Originally Posted by timk:
Thought about going til I saw what happened last week. Apparently they did their track prep with a skid steer. Started 14 late models and only 3 finished. 3 boards broke in the stands and a huge piece of the wall broke off and flew into the stands, thankfully no one was hit.
I'll bet ya it's the same skid steer that Gerry Olson used in an attempt to dry the track for the infamous. rained out ’02 US Dirt Nationals. That was a sad sight.
Originally Posted by ronmil:
I haven't attended North Vernon since they had their last Indiana Sprint Week race several years ago. I did see some exciting races there and some bizarre incidents. Most memorable on track incident was Jack Hewitt/Dickie Gaines in 2002 which left Jack severely injured. I'll never forget my first trip there in 2001 for Sprint Week when the drunk fell over the edge at the back of the track and had to be rescued by the track emergency crew. The races had to be stopped while this was being done. Fortunately, the Muscatatuck River was at a low level. I believe the drunk received only minor injuries. I've talked with many people over the years who remember the incident.
As for the 2001 “drunk in the river” incident, I remember that as well. If I recall correctly, he was a big boy too. A tow truck had to be summoned so they could hoist him out of there.
My first visit to North Vernon was for the ’97 Sprintweek show. Kevin Doty won that year and again in '98. The '98 Sprintweek event was the year that the track's water truck broke down but the show went on anyway. Doty beat Robbie Rice by inches at the line in that one. How USAC was able to determine Doty the winner, through all that dust, is beyond me.
To this day, Tony Elliott's '99 SCRA win at North Vernon still ranks as one of the best sprint shows I've ever seen.
No shortage of memories from North Vernon. That's for sure.
