Original subtitles

This is the birthday of qualifying for the.

Wrench.

Look, Harry.

I think they're going to get a ticket for overtime parking.

Yeah. Not for speeding in that crate, that's for sure.

Hey, go do your test run.

You guys need all the practice you can get.

Once again, the first call for B-Stock in lane four, B-Stock in lane three, and

N-Stock in lane two.

Who are those characters?

Oh, they're one of the pro-gas team we got to beat.

Is that the old fuel carburetor you're working on?

Harlan, why are you working on the old carbs?

New set hadn't come in yet.

We all chipped in for a new set weeks ago.

These are shot.

They're costing 20% of my power every time I take it out, Harlan.

They're not going to bring us a win no matter what you do to them.

I don't want that.

Ah, you can't drive with those, can you?

Of course, I don't tell you how to drive, do I?

Harlan, Harlan, he apologizes.

Didn't want to offend your mechanical eminence.

Let me take you back to the three-way, boys, where you're appreciated. We'll be

at driver's meeting at the official stand in 15 minutes.

Once again, drivers, don't miss.

Hey, remember, if I'm spotted, I'm gonna make a run for it.

I'll be watching.

Pick me up.

All right.

LA-15, Mary 5.

Any units in position?

I'm southbound on Fairport toward Hewitt Avenue.

I'm running interference for a runaway grader. 10-35.

Let's go.

Okay. You all right?

Fine, fine. Stopped it, didn't I, huh?

You sure did.

Boy, John, look what you did to the building.

Yeah, something I wanted to do all my life. Beautiful, wasn't it, huh? Here's

something else, partner.

You guys.

Well, partner.

Can I drive her back? It's my only loader.

Don't drive it back. Have it hauled back.

Great. I'll come back later and take the report.

I can go with her now if you want to stay here and clean up.

Quiet, Jim. I need your help.

Hitting up the rubber on those big racing slicks is Jim Scotty Jones and

his broke gas eliminator, Bonanza.

He's getting ready for his first trial run.

Looks like trouble on the track for Jim Scotty Jones.

It looks like the truck is pulling up to the car now. The crew will be checking

out Jim Scottie Jones.

Jones is out of the car and he's okay.

Oh, the pistons, man.

Sunk. It's no big deal, man. We'll just get another set.

Fly cut racing pistons?

You know how much we paid for them?

What do you get us for money?

Who said anything about money?

Okay.

Right in the stock room, shelves on the left. You got it?

You sure about this? Yeah.

I saw it when I bought the pushrods.

It's a box marked Super Duty Pistons.

The rings are on a shelf right above it.

Grab some extra stuff to help cover our tracks.

How's it going? Everything okay?

Yeah, if we're too late, we can go home and change. Come back and help out.

No, thanks. I can't handle the help I have.

And this magazine.

Fellas selling a 69 Hemi Superbee.

Four on the floor.

Dana 60.

Krager Supersport mags.

Only 6,600.

I may invest.

A car like this could win some big prize money.

Grossy, when we all chipped in to buy this Corvette, Matt refused to join us.

Didn't want a thing to do with dragsters.

I thought it was impractical, but it seems there's a lot of big money to be

won. Hey, Grossy, we're not in it for the money.

It's a hobby we can all enjoy together.

I get it.

You guys are doing a number on me, right?

Asking me to forget about this 69 Hemi Superbee and join your corvette hobby

group as a contributing member.

Aren't you?

No.

They aren't?

No, Rosie.

Keep the magazines, if you like.

Who knows there's no big prize money in pro-gas competition?

Grocery field's left out.

He just wanted to join in on the fun with the car.

He's late. He knows he's late.

Late? Glad you said that.

I gotta go. I got a business appointment.

Officer Poncherello.

Come in.

Miss Cole, make it Ponch.

Ponch, make it Paula.

All right, very well.

Like I said on the phone, I need some more information for my incident report.

Oh, and I was so glad you called. I wanted to thank you properly for what

you did today.

Oh, thank you.

