I was a t Salem the day Gil Hess was killed. They had just repaved turns 1 & 2 and the track was wicked fast. Gil Hess was driving the #60 car, which I think had been driven shortly before by Bill Puterbaugh. I believe it was the third heat, Hess was running second or third and made contact with another car in turn 2. The car snapped upside down, struck the guardrail and continued to flip outside the track, landing in the trees which used to grow right off of the backstraight. The guardrail stripped the cage off of the car and cost Gil his life. Pretty much everyone who saw the accident knew he was dead instantly.

It rained before the feature, resulting in about a 2 hr delay, cooled off the track and we eventually saw one of the best pavement races I think I've ever seen before or since. Gary Bettenhausen, Larry Dickson and Rollie Beale put on a tremendous show, racing at high speed inches apart and outbraving one another (today we call it a "slider") in every turn.

It was a sad day, losing Gil Hess, but an amazing feature.