>>18012202Friction had the toughest ass on Gods green Earth
>“At the bathhouse, Harley never gave us his real name,” recalls Joe F., who played with Race regularly at a St. Louis establishment called Decadence. “We sort of knew he was a big time pro wrestler, but that never came up in conversation: we just knew him as ‘Friction.’” Race’s nickname owed to his preference, well known around the club, for forgoing lubricant when engaging in anal play: “Spit only,” he’d growl to new men who lined up behind him. No stranger to pain in the wrestling ring, friends say Race liked the rough intensity of the act, even if scrapes, burns, and even bleeding would sometime occur after an extended session. He was a fixture around the club on nights when wrestling was in town, and patrons remember him as a man who didn’t speak much, but was always willing to test his physical limits with the right partner.— from Mark Smith’s new book Wet Nights: The Untold Story of America’s Gay Bathhouses (2025), p. 83.