Wow, this is love. Wow.

This is nice.

Thank you.

I should have guessed.

I know you have an appointment, but I thought you'd have a drink with us

first.

I haven't taught me anything at all. It taught me no excuses.

I found it up.

So what do we tell the buyer?

He's waiting for a loader.

Don't tell him nothing till I see if I can find another one.

He also wants two D8 cats.

Now, why don't you just load this one up and drive it down to the harbor, huh?

Now? What if the heat's on, Sarge?

Better they shouldn't find it here.

On the highway, you're just two innocent truckers.

You don't even have to have proof of ownership. All you gotta have is an

export declaration.

I'd make that up right now.

I don't know. Maybe... Maybe we ought to move on.

I mean, that was awful close today. Besides, this is the longest we've

worked one area.

Look, the guy's gonna pay us 5,000 bucks for a loader and another 10 for a D8

cat. If I can find him before he leaves the country.

Give me a chance. It's only a couple of days, huh?

Right?

Sure.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

I wish I could be more helpful. I think the guy was picked up by a brown or a

tan van. I know it wasn't one of my men. I know them all. I had to talk them into

working for a woman.

Look, this was your first job. Do you have any professional enemies?

No.

Nobody thought that I'd get this far, including my parents.

I had to fight a lot of fights to get where I am, but no, nobody's tried to

stop me.

Would losing a loader do it?

Stop me?

No, but it sure would have hurt.

I mean, there are better ways to stop me. I really would be in a lot of

trouble if you two guys hadn't come around today.

Hey, we just did what any quick-witted, strong, dashing, handsome, dedicated

highway patrolman would do.

Thank you, Paul, for the dinner. I really didn't expect that. Yeah, me

neither. I expected to take you out to dinner. I even have my car washed.

You're gonna love my car.

Well, I really have work to do. Well, if you ever need any help, just excuse me.

Call me.

If you can't find me, of course.

Promise.

Good night.

Good night.

Everything fit?

Perfect, man. This baby's gonna fly.

And the extra boxes we took to make it look good?

Looked good.

Nothing we need but stuff we sure can sell.

Tires we need.

That stuff will bring you enough to buy some tires. Z-gate shifter, saw

converter. And that's a tunnel ram, four-barrel carbs.

Some special order, man.

Stuff's worth bucks.

You didn't read this, did you?

56 vet, Harlan Arliss, CHP, will call.

CHP? That's for that vet those cops are running.

We don't sell none of this stuff.

We don't mention it to anyone.

I understand.

After all, you guys have been working on that dragster for weeks.

For months. Yeah, I understand.

You and the Sarge haven't split seven ways, and seven's a lucky number. I

understand. We did invite you to join us, Gross. You remember?

And I'm too late. I understand.

You divided all the work, all the costs.

It wouldn't be fair for me to share in the winnings. Can I have your attention,

please? Or even share in the fun.

Friendship, togetherness.

I'll be brief this morning. The thrill of victory.

Grossman, I understand.

I have a meeting with the captain this morning on a ring of thieves who are

stealing construction equipment in our fair city for the past three months.

Now, some of us were involved with the attempt to steal a loader.

Baker, do you have anything more on that?

Well, we have a new idea, Sergeant. We'll talk to you about it after

briefing. Okay.

Vehicles such as these are usually parked at the site.

They look a lot alike.

They don't carry any plates, no pink slip, and there's no watchman usually on

duty. The Loader thing happened in broad daylight, remember?

Yeah, that works on big jobs.

The normal activity tends to obscure the thieves' activity.

So be alert.

All agencies are cooperating. Take all the help you can get.

Okay, that's it.

No!

I have an assignment for every officer here.

If I may have your permission, Sergeant.

No, by all means.

My fellow victims.

And you are my fellow victims.

For which of us does not have at heart the honor of CHP Central? And which of

us has not reposed high hopes for our drag racing entry to CHP? What point are

you making, Earl?

Some low-life rat fink broke into the auto supply house and stole our tunnel

ram, our dual quad intake, and both carbs we had ordered.

