If anyone has any personal stories or photos please share with the rest of the class.:2: I would love to see, hear as much as possible about the man_ the legend. Thanks to those who reply, just gettin' amped up for salem!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...7565/index.htm

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...18/1/index.htm

http://www.autoracing1.com/SteveL/20...mHighBanks.asp

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...PISxjAf1_9SJCw

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...PISxjAf1_9SJCw

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...PISxjAf1_9SJCw

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...PISxjAf1_9SJCw

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...50/1/index.htm

As you might guess by my log-in nickname, I do have quite a collection of photos and news articles about him. Unfortunately, the scanner is hooked up to my wife's computer (which I don't dare touch :34 so I will have to wait until tomorrow to get her to scan some from my scrapbook for me to post here.

Over 60 years ago I met Pat O Connor in a garage in Muncie, Indiana. He was driving a roadster in the old Mutual Roadster Association and I was a kid hanging around the garage listening to the 'racing men' Most of the men ignored me but Pat O Connor asked me my name and if I liked to go to the races. He not only asked my name he REMEMBERED it and would always greet me by my first name. He unknowlingly left an impression on me that I would use in business before I retired. The ideal greeting is to call a customer, client or admirer by their name. 'The sweetest sound to a persons ears is their own name' and Pat O Connor evidently knew this and gained him legions of fans. When my father and I went to a Mutual race in Ft. Wayne we went to the pits afterward and Pat O Connor called me by my first name and shook my fathers hand after he was introduced to him. After he left the roadsters and started running with the AAA 'big' cars at Winchester, Salem and Dayton I only got to see him one more time at Winchester and again he called me by my first name when he seen me walk across the track after the races. We moved away from Indiana in 1954 and I wrote him a letter / note telling him that I was still keeping track of his racing activities. He answered my note which again really impressed me that he would take time to respond to a very insignificant note from some kid. Another thing I remember about him was despite the fact that most of the 'racing men' used gutter language I don't think I ever heard him swear. While t shirts and greasy blue jeans were the norm for these racing men, Pat O Connor always wore dress slacks and sports shirts. He was a gentleman racer, a PR delight and a hero of another time.

Here's a few my Dad took of Pat in 1953. (at least that's what it says on the back of the photos). The first one is from Dayton, unsure of the location of the second one.
David.

Thanks so much to all of you for the links, words and pics.