Growing up as a teen in the 80’s in Winfield, Kansas was a huge difference compared to being a teenager in Holland. The biggest contradiction was going out on Friday’s. Back in the late ’80’s Dutch teens were allowed to go to a bars and drink, but weren’t allowed to drive till they turned 18. While kids from Kansas could drive from the early age of fourteen but had the restrictions on alcohol till the age of 21. Which meant that Dutch teens use to ride their bikes to a bar to hang out with peers while kids from Kansas would “drag Main” instead on their night out.
“Dragging Main” was the primary activity on Fridays after the games. On a good night, there would be twenty other cars honking as you drove by. Some nights there were only a handful of cars.There were several solutions on even making a slow night to an adventure.
Like trowing (beer)cans at innocent kids on their bikes, fooling other road users by pulling down the drivers-seat while steering from the middle seat, mooning at other cars or by far my favorite activity the Chinese fire drill. A Chinese fire drill is a prank in which either all the passengers or the driver excluded jump out of the car at an intersection, run around the vehicle and before the light changes to green gets back inside, but not necessarily in their original seats. If one of the passengers lags, the others may drive off without him or her.
After an evening dragging main the wise kids went home and the ‘cool’ kids gathered together to drink at the Grove or some college kids house.
In case you wonder to what group I belonged, the right answer would have been ‘the wise kids’. By Bregje
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