>Oh yeah..... I grew up about 80 miles from Indy at WIlliamsport..... There
>was always a long extension cord to a radio out in the back yard and a
>barbeque going, Dads with their beers around the radio and the grill, kids
>playin all over the yard and the Moms all in the kitchen yakking.
>
>The ENTIRE month of May in Indiana was devoted to THE RACE. Nowhere else on
>earth do they grasp the bigness of THE RACE like they do in Indiana. Even
>Indiana basketball doesn't compare!
>
>Tom Crain
Ah yes, the memories. I grew up in Liberty, Indiana (the same place as Bob
Jenkins. Knew his older brothers a little better than Bob. Remember we used
to pick on him when we were kids.) which is around 70 miles from
Indianapolis. Went to my first race in 1947. My dad and his boss parked on
the inside of turn one. Of course, that was before the "snake pit." Still
remember the smell of castor oil they would use in qualifying. Occasionally
you can still get a sniff during vintage races at Road America. Think I
went to around 13 or 14 straight races before I missed one. One of my
greatest May moments was when a guy I met taking the Dale Carnegie (sp?)
course had a brother who was chief mechanic on one of the cars. He got me
pit and garage passes and I spent nearly the entire month at the track.
That was 1960 I believe. It was the year Tony Bettenhausen was killed
testing a friend's car.
John Utter
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