Remembrances of Playland..... Don Rasmussen
how loud it was with the roof over the grandstand
watching the people ride the rides while the races were going on
the old man that walked around selling beer by the can out of a 5 gallon bucket- i vividly remember him saying "get ya cole beer herea"
the best popcorn i think i have ever had
the occassional figure eight races when they got rid of the rides and moved the pits to behind the grandstands- i think there was at least one fight minimum every night, from the top row of the grandstand was the best seat in the house to watch all the action
the people that used to watch the races from the hill along interstate 80 that were too cheap or poor to pay the admission to get in
drivers i remember are frank prideaux, elvin heiman, don schlondorf, paul zdan, bud burdick, larry jiskra, mel sorensen, bob hatterman, milo stodola and a host of others too many to list
there was one night that i believe ed morris in the yellow 2X car jumped the fence along the backstraight and got wedged between the fence and the billboards- i think it took forever to get his car out of there.
i remember a few nights where wrecks knocked down light poles, i can remember when the pits were outside between turns 1-2.
the last one i can think of was how long it used to take to get out of the parking lot, heading back west on I-80 passing back by the track and taking a last look at the place and getting excited about getting back there the following week.
thanks, don rasmussen (my dad, bob rasmussen and my uncle, don nikolich along with their friend tony vodicka owned a '32 ford coupe #8 that was driven by milo stodola- i think they also raced a '57 chevy #8, but i really cant remember who may have drove it for them)