Hot Rod Grafitti

About fifteen years ago I remember first seeing the evidence; long black streaks of burnt rubber on the back roads in Deer Isle. At first I thought it was cars coming screeching to a halt, but I quickly came to understand that it was cars peeling out. These antics are to be expected. It's beautiful up here, but I speak from experience when I say that it's a pretty slow pace for whippersnappers.

In recent years increasingly extravagant tire tracks have become ubiquitous on all the island roads. As I was recently tut-tutting it to a cousin, she told me that in fact it is a cultural phenomenon. One of the local Hardy kin is a recognized practitioner of the art form, and I've seen the evidence of his skills-- there are serpentine curves hundreds of yards long on some roads. Among the cousins there have been some heated debates whether this is environmental art or simple vandalism. If I heard right, there is even a documentary on the subject of peeling out. Final proof of the decline of western civilization.