I attended my first race there on Oct. 16, 1971, a USAC sprint car race, and that old grandstand was still in place, and, I believe the guardrail was pretty much the same. That was the day Larry "Boom Boom" Cannon flipped the Hoffman car the length of the front straight. Six years to the day later, I witnessed James McElreath take his fatal plunge out of the track.
I believe 1972 was the first year of the new grandstand.
Does any body go as far back as Ruttman, Carter, O'Conner, Billy McGee, Holmes, Joe James? Billy was one of my favorites. Seems like he used to win a lot of consis.