Okay, Lieutenant, thank you.

We'll check back with you.

LAPD's got 17 open files on...

Auto supply still burglaries.

Still working on this one.

Well, I guess we can all chip in for another set of carburetors.

You couldn't get the order filled in time. It's a special assembly.

It's got to be tooled in New York.

Well, what are we going to do? Skip the big race?

Ah, every path has its puddle. I'll just do the best I can with the old parts.

Are you sure your lady contractor will cooperate?

Oh, yes, yes, she's a business person. I'll approach her with logic.

Mm-hmm. How much money will you need?

Well, um, if you could ask the captain, it's a real good way to catch the

thieves, you know what I mean? If we buy a used machine, then we could get our

money back.

Baker, you're beginning to frighten me. You sound just like Poncherello. How

much money?

Uh, $25,000 only.

Oh, you're crazy! You're out of your mind!

That's exactly what the captain's going to say to me.

Joe, you're crazy. You're out of your mind.

You want me to stop repairs on the loader?

Yeah, and put out the word that you'd like to buy a used one real fast.

Oh, you think that if they'd stolen mine, they might try to sell it back to

me? Well, no, they'd probably try to sell yours a thousand miles away.

But if they're in the export business, they're probably in the import business.

Therefore, they'd probably try to sell you one that they've stolen from another

state. We could backtrack, get the chain of evidence, and then we'll put them

away. Don't you see?

Well, I understand your logic. I don't think you understand mine. What I'm

building here is my future, my reputation.

Now, I have to fulfill this contract. Everything depends on that.

Paula, you don't understand. See, there's no risk involved here. Now, if

my sergeant gives me permission, we'll provide the money for the buy.

Yeah, but I can't afford the time. Look, I do need a loader. I need that one. I

need it repaired as soon as possible. I can't just let it sit there while I'm

off playing some game with an unknown thief and a cop.

I guess I thought that we were... Well, I mean, a nice cop. Don't misunderstand

me. Oh, I don't.

Well, I did, but... Look, I have to take care of myself.

Okay, I got that perfectly straight.

Thank you.

Finished my shift and I checked out.

Nothing better to do.

I'm an outsider.

I'm not a member of the group. But I do have our best interests at heart.

Yeah, I understand.

That was our last set of tires.

Hey, man, I thought I was gonna get airborne, man. She really moves.

She ain't gonna move nowhere on the rims, man.

All right, relax.

Tires. I told you. I told you I know a place where we can get tires.

This is it.

I thought you said a tire store.

A place, I said.

Ambex Tires.

They moved the shop to a different location. They use this place for

storage.

I gave all my information to the Los Angeles Police Department. I didn't even

know the Highway Patrol had detectives.

Only in auto theft.

And these are auto parts that were stolen, so, uh, well, you can see how

logical that is.

Okay,

here's what they got. They got a, uh, Z-Gate shifter here, serial number 305.

Let's get to the, uh, tunnel ram and the four-barrel carbs.

No problem.

Tunnel ram.

Okay.

76312UX. Union X-ray.

Okay, 91065 Quicksilver.

Quicksilver? Q.

Queen.

Whatever.

Okay, go on.

459, silent alarm.

Ampex tire storage, 1531 Monarch. Units responding, identify.

15-7 Adam, Monarch from 81st.

Sergeant. Oh, it's you two.

I wonder if you have any idea how much trouble you've caused me.

$25,000 for a stolen loader. And I told you that when I asked the captain for

the money, he would say that I was, uh... Crazy that you lost your mind?

Yeah, well, he's crazy. He's lost his mind.

He approved the $25,000.

Well, don't you get the picture?

You can go ahead.

Well, actually, Sarge, you see, Paula Cole turned

us down.

She wouldn't dare.

Excuse me, Sarge.

Hi, Grissy.

You know what this is? It's a list of stolen auto parts.

Four of the burglaries of auto parts stores have been recent. And in each

case, one or two of the items, the ones I've underlined, have been high-test

parts, like you'd use in a competition car.

