Jimmies Big Adventure. It was the summer of 1975. Jimmie had a broken right hand with a cast up to his elbow. It was terrible, I couldn't work, so that meant a few weeks off in the summer. But, the one consolation was I could still "go racing"! And, it being August, that meant Knoxville, Iowa here we come.
Since I was the only one in the gang with a race car still running this late in the season ( you know how sometimes you run out of parts and $ this time of the season) four of us "bad boys" which included driver Bob Carrico, buddies Steve Enslow and "helper" Glen Cox and myself (Jimmie, also known as OLDSPRINTER) got together for this "Big Adventure".
I had been to Knoxville before! But, remember I was still young and had the brain of a #&%!%. Steve had been there before, but he too had the brain of a #&%!%. Bob wanted to race, he always wanted to race and Glen, well he just wanted to go on a "Big Adventure". He's still today the only person I know who ever started out to Knoxville with $10.00 in their pocket and came home with $10.10. We tried to tell him that he should have quit at the gambling barn when he was $$ ahead, not cents, but you know how gamblers are!
We had a long trip out. Leaving in the late afternoon, driving through the night, the 17 hour ride was made shorter by playing "racing trivia" with Steve. The other two must have known they needed to catch up on sleep before getting there! We had a place in Ottumma, Iowa to stay. After a couple hours rest, it was up to the track for the Wednesday night qualifying and races. Since we would run on the Thursday date we were free to check out setups, check out the many different cars and just have a good time. The one thing I remember is Doug Wolfgang's name. Everyone, was Wolfgang crazy! I had heard the name before, but I didn't realize how popular he was at Knoxville and this was "before his time".
Thursday arrived, we spent the day in the motel parking lot working on the setup for tonight (just like the big boys do). Everyone at the motel restaurant (including the gal from SD) were all "Doug Wolfgang" fans. Remember, Doug's name at this time was not the household word it would be in later years. He was just starting his career out at Knoxville. He was impressive, but so were many others there. Little did we know!
Thursday evening, to the track. What excitement! Back in those days, there was just "something" about the place, and here we were! I think this may have been when we realized that we were in the "wrong place"! With guys like Dick Gaines, Jan Opperman, Ed Leavitt, Rick Ferkel, a young guy named Sammy Swindell, the Arizona "gang" who back in those days were a "feared bunch", plus all the Knoxville regulars, "what were we doing here"? Anyway.....qualifying came and went. We were still in one piece. At least we weren't the slowest there. There were some others slower, maybe not many, but some. But, that's not saying much.
Heat races. It seemed like a lot of cars were getting "upside down". In qualifing, Gary Dunkle had gone clear over the 3rd turn railing out into the "corn field". And, Dick Gaines and Randy Smith had both gotten upside down. Oh no, Bob is too! Over someone's wheel in turn 1 and 2. Car wasn't hurt much (broken brake rotor and minor bends here and there). But, the Nationals were over for us. Bob had broken his collarbone.
We then spent a few hours at the Knoxville hospital while he received his "sling" and "pain pills". I remember Bobby Ward a racer from Little Rock, Ark. being there with us (he had wrecked his motorbike in the infield and hurt his finger and when he held up his hand to show us, it looked as if every finger on his hand had been broken at one time or another) as well as several others with minor bumps and brushes. What a "long night"!
Friday was recovery day for Bob, I think he was still suffering "aftershock" from Thursday. You remember the "gal" I mentioned in our motel resturant that was "Wolfgang" crazy, well she got to cut up Bob and my steaks for the next couple days as neither one of us could use a knife, Bob with his shoulder and me of course with a broken hand.
We repaired the car in the parking lot, then in the afternoon we went over to Knoxville racer Johnny Babb's place (he lived in Ottumma) to visit. He was full of old Knoxville stories and kept us entertained for most of the afternoon. Johnny was a real Knoxville veteran, winning his share of races over the years. A great afternoon for me, as I loved hearing all those "old war stories" Johnny had to tell. We went back to the track to watch on Friday night and then on Saturday after the races, we left for what was a "painful" ride home for Bob. I remember, we were going to try and make it back in time to go to Pennsboro, WV on Sunday afternoon, where a United Racing Club sprint car show was being held, but we didn't make it.
We got to Rock Island, Ill and couldn't go any farther. A night in the Custer Hotel (only thing we could find) was just about as "exciting" as Knoxville had been. All the beds had rollers on them, and every time a train would go by (every 15 minutes) the beds would roll around about like the sprinters going around Knoxville. Our visit through Louisville was almost as exciting, (police escort out of town here). Finally made it back by Sunday evening, tired, injured and broke, but with memories never to be forgotten. And, oh ya, I forgot to mention that Eddie Leavitt a rising star from the midwest driving the Hill Farms #40 sprinter won the Knoxville Nationals in 1975 and Roger Rager and Rick Ferkel finished 2nd and 3rd. My hero Opperman was 5th. In all, over the four days something like 18 cars were "upside down". It actually got "spooky". The racing on Saturday night was "great" as rain had fallen during the day which made the track very "heavy" making for good racing. Rain... it wouldn't be the "Nationals" if it didn't rain some. That was my "Big Adventure" back in the ole days.