Origin of "Wow what a ride!"

[seenidog]

I was talking with one of my sons’ friends tonight, he seemed really down. He stopped by our house because he was feeling lonely. (My sons have moved away). He mentioned that things are always animated here, something going on, either a celebration or scrambling to deal with some crisis, (usually brought on by the celebration!). I really wanted to express to him to get out there and live a bit, not to wait for life to come to him.

I remembered a few lines of text that I saw taped to a file cabinet at work a few years back. I am hoping one of the fellow dopers can identify the quote, and it’s source for me.

I am paraphrasing very very loosely from memory. It went something like this:

The goal of life is not to end up with a well preserved pretty body. The goal is to cross the finish line used up, burned out, skidding sideways and exclaiming “Wow! What a ride!”

Any help in getting the original text, and identifying the source would be appreciated.

[Johnny_L.A]

Rick uses it as his sig.

Remember this motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather one should aim to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, glass of Scotch in the other, your body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO! Man, what a ride!”

[seenidog]

That’s It! Thanks.

[Rick]

Damn you Johnny, I came here to say that was my sig.

[Walloon]

But who is the author of the quotation?

[Rick]

Beats me, I have seen it in many slightly different versions over the years. When I adopted it for my sig, I changed martini to scotch.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Rick

Damn you Johnny

[Igor (‘That’s “EYE-gor”!’)]

Too late!

[/Igor]

[Johnny_L.A]

@Rick

Beats me, I have seen it in many slightly different versions over the years. When I adopted it for my sig, I changed martini to scotch.

That explains why I couldn’t find the whole quote! (Actually, when I put it in google with the double-quotes around the ‘woohoo’ part, I did get one hit: A sex toy site.)

Anyway, taking just a bit of it I foundthis:

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!”

Bill McKenna, professional motorcycle racer, Cycle magazine Feb. 1982

This page says (emphasis mine):

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body,but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming – whoo hoo-- What a Ride!” Attributed to Bill McKenna, Anonymous and in a Nissan ad.

[DungeonInURMind]

Hunter S. Thompson for the full attribution see goodreads.com