Say a dragster, including carbs, and a tunnel ram.

Our tunnel ram.

I mean, you know, your tunnel ram.

Stolen.

I'm not giving up.

Look, I figure we each stake out a store that hasn't been hitched yet, okay?

You don't want to drop this Paula Cole plan.

Let us talk it over later, okay?

Okay, I stake out a store that hasn't been hit yet. You get on the phone and

give this to LAPD. It's their job.

Yeah, but it's our dragster.

Grossman! Okay, your dragster.

See, Paula doesn't want to play cops and robbers, and I'm a cop.

But she did say I was a nice cop.

Yeah, but now that we have the money, that puts a whole new complexion on the

deal.

Oh, for us. But, I mean, what else can I say to her? I was fair, honest.

Logical, just like you would be with any business person.

Ah, businesswoman, John.

That's where you made your mistake.

Business, yes, but a woman appreciates a little... you know.

Romance?

Charm?

Special attention?

Right.

Just like it's new.

That's a chariot for a princess.

Actually, I just had the car painted and waxed. And the upholstery's new.

Things have happened to this car.

I had it rebuilt a couple of times.

You mean accidents?

Not traffic accidents.

I'm a very careful driver.

It's in my nature.

Oh, don't take me home. Make a right here.

Where would you like to go?

To the construction site.

Tonight?

Yeah, the dinner was wonderful. You really made me feel elegant.

But now I have to take a little nap.

See, I pay a guy to stand the watch just till midnight, then I have to take over.

I've got clothes at the site.

Not very romantic, huh?

It's the company that counts.

Gotta get a regular watchman, Paula.

It's too expensive.

You know, in this state alone, your industry had over a thousand vehicles

stolen last year. That's $80 million worth.

Most of them were unguarded.

But you don't want to talk about business.

No, but I suspect that you do. Me? Nah. I would like to get my hands on the guy

that went for your loader.

I hate a guy who'd rip off a pretty lady.

Just a contractor punch.

Ah, but it's not just the big outfits.

I care more about the little guys, the ones who've gone out of business because

these goons have ripped off their equipment.

You care too, right?

Hey, well, we don't have to talk about it.

Look, I thought maybe we could go... John Baker put you up to this, didn't

he? The lovely evening and all the flattering attention.

Why, no, it was... Well, Ponch, appearance is deceiving. I am a little

guy. I did this job so low that I can't even afford to waste one single nail. I

sold my house and everything in it to finance this. As of next week, that

trailer is my home. So either I finish this job on time and on budget, or I'm

wiped out. And I haven't even been eating that well lately, so I really did

appreciate the dinner.

But you can just tell John Baker that his little plan fell flat.

Hey, hold it.

I did think I could persuade you to help us, but I could have talked to you

anywhere.

I don't ask a woman for a date unless I want to.

Okay, so you've had your date, and now you've got your answer.

Look, we didn't know you were in financial trouble, but we can finance

the phony buy. The money's been approved.

You were victimized, Paula.

Most people in your position would be anxious to cooperate.

Yeah, but what if I do and you fail? Then they come after me. A little

vandalism, a little arson, a little sabotage, and I'm up a wall.

And so is the next guy and the next guy and the next.

Yeah, okay, let the next guy fight his own fight, and you fight yours. Just

don't involve me. Excuse me.

Could you help me with the chain?

How is everything?

Fine, no problems. No signs of anything strange?

Nothing at all.

Good

night.

Good night.

Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow night.

I didn't ID the vehicles in the yard. They'd come back clean, window dressing

to make it look legit.

Any investigation, if they're crooks, they'd pack up and skip.

We're simply soliciting aggravation if we involve Paula Cole against her will.

Oh, we won't. But they will if they're setting her up for another hit.

If, if, if the van ponched tailed is the one she observed.

And according to your reports on the loader caper, she's not even sure the

van was part of it. But I'm sure what I saw last night.

