up to illuminate the runway. Being such a small dragstrip had its advantages, such as a certain lack of strict rules and regulations, which may have encouraged some interesting improvisations when it came to winning. Some reported to me that a flagman could and would tip a local driver by some foot signal to let them know when they were going to raise (or not raise) the flag. Others yet reported having to stop racing to allow a plane to land. Of course, some also bragged about having hit the tree and destroyed it, however, my last visit to that tree proved them wrong: The tree, which is the ONLY thing left today of the Saugus dragstrip, is alive and well… And if it could talk, I am sure it would tell us another thousand fascinating stories...
All of the above was the perfect setting for my film and I based many of the events in the story, on the accounts and details given me by the old timers who once raced at Saugus. As I showed you in my last update, I really did everything in my power to re-create the dragstrip as accurately as we could on a zero budget. And thanks to DEUCE OF SPADES, the long obliterated dragstrip will rise again, come back to life and be immortalized forever. And that is yet another thing about the film I feel really good about!
Let me just say this: When I showed my footage to some of the old timers who had raced at Saugus, I saw tears in their eyes. “You brought my youth back Faith”, said one of them. I must admit, I was a little choked up myself.
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