I'll podcast it - had youth baseball last night, but I'll be listening for this Mike guy.Originally Posted by lotuspoweredbyford
I'll podcast it - had youth baseball last night, but I'll be listening for this Mike guy.
Every race I run in is in preparation for the Indianapolis 500. Indy is the most important thing in my life. It is what I live for. - Al Unser Jr.
Everything I ever wanted in my life, I found inside the walls of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. - Eddie Sachs.
Hey, I think I have to work late tonight. Anyone want to call in my question for me? I'd like to hear more about 1947, since it's sort of a strange year, between 30 cars and the death of Shorty Canton. I'd like to sort of get an overview (not too controversial, I hope--time heals most wounds).
If that's too much, I'm saving my Hal Robson question as well.
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Insightful !!
I will take it for sure !
"I think of Indianapolis every day of the year, every
hour of the day, and when I sleep, too. Everything I
ever wanted in my life, I found inside the walls of
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway."
- Eddie Sachs.
Hey, I think I have to work late tonight. Anyone want to call in my question for me? I'd like to hear more about 1947, since it's sort of a strange year, between 30 cars and the death of Shorty Canton. I'd like to sort of get an overview (not too controversial, I hope--time heals most wounds).
If that's too much, I'm saving my Hal Robson question as well.
Hal Robson ! I hope you do call, a good Canadian-born driver, always interested in those.
I thought it was a good one--haven't heard him mentioned in a bit.
I'm always going to be a day behind during the week but looking forward to everyones thoughts and memories here. Ernest
Alright. First night Donald mention there are eight living drivers who raced in front engine and rear engine both at Indy but he never mentioned them by name. AJ, Bobby Unser and Rutherford are three I believe. Who are the others? Ernest
Al Sr.? Parnelli?
Uncle Si for Pace Car Driver - 2013!!
So I get off work early (relatively), call into TOGA, am on hold with my Hal Robson question, and WHO'S THE DIRTY SO-AND-SO THAT PICKED HAL ROBSON RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME? You've got 700+ drivers to choose from, and you go with Hal Robson.
Oh, I'll be back, and with an even more obscure driver!
I think Gordy is on that list as well. I also think Al Sr. just missed the front engine years. IIRC his rookie year in '65 was in a rear-engined car.
"Charging a man with murder here was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500."- Capt. Willard, Apocolypse Now
"Ain't nuthin' like a piece of p***y, 'cept maybe the Indy 500."- Bunny, Platoon
"To alcohol! The cause of- and solution to- all of life's problems."- Homer J. Simpson
AJ , Bobby, Rutherford, Harkey, Johncock, Chuck Hulse, Parnelli, McElreath
Last edited by lotuspoweredbyford; 05-04-2012 at 08:51 AM.
how strange that out of the 8, there's 13 500 wins!
Rear engine must have seemed easy after what they had been doing.
Well, Donald got one wrong Thursday. The performer of "Back Home Again in Indiana" in 1986 was John S. Davies, not Richard Sullivan.
Minor detail.
Who was that tool that called in the first night bragging about how he had slipped by security in the 70's and gotten his motorcycle on the track after the race? He was sure proud of himself but I was glad to hear Donald didn't give him any props whatsoever. I can't believe someone in their 50's or 60's would call in and brag about being an idiot forty years ago. Ernest
Beer kills brain cells...
It would have been cool if it was Richard Harris of MacArthur Park fame.
I'm sure nobody on TF has done anything like the Triumph motorcycle guy. BUT, I did land in a helicopter next to the museum. I thought we had permission. We didn't. 1988 practice day.
"Indycars should be beasts." - Gil de Ferran
@bigmo500
I think he "claimed" alcohol had nothing to do with it...shyeah right.
I saw someone try that nonsense at Daytona after that race. They were taking all of the RV's out of the infield by driving them out the road course, around the apron, and out the opening in the wall. Well, one of the vehicles in the line of RVs was a car, and he decided to swing out and pass all the RVs on the outside...going up the banks a tad in the process...probably hit 40 or 50. Last thing I saw was the cops taking off after him.
Whatever happened to 'Stuttering Ray'?
You know, the guy that would call in several times a year using several different names and always, always had a controversial question or comment.
