Original Message

I grew up a mile as the crow flies from Shangri-La Speedway.  My dad was involved in sprint car (big car) racing there in the 1940s, and at Campville Speedway before that (long gone, now a pumpkin field) in the late 1930s.  So when I was like 5 or 6 and asked him what that noise was, he was foolish enough to be honest with me.  Started going there in 1966-67.  The noise, the way the cars were lettered, the speed, all of it was fun.  When Mike Zopp, then driver of the Manny 10-10, waved at us when we waved at him, and then later that year when Bullet Bill Strosahl (who knew my dad) let us sit in his McClure 15 ride, I was hooked.  Dad and I spent decades going to various tracks and following the modifieds, whether dirt or asphalt, and made many friends along the way.  I don't go nearly as much now that my dad has passed and Shangri-La is a hole in the ground and I moved to the Albany area, but it will always be in my blood.