Originally Posted by Mudclodbob:
I was there with two cousins. We had a great time watching a lot of great drivers. Agree the heats were good, features at night were really dusty. I recall the two hour trip home became a scary 5 hour drive in fog that limited visibility to the front of the hood.
I remember a driving rainstorm on the long drive back to Evansville. I finally found a little mom and pop motel and got off the road until the daylight arrived. After the rain departed it was a pleasant drive on an unseasonably warm Sunday.
Seven of us from the farmland area went in my dads motor home had a blast sadly it was one of my dads last racing trips before his checker flag . I thank him every time I go to race for inducing me this great sport
I was there because a handful of NEMA cars were there. The one that Genetten drove was one of ours: Ed Czyzewski's "Polish Pirate" special. I remember that Ed and his crewman, who I knew only as "Hoppy", had trouble getting up on the podium because they only had one leg between the two of them. As I told our fans many times over the years, Ed lost both of his on Pork Chop Hill in Korea, and I'm afraid I don't remember where Hoppy lost his. They were two great guys who supported NEMA for many years.
I came back to that race to shoot it for some western racing publications and planned my vacation in Detroit to go with it. I think I am still cleaning dirt out of my ears. The promoter (his first name was Steve, but cannot remember his last name) was a concert promoter. When the night show got so out of hand with dust, he took action himself and began spraying the track with a garden hose (I have a photo of it on my Facebook page). The problem was he was spraying not only the loose stuff on the outside, but also on the groove turning it into a skating rink. Spins were ridiculous and people in the pits were begging him to stop spraying the groove, but he refused to listen.
Originally Posted by Stevensville Mike:
Rarely heard words....
I was born and raised in Detroit. At that time, I had only been in California for six years and was still young and stupid. Now I am old, and still stupid, but I have no ambition to ever vacation there again.