He was annoying for a while until I believe he made THE DONALD mad one night. He did call a few times after that but with questions that seemed more harmless. I haven't heard him in a while.
I'd like to hear THE DONALD talk a bit more about the championship trail of the 60s and 70s. C'mon Jerry from Delphi, Jay from St Paul, Paul from Racing (Norm Nelson's hometown) or Dave from Marion. Ask about the day Foyt sat a dirt car on the pole at Milwaukee, or a question about Langhorne. Get Donald to talk about the day they used a helicopter to dry Springfield after over watering the track.
"For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's future, and we are all mortal".
John Kennedy at American University 1963
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power"
A. Lincoln
I believe Dave from Marion should limit his calls to once a week and give some other people a chance to get in. Ernest
Another gem from last night ... "I listened to the show from the other night and heard you talking about Jim Nabors ... so could you talk about the exact same thing again?"
RIP Daniel Clive Wheldon, 2005 & 2011 Indianapolis 500 Champion
I love ToGA and Davidson, and to me it's the first sure sign of Opening Day being around the corner. However, I wish Donald wouldn't be so sensitive and refuse to answer a number of questions. I can understand it when it's something that might place his employer in a bad light, or asks for his opinion on a controversial topic, or something that's been beaten into the ground (i.e. Andretti v. Unser, 1981 or Eldon Palmer's Wild Ride), but I said "Oh, come on!" when last week he refused to answer if he had any information from the early years about a story the caller had read about the public's habit of rushing in taking souvenirs at an accident scene due to no real separation between the track and the infield spectators. I know that this was a common practice (morbid souvenir hunting) in society back in the day, but I was wondering if it was true about there being no infield crowd/track barrier. Instead, Donald declined to comment completely. It was an interesting contrast after that refusal to hear Davidson then go on a few days later about the fatal accident of Floyd Roberts... complete with detailed description of the film of the accident and his amazement of how benign the incident looks on film.
Also, while I can appreciate him don't wanting to embarrass people that are still living in answering questions, instead of ducking the topics I wish he'd just stick to the high-level facts. Historians shouldn't act as "filters". I hope people don't think I'm being too hard on the amazing scholar that is Donald Davidson, but the history of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Sweepstakes is what it is, unpleasantness and all.
On Friday, I'm curious to why Donald totally blew off the Mike Mosley question and talked for five minutes on an Indy 500 quiz contest. I found that rather strange. Ernest
yeh I never liked the obvious censorship DD does on controversial topics, but I'm certainly OK with him saying "we already talked about d Ed Elision, Salt Walther, Mel Kenyon, etc. in the past couple of weeks..."
I also wrote the station a few years ago (and they seemed to agree with me at the time) and requested that the primary emphasis on the famous "drive home" edition of TTOG should be on the race that just happened and not that there were 27 starters in '14 and Wild Bill Cummings' car owner, etc.
we are starving for more info on the race we just saw (we certainly don't see or understand everything that goes on while sitting in the stands) and it's awesome to hear about it as we head back to Io-way....
I much prefer hearing tales of years gone by. Donald can certainly paint a picture with words. As far as the recent races, I really don't need someone explaining to me what I just saw. That to me is like listening to a politicians speech and the news channel scrolls on the bottom what we just heard with our own ears. Ernest
Totally disagree. The biggest race of the year is still fresh in everyone's mind and they want to talk about it. After last year's finish, where Shorty Cantlon went to kindergarten wasn't the first thing on my mind. I love the TOGA Nostalgia -- not right after the race though.
91 -- Buddy Lazier -- Delta Faucet Hemelgarn Racing -- Reynard/Ford
The was they do the drive home show now (for the past couple of years) is to do about an hour to an hour and a half talking about today's race...interviews, clarifications, etc. Then the final hour from 7-8 is the nostalgia.
Sometimes it's good to have the recap, because most everyone who's listening was at the track, and with that, a lot of times you don't know everything that happened, or have questions about something that happened that you couldn't see. Being at the track, sometimes you know less about some aspects than the people watching on TV (and vice versa).
OK, I see what you two are saying now. Maybe they shouldn't call that show TOGA then to avoid confusion. I can't get enough history of the 500 myself. Ernest
thank you.. totally agree.....I turn it off after the race.. I want the present day after the race.. I had all month to learn about the past....
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