My parents took me to my first race September 4, 1989 when I was 9 months old. My dad's birthday was that day and introducing me to racing was his present.
It was the USAC Champ Cars for the Ted Horn 100 at the DuQuoin, Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Since I was only 9 months old, I don't remember the race or who won, but we have some good pictures from that day. I got to sit in (Indiana) Andy Hillenburg's car and made dad's day.
Here's the rundown from that day, courtesy of OpenwheelTimes.com.
1) Chuck Gurney (Kurtz #30)
2) Rich Vogler (Wilke #16)
3) Jimmy Sills (Countryman #15)
4) Tony Elliott (Gurtizen #51)
5) Jim Mahoney (#50)
6) Mark Alderson (Boles #2)
7) Andy Hillenburg (McMahon #85)
8) Danny Smith (Hammond #56)
9) Jim McElreath (#23)
10) Walt Kennedy (Woodward #40)
11) Dave Feese (McClure #69)
12) Greg Staab (Wilke #7)
13) Johnny Parsons (Scruggs #37)
14) Larry Rice (Lefevre #5)
15) Steve Butler (Jarrett #1)
16) Danny Milburn (Newkirk #27)
17) Tom Bigelow (Smith #14)
18) Bob Cicconi (#59)
19) Donnie Beechler (Egan #46)
20) Russ Gamester (Mataka #31)
21) Jack Hewitt (Hampshire #63)
22) Manny Rockhold (#17)
23) Gary Bettenhausen (Delrose/Holt #12)
24) Ron Dunstan (Conroy #18)
25) George Snider (Foyt 11)
26) Terry Kawell (#90)
27) Gary Irvin (#48)
28) Warren Mockler (Mitchell #75)
29) Rickey Hood (Niebel #20)
30) Gary Hieber (#66)
31) Jerry Nemire (Lesko #98)
32) Mike Thomas (#78)
Since 1989, I've only missed one running of the Ted Horn 100. (Plus this year...
)
I'll try to find and add a couple of the pictures.
