[ronmil]

I'll never forget that night. My mother and I were sitting on the aisle that led up to the announcers booth and I vividly remember Gary Lee and Larry Rice coming by us on their way up to the booth.
When the feature began, Rich was in a class of his own. I remember that someone contacted the guardrail on the backstretch and they had to stop the race for repairs; then there was a power outage.
After the restart, Rich continued to dominate. He was so far ahead that I had momentarily shifted my focus to second place Jeff Gordon, whom Rich was not far from lapping.
I was really not aware of the crash until a lady sitting behind us made a comment that his helmet had come off. I then observed that the front axle assembly had traveled more than halfway from the fourth turn to the start-finish line. The right side of the car did not appear to have much damage, though. Rollie Beale walked over to the car and I could tell by his reaction that Rich was probably beyond help.
I recorded the race on my VCR and had it set to turn off at 10:06PM. The accident occurred at 9:59PM and the broadcast showed Rich being transported out of the track just as the VCR shut off.
Also, USAC car owner, Glen Neibel, was thought to have suffered a heart attack that evening, and he was transported from the track. It turned out to be a gastrointestinal upset.
I had trouble remembering Glen's name at first, but I believe that he was the person transported. Correct me if I am wrong.
I have the book "NO TIME FOR YESTERDAY RICH VOGLER: HIS LIFE 1950-1990" By John Sawyer. Very interesting read. Don't know as it is still available as publisher Carl Hungness is out of business.
While USAC sprint car racing is still immensely exciting and entertaining, it lost an element that is irreplaceable with the passing of Richard Frank Vogler.