Ascot Park, circa early to mid-70's
Palm trees, GOOD food, a pond in the middle (in california, you have to WANT a pond...) And we have not even got to the racing yet.... Anybody remember Walk Kennedy in that red white and black car with the big block Chrysler? Of course we had Dean and Bubby, but also Jeff Heywood, Eddie Wirth... just so many great drivers and so many amazing nights of racing.

And if that was not enough for ya, we had the AMA Flat track bikes on Friday Nights, and the Midgets on the 1/4 mile on Sundays! And each of those shows was just as good as the Sprinters. Growing up in that area, it was many years until I even SAW a race someplace else, and only then did I learn what it meant to have a "bad" racetrack. Up until then, i thought a bad track meant there were a few ruts... My first run down to El Centro for the day race was all I needed to see to know how special Ascot was.

There will never be another Ascot.