You may be correct. I was on the front strait that night with a headset on confering with my flagman and the scoring booth making sure that we ALL had Tony winnning by a bumper. Guess that old saying "nobody rememebers who finished second" is true. I'm off to "Stoga". For once you guys in Indiana won't be the only ones who get to see a cool race tonight!!!
Originally Posted by JstAbvVMC:
The very first sprint car race I ever saw was at Calistoga in 1978. I was hooked for life. I spent many many nights there as a crew member. Wins with guys like Tim Green, Chuck Gurney and Jimmy Sills. Eventually I was luckly enough to get to race there for one season. And then there were the very sad nights the nights when we lost friends at Calistoga. I'll never forget the night we lost "GP" Gary Patterson and the nights we lost too many others like Lloyd Beard. I was also there when Tony Stewart beat Billy Boat with a last lap pass to secure his triple crown. That was magic. And yes I will be there this weekend to add to these memories. Yes, I agree Tom, Calistoga is a beatiful place and for me a very magical place with a life time of memories both wonderful and sad.
well said ...... Early 80,s Calistoga was our home Track and I both love and hate this track....... To this day i think about "GP" i was 13 at the time we lost him ... We always pitted next to Gary as we were on May 29, 1983 ... My father (Rich Styles #16) stalled coming out of turn 2 and his car sat on the back strech ... As the pack was passing our stalled car 1 car pulled out of the pack and hit our car in the rear then rolled over .... remind you i was 13 yrs old at the time and was not permitted in the pit's ... so ... my father sustained a back injury and was taken to St.Helena Hospital ... so our night was over at that point (back then there was an emergency gate right before turn 1)we waited to be let in through the turn 1 emergency gate in order to load our pit area and car up.... we didn't have our whole family down at the gate in time as they threw the GREEN FLAG well was only a few laps later that we lost Gary Patterson ..... since it is now a RED Flag they opened our gate and let us in and its still gets me to this day cause i looked to see if Gary was ok and i saw more than i could handle ... by this time our car was loaded up and we headed to the hospital and we arrived at the same time as Gary's ambulance and since Gary and i were friends i waited for them to take him out and the whole night is stuck in my head like it was yesterday ... i was actually in the ER w/ my father as they were trying to revive Gary on the other side of the curtain .... i remember crying with everyone that night and i still get tears to this day thinking about it ..... i never really told this story just re lived it a million times............................... REST IN PEACE GARY MISS YOU !
I never had a problem with your Gary P story. It's that its in a seven year old post that you have to start reading through to get to it.
Realize that several of the posters in the thread are also not with us any longer and many of us miss them as well.
Posting on very old threads with a headline like this. People see the headline "Stoga to race NW for the first time in 23 years" The first thing that comes to mind is, "That's not right", and never looking at the dates, it creates confusion.
I wasn't trying to be mean by pointing out the obvious. And I apologize for sounding like I took issue to the content of your post. In a current thread or even new thread it would be outstanding. and it is still a great sharing of memories. It just takes reading through 60 post and putting it into context vs the time the thread was created to get to it and put it into perspective is confusing at the very least.
If your sending me two cuss laced PM's makes you feel better, Well, I guess Im happy you feel better now.
Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
This thread is 7 years old.
Snarky posts like this is why...
1) Some of our greatest members, going back to the USACfans.com days, no longer visit this site.
2) Most people, especially those directly in the industry, choose not to interact in the forums; they simply "lurk", which is a shame.
I enjoyed the man's story and I'm glad he shared it with us. If anyone is ever confused
by a thread, please check the time stamp!
Grandma always told me, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothing at all!".
