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Dan Marr |
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Hi Dan,
I’m not exactly sure how I got on your Email list about Playland. However my Grandfather and my Cousin both raced at Playland. I have several pictures that my Aunt put in a photo album for me when I was about 7 years old. I have scanned them and I am Emailing them to you so that you can add them to your website if you would like. I was very happy to see your website! I remember how sad everyone was when they closed down Playland. It’s nice to see the memory of the track carried on. Even though I was very young, I have some great memories of going to the track, and I remember how much I loved the rumble in my chest as the cars raced by. I also remember getting to go the pits to see my cousin and his car after the race one night. My cousin’s name is Billy McCoy and he drove the number 17 car at Playland for several years. I’m not sure how long he drove there, but I remember that he did very well during the 1977 final racing season at Playland. I think that he won the championship in the Hobby Class that year, but I could be mistaken. I was only 7 back then, so the stories get a little muddled over the span of 25 years. Unfortunately Billy died last year after a long battle with cancer. My Grandfather’s name was Merle Gerry. He also raced at Playland, but that was back in the 50’s. He passed away back in 1982 from a heart attack. I have included a picture of his race car and a newspaper article.
The other pictures all had driver names attached to them. I can’t make any guarantees about the accuracy of the names, but I’m confident that most of them are accurate because my aunt wrote the names on the back before she gave them to me in 1977. I think that they’re all from the 1977 racing season, but a few of them could have been from 1976 or 75.
Here are the car numbers and the driver names that I have recorded: 47 Ron Hoden jr. 17x Dale Thomas 17 Billy McCoy 98 Don Lemley 12 Karl Gray 11 Joe Gascoigne 34 Don Marshall 55 Dave Foote 77 Howard Kozoil 7
64 Bill Martin 198 Jim Neff 100 Wally Nisson 37 Craig Spetman 32 Don Doeblin 101 Bill Sheffield 20 Chuck Gillispe 10 Paul Zdan 5 Bob Hadfield 24 Phil Reeves 1 Bob Taylor 30 Frank Van Doorn 21 Dan Rabbass I hope that you are able to post the pictures on your website so others can enjoy them. I have large, higher quality, versions of them but you said on your website that you’re strapped for space so I want to make them a bit smaller so they didn’t take up all of your storage space. Thanks for keeping Playland’s memory going! I wish you luck in finding lots more cool pictures from the track, and hope that you all have many great reunions! - Dan Marr
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