After seeing the trivia question posted here on the 3Wide's home page last week (11.14.10), this moment came to mind. This photo serves as proof of Don Stives and his out of body experience.

The Norcia 81 sportsman was a good looking and strong running car. The body was a "lift off" (I'm not sure if by design) but in this racing mishap, the car I recall hooked the inside guardrail end post, going into the first turn. It was quite a crowd thriller when the body flew off the car!

Now picture Vineland Speedway with the pits located outside the back straight away and the home stretch lights showing just "silhouettes" of the cars in front of the grandstand! Concern in the pits over Don and the damage to the car was greatly increased when Frank Basile, the Vineland announcer said something to the effect, "Don Stives' body is laying on the track!"

Fortunately it was the car body and you can see Don in the photo holding his helmet near the front of the car. (Hey Don, I hope I got the story pretty close to the one you told me) As I reflect on this happening, I wonder if this whole thing had anything to do with it being on Friday the 13th!

Off story a little, I want to point out the guy with the straw hat at the rear of the car. That is Frank Wagner who operated Newfield Machine Shop and used his truck for pushing or whatever else it was needed for at Vineland. He deserves the recognition for "busting his hump" each week at the speedway.

Senior Moment Russ Dodge