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At the quarterly Board of Directors meeting of PDP Racing, a very insightful discussion ensued about the future state of PDP Racing and racing in general. Luckily I took copious notes. So it went something like this:

Chad: Where’d you get the PBR Tall Boys? I didn’t think the big town of Argos had such a sophisticated beverage.

Tom: I had to have them imported from Wisconsin. You buy 30 or more, you get a free pound of cheese curds.

Jim: You know when Roger and I went out to the Oswego Classic in ‘72, they had Pabst out there.

And the beer talk went on for about an hour…………… and then:

Chad: You know, racing’s not the same as it was. Back in the 60’s and 70’s the cars were simple yet beautiful. And the men were brave beyond compare. Buuuuuuuurp!

Jim: You know when Roger and I went out to Oswego in ’72 there were some beautiful cars out there. Burp! (Jim’s the gentleman)

Tom: Well, you can’t go back in time. And some of the cars are still beautiful. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu- uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!

Chad: Good one! But the cars are hideous with all the panels. And you can’t see the driver working now. And they are not really much faster than they were back then. Buurp!

Tom: You know, on Indiana Open Wheel……..

Chad: You’re not going to talk about being a pole sitter on there again are you?........Burp!

Jim: You know when Roger and I went out to Oswego in ’72; he was on the pole for the B-main.

Tom: No, I wasn’t going to mention the pole sitter thing. I was just going to say that on Indiana Open Wheel, Duke Cook mentioned once that Bigelow went like a 15.5 second lap back in the late 70’s. There were cars that didn’t go that fast last time USAC was there. Burrrrp!

Chad: Really! You are that desperate in this discussion that you’re quoting Duke Cook! Buuuurp!

Jim: You know, I think Duke was out to Oswego at some time.

Tom: Chad, I was agreeing with you, there could be an instance where the cars aren’t that much faster today. Buuuurp!

Chad: That’s right. Just admit I’m right and we’ll move on. I say that you could take a car from back then and run with USAC. Buuurrrp!

At that moment, almost if on cue, we all looked up in the loft of my garage where the 1968 Nance that my Dad drove was.

Chad: I bet we could put that car together and keep up at a USAC race. I bet we could even run those Firestone Double Diamonds up there. Buuurrrp!

Jim: You know I think Roger was running Firestones out in Oswego.

Tom: What do we run for a motor?

Chad: It had a Buick in there before. You’ve got that motor in the back. I say we run a Buick. Buuuurrrrrrp!

Tom: Well we can’t run the Double Diamonds. USAC has a Hoosier rule. Buuurrrp!

Jim: It might have been Goodyear’s out in Oswego. I know it wasn’t Hoosiers.

Chad: You know, I think it just says they have to say Hoosier. We can paint Hoosier over the Firestone. Buuuuurppppppp!

Tom: Think USAC will say anything about the bolt on cage? Too bad we can’t run for points. The season has already started. Buuuurpppp!

Chad: Then screw USAC! We’ll run an outlaw schedule! That car had a wing on it at one time. We’ll run wherever we want. USAC, World of Outlaws, All Stars. Buuuuurrrrrrrpppppppppppp!

Jim: Oswego? That Buick would be considered a big block wouldn’t it?

Tom: You know, I was reading on Indiana Open Wheel where Perris is going to run the cars clockwise. With those Double Diamonds, there’s very little stagger. Bet we’d be fast there. Buuuurrrp!

Chad: Paris? They don’t race sprint cars in France. You know, we’ve gone through almost all 30 of those tall boys already. Buuurrpp!

Tom: Perris with an “e.” It’s in California. Is that the last beer? Buuurp!

Chad: Yeah, the hell with this. Let’s go find some more beer.

Tom: Did you hear they paved Lawrenceburg?

Happy April 1st everyone.

Tom Paterson