labreche, he rolled down the window as I jogged up next to him. "Damn Stretch you OK? You look like hell already, I told you a long time ago that smoking wasn't good for you". I took the cigarette out of my mouth with my only free hand and I said something like "shut the hell up and just follow me"............................
We made our south and down some side streets and then to Maryland 296 South and passed a Maryland State Trooper who was parked just as I got onto the highway. He was eyeballing me all the way and I knew something was about to happen. He turned on his flashing lights and pulled up next to me. "How fast was I going?" I yelled out to him. Labreche looked worried as he pulled up ahead of us and got out of the truck. The officer says "hey, your D. Wayne Lucas right"? "We know about the Equinics Torch and your journey". I said "yea, I'm D.Wayne Lucas". He says "Well you guys can't do this thing on the toll road your going to have to run along the access road". Dang, these are some neighborly people over here in Maryland, so off onto the access road we all go, me carrying the torch, followed by Labreche in the SUV.
An hour and one-mile later my feet were starting to hurt. I shouldn’t have worn these cowboy boots I suppose. Plus it was getting colder. I passed a mileage marker sign, it read Washington, D.C. 35 miles. I looked back at the truck and thought about the heater being on in there. I stopped and let him catch up to me. "What's the matter Stretch?" Nothing, it's just your turn man. So out of the truck he came and grabbed the torch. He is in much better shape and younger than I am anyway. Off he went. In the meantime I jumped into the truck, turned up the heater and slipped an AC/DC CD into the player. "Rock and Roll Isn't Noise Pollution". I follow along behind the streaking Labreche, that boy is fast. All along this route people are honking and waving to us and cheering us on. The people of Maryland were real kind and appeared to really enjoy getting to see the torch.
Ok, its 5 p.m. and I am now starting to get a little hungry. We are alongside a strip mall on the access road of the highway. I spot a couple of restaurants so I honked for Labreche to stop. He is pretty darn hungry too it looks like. He jumped into the truck quickly and we pulled into the mall area. "You like Chinese food Stretch?" "There is one right there". I looked up and saw the sign for the Sum Sing Wong Restaurant. I like Chinese food so it sounded good to me. I know nothing about the Chinese language but I was later to learn that the restaurant name almost translates exactly into English. We ate quite a bit and drank a little Sake. We both came out of there feeling really bad. It was getting dark so we decided to stay at the Holiday Inn which was right there and then call the other Delaware trainers in the morning to come out and help us. I pulled the envelope out of my pocket that Revelation had given to me the night before. I handed it to Labreche and said "open it up and lets see how much we have to spend". He opened it and looked at me. A $25 check was inside. Oh yea, I forgot, I think Revelation may be Amish. I went into the hotel and bought 2 nice rooms, one smoking, and used my American Express Gold Card. I snuck the torch into my room from the outside, I wasn’t about to let it get lost or go out. I dimmed the torch light a little then crawled into bed and went to sleep.
DAY 2
The next morning I got up and we met outside near the truck at 7:30 as we had agreed upon the night before. I jokingly said to Labreche, "hey man you feel like having some Sushi for breakfast?" "Up Yours Stretch, I was awake half the night sick as a dog from that Chinese food last night". I guess he forgot it was his idea in the first place. We walked over to a McDonalds and each had a big breakfast and a cup of coffee. Now I wasn’t feeling well either. Just then my cell phone rang. It was Revelation. "Stretch, how are you guys doing?" I told him we were doing great and he told me that the rest of the Delaware volunteer torch runners had left a couple of hours ago and would meet us along the road. We were several hours out of Washington D.C. so we finished up our breakfast and started out on the road again with the torch. I had stopped in at a Payless shoe store and bought some walking shoes for the remainder of my journey. About 45 minutes later a line of trucks pulled up behind me and started honking. It was the Delaware Calvary. They brought 4 trucks with 2 trainers in each. There was Randyraide, KyleConnor, JoyDevil, Jakematt, Sprintbarn, Built4wins, Fallridge, and Chas. Manowar could not make it because he was making the arrangements with the Vermont corps. I set up a schedule with a different trainer walking with the torch for one hour each for the rest of the long journey and no one would get too tired out. More and more people came out to greet us and cheer us on along the way. JoyDevil and Jakematt took us on into D.C. We go past Lafayette Park and I get to pick up the torch again for a walk to the White House and a big surprise I had for everyone of the Delaware trainers. I go down Pennsylvania Avenue and right up to the gates of the White House. The guard at the gate welcomed all of us and let us come on in to the driveway. I am now jogging up to the White House followed by the five trucks behind me. I go around the east side of the White House and to the presidents living quarters entrance. Here he is, George Walker Bush, coming right out the door to greet me. "Stretch, good to see you again, it's been too long". I smiled and shook his hand while the rest of the trainers parked the trucks and came over. I introduced everyone and the president took us all inside. No one knew that for several years back in Texas that I was a big gas and oil man. These guys thought I just had gas in my stomach and oil in my hair. George and I had been drinking buddies from way back when he owned the Texas Ranger baseball team and we used to go to the games and come home stinking drunk. That day we all enjoyed a tour of the White House and a big press conference in the Rose Garden where the president talked to the news media all about the Equinics and the torch run. We were all on CNN that night. And the Equinics torch was on national TV. for all the world to see. The next big surprise I had for my fellow trainers was that we were all going to get to spend the night in the White House guest rooms. Everyone's mouth dropped at that one. I got to stay in the Lincoln bedroom. A lot of history was in this place. I did not get a very good nights rest however. Two ghosts kept me awake most of the night. There was Abe Lincoln and Dick Nixon, Nixon kept babbling and bawling half the night while Abe appeared to kick him in the seat of his pants every now and then. I could understand Lincoln though, he was telling Nixon not to cry that people would forget about him thanks to Bill Clinton.
