Wade’s popularity at the track would later become a liability as well as asset. Shelves of winning race trophies perhaps went to his head. One fateful night his overconfidence turned his life upside down.
11
In hindsight, Wade saw that he overlooked many signs his friend Ed Langer was sending that should have made him more suspicious. Perhaps it was inexperience, youthful judgment, or just that things were going so well, but Wade didn’t want to know answers to difficult questions or confront his good friend. The parts Ed provided always seemed immediately available or would arrive in just a few days. The price was always right and well below the going price for similar parts from junk yards.
Wade wrote off these little inconsistencies to Ed’s father’s having two service stations where old parts were always being replaced and to Ed’s uncle, who owned a junk yard. His uncle’s junk yard was actually located quite a ways out of town, on the way to Baton Rouge. Roundtrip to and from his uncle’s junk yard would take more than half a day. Many of the used junk yard parts Ed provided looked newer than those Wade usually saw from other junk yards.
Once the decision was made to go with a Cadillac engine and Corvette transmission, it was only a few days before Ed conveniently showed up with both the engine and the transmission in his father’s truck. Ed’s friendship with so many of the other pit crew members at the track could have been due to his friendly personality, but Wade wondered, when would he ever have had the time to meet them?
That question was never asked. Ed and Wade were always friendly, and neither of them had been in any kind of trouble in the past. Wade had not yet learned the lesson, “When things look too good to be true, chances are they are not.” For a while, Wade’s stressful home life was now quiet, school was fine, and his work at the garage and his early racing attempts were going great.
Dating for Wade still seemed awkward and would be put off well into the future. For these few months, Wade’s life seemed sanguine.
One late afternoon, both Wade and Ed had been working on the '33 for an upcoming race. Both were tired and decided to lock up and grab shrimp po-boys and a beer at Billy-Jacks Grille not far from the garage. They jumped into Wade’s car.
When they finished eating, Ed told Wade he needed to go pick up some '55 Chevy hubcaps for a friend.
Wade asked, “Where are we going to get them?”
Ed replied, “He’s over by Audubon Park. It’s not too far. It will be a quick stop. You can just stay in the car.”
The upper-class Audubon Park area in uptown New Orleans is also the university section of the city, where both Loyola and Tulane are located. The area is dominated by the large Audubon Park which has a scenic lake, bayous, walking and riding trails and a zoo. Large, beautiful, older, affluent homes with well-landscaped front lawns surrounded the area.
It was around 9:30 pm. Ed seemed a little bothered and nervous as they approached the park area.
“What’s wrong?” asked Wade.
“It’s a long story, but I’ve got these guys I promised these hubcaps to, and they are very upset. I’ve got to get these or I’m in big trouble.”
Wade responded, “It’s not a problem we’ll pick them up.”
As they came to the park, Ed suggested that Wade turn down a side street. Ed began looking at the street signs and houses as through searching for a particular address.
Wade asked, “Do you know the address?”
“I lost the address, but I know the house. It’s right around here.”
They were now a few blocks off the large, divided, St. Charles Avenue, going down a side street that bordered the park. “Turn right here. I think this is the area.”
Wade turned down the side street.
“Keep going. Take a left here and another left.”
It was clear to Wade that Ed was confused about the address and the house. It soon became clearer to Wade that Ed was not looking for an address at all. Ed was looking at all the cars parked along these side streets.
Wade asked, “What are you doing?”
Ed said “I’ve got to find these '55 and '56 caps or I’m in serious trouble. Do you see all of the '55 and '56 Chevys parked along this street? This is a gold mine.”
Ed continued, uncomfortable with Wade’s shocked silence. “Look I just need to pick up four caps and I can get these guys off my back. You drive and I’ll take care of everything else — it’s no big deal.”
Wade stared straight ahead, speechless.
Ed pleaded, “Please help me with this. This is the only time I’m ever going to ask you to do this. I don’t want you to get involved. It’s just that my friends need these caps right away or I’m going to be dog meat.”
Wade now saw the whole picture, and while he didn’t like it, he had never seen Ed so concerned and worried. Wade felt mixed emotions, but he wanted to help his friend. After going down several more side streets, Ed found exactly what he was looking for. There sat two cars of the right model, one parked behind the other on the same side of the street. One was a '55 Chevy Bellaire, and one was a '56 Chevy Bellaire.
Ed said firmly, “Stop in the middle of the block between the two street lights so we don’t draw attention, and shut off your headlights. Keep the motor running at idle.”
Ed reached into his tool kit on the back floor behind Wade’s seat. He removed a long heavy-duty screwdriver and quickly got out of the car, then immediately disappeared below the car’s window and Wade’s line of sight. He closed the passenger side door very quietly. Ed moved so quietly in his crouched position that Wade didn’t hear any noise at all.
Wade couldn’t tell for sure where Ed was. He turned off the car radio and only heard the quiet noise of the engine at idle. Wade looked around as though he were looking for nearby house numbers for an address, hoping to get a glimpse of Ed. Wade wanted to look like someone waiting to pick up a friend from one of the nearby houses.
He thought, “How hard can this be?” Ed would be back in the car quickly with the caps, and Wade was ready to give him a talking to. Wade had stopped in the darkest part of the block between the street lights, under an overhanging limb of an oak tree. There was no moon that night. Wade couldn’t hear any noise from Ed’s quiet work, and he didn’t want to be turning around looking for him, as it could draw attention to their activity.
What Wade and Ed hadn’t noticed was the dark unmarked police car patrolling this area two blocks behind them. The patrol car spotted Ed and called for backup. They turned down a side street so as not to be noticed and came up on the street just behind Wade’s car. Their headlights were off. They waited a few minutes to confirm what they suspected Ed was doing. The unmarked car moved in before back-up arrived.
What Wade saw next was his dash board light up with the blinding glare of the patrol car’s search light. A voice from behind Wade said, “This is the police. Keep your hands high on the steering wheel. Reach down slowly and turn off your engine, and get out of the car with your hands on your head.”
Before turning to comply, Wade quickly glanced in his rear-view mirror and saw one officer holding his gun on Ed. Ed had his hands on his head. The officer was holding in his other hand four hubcaps and Ed’s large screw driver. Wade’s immediate thoughts as he turned his engine off were, “What happens now? How stupid could I be? The one and only time I ever participated in this kind of thing, the cops caught me in the act.”
By the time they were handcuffed, the back-up patrol car arrived. Wade and Ed were separated and taken to the precinct for questioning in separate cars.