I enjoyed reading the press release concerning the 100th year of auto racing at the Springfield Mile on the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The section on the 1960's was of particular interest to me since I was in the grandstands the day following the deaths of 3 men back on August 20th of 1966. I was very young but remember seeing the roped off area of the lower grandstands where the rooftop platform on which 2 photographers had been setting up their cameras had landed the day before when it had been pulled from it's anchors. There had been a rope tied to the platform and extended down and across the track to a wrecker parked just North of the stage. The Green Berets were to use the rope as part of a demonstration following Champ Car qualifying. The wrecker reportedly lurched forward inadvertantly pulling the platform, mounted on the roof of the grandstand, on which Dale Mueller and Bob Lockwood were preparing to photograph Champ Car hot laps and qualifying, off of it's mooring. Ralph Heger, stage manager was hit and killed instantly when the platform plummeted 75 feet to the ground along with Mueller and Lockwood. All these years later I still get a chill when I walk near that part of the lower grandstands. My parents, who were stock car fans, had taken me with them to watch the stockers run the Allen Crowe Memorial 100 the day after the tragedy so many years ago.

Dale Mueller by the way was the founder and president of the St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club. The annual Dale Mueller Memorial Photo Award is given every State Fair Race Weekend and is dedicated to the memory of the men who died that day.

I apologize for the long windedness but I must add that the Allen Crowe Memorial 100 USAC stock car race my Parents took me to see that Sunday in 1966 was won by none other than Don White in a Ray Nichols prepared 1966 red and white Dodge Charger #3. He led all but one mile and the race ran without a yellow and the elapsed time for the 100 miles stands to this day as the track record for stock cars on The Springfield Mile. 1 hour, six minutes, 30.14 seconds.

My wife and I also have a wonderful family friend who just turned 86 August 4th who has been to every Champ Car race run during the Illinois State Fair since 1946, and every one during the Du Quoin State Fair (every one they haven't cancelled) since they built The Magic Mile in 1948. And I was starting to think my paltry 35 years in a row was pretty good. Guess I better think again!