Mrs. G,
I believe I first met you at a softball field in Greencastle in late 1990's before I met Bill. Bill was a smart and enthusiastic guy I had the pleasure of becoming friends with not long after my brother & I started our welding business building DYNAMITE RACE CARS and when our shop was in Coatesville, IN Bill helped us with building Sprint Car chassis and made our first ever website probably a couple years before this awesome forum came to fruition. I'm looking forward to being at LPS Friday and sporting my IOW shirt.
Danny Williams, Jr.
I meet Bill at Eldora, I walked into Brian Hayden's trailer in the pits and ask him for an autograph, he looked at me for second with Brian's typical "what" look, and then I said, not yours, I want Bill's!
Brian laughed and said "you too, everybody wants Bill's autograph and I can't even get a speeding ticket to sign"!
Thoughts and prayers for your continued strength Mrs G.
Originally Posted by Panama:
I meet Bill at Eldora, I walked into Brian Hayden's trailer in the pits and ask him for an autograph, he looked at me for second with Brian's typical "what" look, and then I said, not yours, I want Bill's!
Brian laughed and said "you too, everybody wants Bill's autograph and I can't even get a speeding ticket to sign"!
Thoughts and prayers for your continued strength Mrs G.
Chris,
I was there that night and it was the highlight of the night. We still laugh about how Brian reacted! Bill never let him live that one down!
I've known the family since Bill & his brother were little. His dad was my favorite teacher,,,man,,didn't want to make him mad !
When I discovered this site, and confirmed that I was talking to THE Bill Gardner. Told him I remembered he and is brother playing basketball at the " Putnamville Pavillion " ( gravel lot where the school once was )..
His comment was something about my age ( old ),,,I had to agree.
I,,,along with many others ,,,were concerned this site would also be taken away from us.
Everytime I log on, or see an IOW logo....Bill & that smile are there.
I can not say that I knew Bill well; I only met him briefly at LPS when a fellow IOWer (not sure who it was now) introduced me to him. In another sense, I feel I knew him well because of the IOW website, and before that USACFans.com. Because of Bill, I have met and become friends with many fellow race fans. IOW is a part of my life each day. I never fail to visit this site multiple times each day. It has proven invaluable in providing info on weather on race days, and updates by dedicated fans at races that I am unable to attend. Bill may no longer be here physically, but he lives on through this website.
I was there that night and it was the highlight of the night. We still laugh about how Brian reacted! Bill never let him live that one down!
Mrs G, I can't begin to tell you how your reply to my post made me feel. I guess mixed emotions is as close as I can get. Knowing that you remembered that story, and that it brought joy to Bill, made me smile and brought tears to my eyes all at the same time.
Bill has done so much for the racing family, knowing that I may have caused him to chuckle over that just makes me feel good all over. Thank you for letting me know that part of the story. Here is a picture of Bill coming out of Brian's trailer that day at Eldora.
I will never forget getting to meet him.
I too have to credit Danny Burton with not only directing me to this site, but to also introducing me to Bill at LPS in 2012 during midget week. It was a real pleasure to get to meet him. I've not been back out to Indiana since, but I'll be back this week and at LPS on Friday.
Never got to meet bill but was told about this site by my Indiana friend's,I alway's enjoyed reading about him and got to keep up on his (to short ) journey thru life. I get to keep up on everything even when I'm so far away . I alway's enjoyed the picture of all his friend's at LPS telling him he was number one! 😀thank's for everything
Can't say if I ever met Bill only been to ISW once so far, in 2013. I found this site when looking up info for our trip out to ISW. I can say I got lots of help and answers to all kinds of questions. Being from Pa this is my life line to USAC and all the wingless racing news. And the interesting thing this is the only racing site I use, because it is a great one.
I got to lps and bill was selling iow t-shirt and I said that I have to go meet him and grab a shirt and he said what is your name on iow and I said I love dirt track racing and he said I do too and he thanked me for the posts and I am proud to be a member of the iow website. Thanks alot mrs g.and will make it up your way to meet you at lps this weekend with my iow shirt on. Thanks
