[ronmil]

My family didn't attend races on a regular basis, as my dad owned a service station and he worked long hours. I also worked there, so between work, school and sleep, little time was left for anything else.
I remember quite a few drivers coming into our station to buy gas for their race cars, so I began to notice racing a little bit. We sold DX, and that was the highest octane gas available at the time. The cars they raced were based on coupes from the thirties, and powered by a variety of engines; Chrysler flathead six, Ford flatheads and Oldsmobiles.
The DX distributor from Morganfield, KY would stop in our station on his way to and from the Indy 500, so I developed an interest in the 500 by talking to him. And, of course, Sid Collins radio broadcast really got me thinking how I must see that race one day. I finally did in 1965, and have been to everyone since.
As far as tracks I attended as a kid, I do remember my parents taking me to the Boonville fair. This would have been sometime in the late forties. It must have been a major event, as I do recall Troy Ruttman being there.
I began attending races on my own in 1955 at the Sturgis, KY drag strip located at the airport.
As far as oval tracks, I first attended TSS (Haubstadt) when it opened in 1957. That got me really interested in cars going in circles. In the late, sixties I attended races at Ellis Speedway at Reed, KY and Kentucky Motor Speedway (Whitesville), both asphalt tracks, where some guy named Darrel Waltrip was making a name for himself.
In the early seventies, I began attending the newly opened oval at Chandler, as well as going to Windy Hollow Kentucky. Princeton, IN fairgrounds had a scary fast half-mile for a while in the seventies.
But, Haubstadt probably planted the seed that started my love for dirt tracks.