DAY 3
We were all up early and ate a beautiful big breakfast in the White House. I thanked the president and his lovely wife for being so cordial to all of us. They were great people. Off we all go on the next leg of our journey to Dover Delaware. Randyraide got to carry the torch out of the White House lawn and onto the streets again. A huge crowd was awaiting us out on the street and we saw many famous politicians and dignitaries amongst the crowd of well wishers. This was a very exciting part of the trip for all of the Delaware trainers who took turns carrying the torch with much more pride now. Everyone's head was held high as we went on down New York Avenue towards some very large bridges and the longest part of our journey. The countryside was beautiful along the way to Dover Delaware. Some very pretty girls in a Mustang drove up and honked and waved to us. They had Delaware plates on their car. We all were very excited as we knew there was a big celebration planned for our arrival in Dover. Jakematt twisted his ankle along the route and will have to sit it out in the truck the rest of the way, I don't think he is faking it. We stopped only to eat and spent the night about 10 miles out of Dover, just as we turned onto DE-44. Everyone was ready for a good nights sleep, especially me because of the bad nights rest I had in the White House the night before.
DAY 4
Everyone of us was very happy to be back in Delaware. No one appeared to be too tired yet and we were all enjoying the trip because of the cool people that came out to greet us along the way. At the Delaware border two State Trooper cars met us and one would lead and the other would continue behind us now for the trip into Dover and later on to Wilmington. We made it into Dover at about noon. The mayor of the city met us at the center of downtown. He gave a very nice speech on how proud the city of Dover was to be the host for the Equinics torch. Then there was a big parade down the main street with several bands. We were the stars of the parade. The rest of the days party was held at Dover Downs stock car race track which was filled with over 60,000 people to watch us make one pass around the track with the torch, Built4Wins got to do the honors of carrying the torch around the track. That was followed by a 50 mile stock car race called the Equinics Sprint which was very noisy and was won by Rusty Wallace. After the race there was a huge party on the grounds with plenty of liquid refreshments and food. I am proud to say that our guys took in a lot of the liquid refreshments to keep their strength up for the journey ahead of us tomorrow. These are a great bunch of guys and I am very proud of them. The Dover women were very good to us also. They were excited to get to touch the torch which of course we were more than happy to let them touch it. No one had a problem sleeping this night, and in fact we planned to sleep in a little bit tomorrow.
DAY 5
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows neither victory or defeat" read the words scrawled on the restroom wall of the stall I occupied at a Delaware roadside rest stop. It really amazes me how people come up with all these nice things to write in toilets. There were some far lesser quotes written there too but I just wanted to pass this one along. Here we are on our final leg of the journey and from Dover to Wilmington and a much anticipated grand entrance into the city. We would have 40 more miles to go today and then spend the night about 5 miles outside of the city. It has been an exciting trip so far. Hundreds of people are standing along U.S.1 to cheer us on and everyone seemed to be really excited to get to have a chance to see the Equinics torch. We came upon a toll booth on this part of the trip, Revelation will have to come up with some more travel expenses when we get back. Five vehicles thru the toll booth took a lot of the $25 he gave us for the trip. We get to our Holiday Inn 5 miles out of Wilmington. We all faithfully attend Happy Hour at the hotel bar and then we all turn in early because we know that tomorrow will be a very big day in Wilmington with much partying and festivities that are planned for the city.
DAY 6
We all get up bright and early and have a nice breakfast at the Holiday Inn restaurant. I telephone Revelation to tell him that all is well and that we are on schedule and will be arriving at the Delaware race track at 11:00 a.m. just prior to the days races and festivities. A big day is planned so we get on our way. KyleConnor leads the way as we triumphantly enter the city and make our way to the Delaware track. Thousands of people are lined up along the route now and the crowd stretches all the way to the entrance of the track were a sellout crowd of over 7,000 fans await our arrival. As we enter the gates to the track the Equinics torch is passed over to Fallridge, the current reigning DelPenn Champion Trainer, who gets the honor of carrying the torch onto the track. The crowd stands and roars its approval as Fallridge sprints around the dirt oval one time. He makes his way to the Winner's Circle where we all the Delaware trainers along with several dignitaries await. Delaware Senator Joe Biden made a very nice speech, some of his more memorable words were "It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled; nor where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and come short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who, at the best knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
So that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." I looked over at Labreche and saw tears well up in his eyes, the darn crazy liberal is going to make me cry too. And so our journey ends as we pass off the torch to the Vermont group and wish them well. And a warning from the DelPenn trainers to all of the other Equinic entries "We Live Hard, We Love Hard, and We Race Hard". Watch us. \
No animals were harmed in the making of this story. And we hope no one is offended by this story. Peace!
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