DT "Bill" Glascock, Who Did Whatever He Damn Pleased

My PawPaw was the old guy in the 1980s who had the station wagon full of stuff and would frequent the Greenbriar McDonald's and Shell Station.  Once a girl told me they (students at Chantilly High) called him the dog man.  He did always have a dog with him.  My best friend Anita didn't believe me when, after stopping at the Shell or McD's after school, we passed him in his packed-full-of-stuff car and I said, that's my PawPaw!  I had to have my mom confirm for Anita that he was indeed my grandfather and even then she eyed me suspiciously.
My Gramaw said that PawPaw could be talking about the weather and sound like he was cussin' you.  I love it.  Because he did have a fondness for cussin', God bless him.  I have inherited this fondness but must repress it.  So sad.
When PawPaw was a young man in the 20s and 30s throughout the depression and prohibition, he would sell his moonshine to a few lucky customers.
This is how it worked:
You gave him the money at one location, perhaps one of his stores or gas stations, I'm not sure, then he told you where to find the moonshine, which was hidden in a creek just over his property line so he couldn't get busted.
He never liked being told what to do and he didn't like asking people for anything, so when he wanted to fly planes, he built himself an airfield.
He used to run a tavern in what is the old Stone House at Manassas, VA.
That's all I've got for now! Bed time!

Roadblock!

One night me, Ronnie Hall, an’ Wayne J. were riding around the back roads of Centreville. An’ I think Wayne wanted to go by and see this girl he liked. So we were out in front of her house and Ronnie tooted on the horn an’ of course she didn’t come out an’ then this Fairfax County Cruiser come up behind us. And Ronnie decided to take off. Ronnie took off an’ wouldn’t stop for the County Man. Ronnie got so far ahead you could look back across the fields an’ see the cruiser’s headlights. Ronnie said, “We’re too far ahead, we’re gonna have to stop an’ give him a chance to catch up to us.” He had the headlights turned off an’ we were going so fast on the back roads that the white fences just blurred by an’ that’s how Ronnie was following the road.

We took off again when the cruiser got close, an’ when we got to Route 50 we wanted to go West to get across the county line, but we were in a hurry because the police was catchin’ up an’ we got confused, an’ went East an’ they had the road blocked. A bunch of policemen opened our doors an’ had guns pointed at us. They took us to the Fairfax County Jail in the town of Fairfax an’ when they took us in Wayne walked right out the door an’ disappeared. Ronnie, they put him in a cell because he was driving, and me they put in a holding cell and my father came and got me.

Free Gas!

When Dulles Airport was being built in the late 50s and early 60s, my dad and his friends would watch people drag race at night on the runways (dad preferred to do his drag racing at Fairfax Circle).  After a while they realized that there was plenty of gas to be had in the 300-500 gallon tanks that were left there during construction.  Soon, everyone around Dulles was sneaking onto the budding airport to get some free gas.  According to my dad, “You could fill your tank up quicker than at a filling station.”


One night after his friend Ronnie filled his car, a black 1957 two-door hardtop Ford with a 312 engine, full of free Dulles gas, something went wrong.  The souped up Ford blew black smoke all the way from Dulles to the Sunoco Station at Fairfax Circle next to Tops Drive-in.

“They got wise to us an' switched the diesel an' gas labels on the tanks.”  Dad says, “Ronnie drained the tank an' filled it up with gasoline, but we still had to overhaul the engine.”

Old Man Pratt and the Cornfield

As told by Johnny Glascock...







One day me an' Ronnie Hall went deer hunting in Caroline County an’ when it got dark we decided to go to old man Pratt's farm an’ spotlight some deer.

So we're drivin’ through old man Pratt's cornfield an' some headlights come up behind us. We take off an’ get farther an' farther ahead an’ Ronnie says, "We'd better slow down and let this poor fella catch up!" So we slow down and see it’s Mister Pratt behind us. We take off again, then get too far ahead an’ Ronnie slows down again an’ lets old man Pratt get right up on his bumper, then takes off. Ronnie lets him catch up again an’ this time Mister Pratt pulls up behind us an’ gets out of the truck and starts to walk up to the car, an' Ronnie takes off again, laughing. Mister Pratt gets back in his truck an' comes after us again. Ronnie gets way ahead of him again an’ we do this for a while until we get bored then go back to the highway an’ take off back toward Fairfax.

Old man Pratt never did catch us.


(updated 3/22/10)