Surfing is out – hot rods are in! That was the word in November 1963, when the Del-Tones’ third album was released. Incidentally, the only original Del-Tone to appear on this offering was bassist Bryan Dietz, while members of the Wrecking Crew filled out the rest of the band. This third album also grabbed its material from some new sources as Gary Usher and Roger Christian were called in to write some new vocal hot rod tunes and even supply the backing vocals with the typical Usher vocal team.

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A simple engine roar opens up the album with ‘The Scavenger,’ a rockilin’ little number in it’s own right, written by the always-interesting Gary Paxton, who would also release the song on his own Garpax label. ‘Surf Buggy’ is a stomping instrumental with background “ahhs” courtesy of Usher’s team, while the clumsy ‘Hot Rod Racer’ receives an unwarranted energetic delivery from Dick Dale, which is almost enough to save the bad material. One can’t help but wonder what was going through Dale’s mind when singing some of these tunes. Usher’s ‘Mag Wheels’ receives a high-energy treatment from the adept Dale as ‘Big Black Cadillac’ again features backing vocals with a chorus almost identical to another Usher production, ‘’54 Corvette.’ The King’s original instrumental, ‘Ho-Dad Machine,’ is a pretty good offering again with backing vocals. Another Paxton composition, ‘Grudge-Run’ loosely based on ‘Riot in Cell Block #9,’ fails to get anywhere, while another Dale number, ‘Motion’ shows a more subdued side of the oft-wild guitarist. The Super Stocks ‘426-Super Stock’ gets sped up a few beats per minute and features an enthusiastic vocal from Dale and some frantic guitar work. ‘The Wedge’ is a fine instrumental with a few Usher touches while the album’s weakest track, Carol Connors ‘It Will Grow on You’, is a bumbling addition to the other fairly solid vocal tracks. The album closes with the rambunctious ‘Night Rider,’ a reverb rocker again courtesy of Dick Dale.

 

While Checkered Flag may have some weak moments, it’s still a pretty concrete album. The very fact that Dick Dale was able to take the meager material presented and infuse his own sound and style into them, is admirable enough to warrant a purchase.