Between losing you off the patrol for a day or two and giving you $25,000 to

play with, I mean, the choice is obvious.

Keep all appropriate agencies informed and don't try to be heroes.

Joe, we never try to be.

15-7, David. This is Special Unit 1, Southbound Stewart from Stockton.

You sure you want to hit this place again so soon?

Listen, man, that D-8 cat's worth two grand to us. We just hope he goes in the

truck, huh?

Police, sit still, put your hands on the wheel.

Just take it easy. You may have a concussion. No, I'm okay. I'm okay.

I'm okay. All right, all right. I'm okay.

Sure? Yeah, really.

All right.

Thank you.

Are you okay?

Killed my car.

Hey, if I got great news. The man killed his car.

Do you care if I'm hurt? Are you hurt?

No. Want to hear the good news?

Is Poncho all right? Oh, Poncho's car.

He killed it.

I don't understand what happened.

Remember what you said to Poncho about the next guy? You were the next guy.

This is what happened.

And you fought the battle.

Our battle, like you said, without involving you.

Sorry. I said I was wrong.

Paula, maybe you better go see a doctor, huh?

Hey, Paula, we got them all. Your job is safe. Good luck.

That was charming.

Logical. It's about the dragster, you know. The good news. What? You find a

tunnel ram for the dragster?

How'd you know that?

Twin clubs? Tunnel rams!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the first semi-final event in the pro-gas

elimination.

Coming on the track now is Frank Ponciarello driving his pro-gas

Corvette, the Chip.

He's paired in his semi-final with Tommy Johnson in his Corvette, the Bullet.

This should be a hot race, folks.

And here we go at the first semi-final. The cars are at the starting line.

Ponciarello is staged.

6.18 miles per hour his brake punch around he moves into the finals

and on the track now is the bonanza by veteran driver jim scotty jones scotty's

been turning some very fast times in his last few runs in spite of a blown engine

earlier in the competition he's teamed with spider smith at the wheel of the

charger spider smith was the last dude champion in his class but you can bet

he's going to try to hang on to that trophy both cars are staging now

So, Grossi, where'd you find the tunnel ramp?

A guy from Fresno had it.

See, I made a list of stolen parts for the serial numbers.

Hey, I see you guys did all right, huh? You're in the finals.

Congratulations.

Grossi, I see they let you in on the fun.

Where'd you get the tunnel ramp?

Remember my list of stolen parts?

I got the serial number, wired New York, and found out the maker chipped one to

Fresno. Hey, John.

There. You gotta look at the guys who ripped off that Ambex tie place.

Oh, really? Why? I don't think so. Why?

The Bonanza crew. New tires?

The race and the truck?

Hey, guys, remember my list? Hey, that's not the truck we chased.

You were chasing a stolen.

LAPD recovered it yesterday.

I went there.

What? Went where?

Ambex. I'm checking out stolen racing stuff.

Ambex loses racing tires.

So I go get the serial numbers. What else?

I'd say check the stuff in their pit.

Go. Come, stay.

Big deal.

Just about ready to go.

I beat him.

Hands down, right? You saw it? Yeah, I saw enough.

Frank, I have known you to pull some utterly foolhardy stunts, but this,

this, what am I going to do about you?

Well, you can call somebody to tow me. I ran out of gas.

Get out of the car.

Frank, your car was on official business, so the department will repair

it. All right.

We don't like to, but it's logical.

Charming.

I'd also like to thank Paula Cole for throwing this victory party.

All right.

Even though the victory was by default over a car built mostly of stolen parts.

Oh, and the new owners move in tomorrow, so try not to spill anything on the

carpet, please.

Hey, a little bit of dragster club business.

Now, we all know that Artie Grossman would like to get in the club.

So, uh, all in favor of letting him in?

Uh, yeah, okay.

Hey. All right.

Hey!

That was unanimous, Grozy. You're in.

Uh, just as soon as you take care of this.

Yeah, sure.

What is it? It's a bill from New York.

They won't ship the tunnel ram and carbs until you pay $1,200.57.

Okay.