It’s the names I remember. Carnival-like names: Shady McWhorter, Dale Looper, Johnny Suggs, Rickey Hood and Russell Shoulders. These were the local drivers during the wild and woolly 1970s. On Friday and Saturday nights they would descend upon a clay oval in Mesquite known as Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
For a boy growing up during the 1970s, I had precious little exposure to racing cars. I did have a go-cart that would never start. My friends and I would push it in the parking lot of the Northway Christian Church behind our house as I pretended to be Mario Andretti qualifying at Monza.
Long before cable television, ABC’s tape-delayed broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 was something to look forward to in the month of May. My dad and I would listen to it on AM radio in the morning and wait until the evening to see it on television. Another rite of May was the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo….
