[Geerhead55]

I attended the 1974,75 and 79 events at Ontario. some of the highlights I recall were: in 74 being overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place, walking under the track as a pair of Top Fuel cars ran overhead, watching the Accel plywood finishline sign getting destroyed by the end of Sat. by flying debris, an engine exploding T/F car coasting all the way around the oval and stopping in the back of the staging lanes, Shirl Greer's F/C fire and all the Pro Stocks having the garages in the infield, and me and my buddies sleeping in the parking lot across the street.In 75, it was all about Garlits vs Beck and the battle of the 5.60 cars, Big' ran the 5.63 at 250.69 that stood for about 7or 8 years, watching Snake go the first 5 a .98 in the Army Monza, buying Superstock/Drag Illustrated for 3 years for 11 bucks from Phil Rubin, watching DeFrank and Cohen Hemi Cuda chase everybody down, sleeping in the parking lot again, but this time with my girlfriend( yes, shes now my wife of 32 years). In 79, seeing Rob Bruins lose to Garlits in T/F but becoming the only T/F world champion to never win an event,but doing it only on points, watching Allen Patterson's and Garley Daniel's Chevy IIs doing their thing, seeing Hutchens in the all conquering Opel G/T and finally sleeping in a nice hotel as my wife and I and another couple flew for the first time instead of driving. For the 10 years Ontario Motor Speedway was here it was the state of the art facility that you just had to experience. The lounge was deffinately THE place to hang out, especially when the sun came around in the afternoon and it started heating up. What a shame its not around anymore.
Danny Durham