Going Out On A Limb!

Bill Hill Sr. in the 72, Jim Clark in the 3 and Lew Mood in the 00 have a "tangle" with Romeo Gelsi in the 44.  Walt Chernokal not only caught the action but also gave us a great shot of the "tree dwellers" on the back stretch at Alcyon Speedway.

Dealing with the "freebies and sneak-inners" were often a problem the racing promoter had to face.  I guess in this case the simplest solution would be to cut the tree down but then I suppose the guys would move closer to or even stand closer, to the guard rail.

One solution at Vineland Speedway was after the first few weeks, a corrugated sheet fence was installed on the first turn end of the property to block out the view from the trees.   Well, I guess from the lower trees anyway!   The back side of the property which had the pits, then the woods, was always an "open target" if you didn't mind tics or scratches from the undergrowth!

Ken Butler at the Atlantic City made the guys coming in via the woods BEE have literally.  He would spray Coke and soda syrup on the trees along his parking lot making them sticky plus it attracted the bees!

Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, handled many freebies in a different manner.  At the Knoxville Nationals in '78 the National was in its younger years and the facility was nothing like the facility of today.  The grandstands would sell out so those without tickets would climb up on the barn roofs on the property to watch the show.  I remember the late/great Jack Miller  giving his welcoming greeting to the program.  He then addressed the people sitting up on the roofs, thanking them for attending and promising them that more seating was going to be added in the future!

I can't help but ask, how many of you old guys out there remember the large hole in the chain-link fence by the tunnel crossing into the infield at Langhorne?  They tell me that a lot of guys may have used that way to get in for nothing, particularly on Saturday which was always confusing with so many cars for qualifying!

That's what they tell me!

Senior Moment by Russ Dodge

Comment:

That's how we watched a race at the Morristown Dirt oval, It might have been a Nascar show because I seem to remember a blue #42 Plymouth win? and I didn't have a clue who it was.

The people on the West Virginia side of the Potomac River can watch the races at the Cumberland MD Fairgrounds from the gigantic cliff at no cost other than the fact that they are literally taking their life in their hands.  I've seen people tie themselves to trees with rope just to save 15 bucks.  If they happen to slip and fall, it would be certain death.   You could also sneak into Trenton toward the 4th turn open stands, several of the ripple tin barriers were loose, you could peel them back when the guards weren't looking and get in underneath the stands.  My friend told me about it and I saw people do it by I never did.