Igniting Firefall for 36 Years

It’s a blisterin’, burnin’, and blazin’ hot day in the summer of 1970, and 18-year-old Sandy Ficca is more than a little nervous. In fact, he’s flat-out scared. Running one hand through his shoulder-length hair while keeping the other tight on the wheel, he squints hard at the road ahead, doing his damnedest to keep the burgundy Cadillac Eldorado in its own lane. The stone-faced strangers crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in the back seat—as well as the one sitting in the passenger seat—are not saying a word to each other nor acknowledging Ficca at all.

Did he make a major mistake agreeing to be the driver for the legendary doo-wop/R&B group, the Drifters?

Suddenly, Bill Pinkney—the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band’s original member—shoves a massive hand into the Eldorado’s glove compartment and fishes out a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20.

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