At the flat track races, members of the pit crew have certain responsibilities. Mine included scrubbing leathers, making sandwiches, occasionally making a run to buy a tire, and–most importantly–taking lap times. (Modern technology, with transponders, has actually made my one-time big job almost obsolete, although I’ve proudly gotta tell ya, with my trusty manual stopwatches, I could come up with times consistent with what the computers got to the thousandth of a second.)
Back in 1993 (I think), our race team headed off for the Springfield Mile, a twice-annual Grand National Dirt Track race held at the state fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois. I don’t recall whether this was the Memorial Day race or the Labor Day weekend, but it was always a major event pulling spectators from all over the United States. The slick mile dirt track is one of the nation’s fastest and most exciting. As usual we got set up in the pits and got to work with our prospective tasks — son (the racer), dad (the mechanic), and mom (queen of the stopwatches). Shortly after we began setting up our area, an announcement came over the loudspeaker that there would be some special events occurring that day. A movie about motorcycle racing was being filmed, and there would be cameras around to record racing footage as well as crowd scenes. Spectators would have opportunities to be in the movie as part of the crowd, and there would be some film sequences captured of fans cheering. Lots of extra excitement for the fans. Racers and crews were all busy prepping to go for the big bucks. (Actually, motorcycle dirt track racing does not really pay big bucks when the risk and expense are considered. These amazing guys do it because they love it. Racers usually start off as kids, and it’s often a family event to begin with. Even when the guys get a factory ride, family is always helping out somewhere. Case closed.)
So off I went to position myself for the best view to get lap times — a platform that was the roof of a building that houses real restrooms (not port-a-pots!) and leads to the tunnel that goes under the track from the infield to the grandstand/fairground area. With me, of course, I had my handy stopwatches (two Robic watches that would give individual lap times; one watch for each hand as I could never manage three watches on a clipboard like some of the gals) and my handy-dandy lap time notebook to list the laps of as many of the fastest riders as I could capture. This information is crucial to gearing decisions and mechanical changes that must be made to keep up with changing track conditions as the day wears on. Sunblock, shades, and caps are also important as hours in the sun can be grueling.
All decked out, watches in each hand, notebook balanced on an arm….here we go! Practice starts. Diligently I am getting riders on the clock and doing lag times (to most efficiently get the maximum numbers of riders feasible). A row of folks with watches gathering data. At my left side I become aware of a young woman who is watching intently but without a stopwatch. Eventually she took advantage of a brief break in the action to ask me which rider was Geo Roeder (George Roeder, Jr., often a crowd favorite as his dad had also been a grand national competitor). I indicated the number 66 plate on Roeder’s bike, and the fan continued to watch intently. Eventually, she was joined by a tall scruffy guy in dusty black leathers, also an apparent Roeder fan. He looked vaguely familiar, but a lot of fans follow the racing circuit, so we see the same folks all over the U.S. As practice went on, the tall guy started asking questions…about Roeder, about the other racers, about times, etc. My job was to keep times for my rider, so….I kept taking times and ignoring the intruder. (Felt kinda bad about it, but — hey, I had work to do.)
Practice over, mission accomplished (albeit with a bit of annoyance), I hustled back down to our pit area with the times. As there was a break in the action while riders prepared for the upcoming qualifying heat races, the movie cameramen were filming crowd action scenes, and the announcer proceeded to share information about the movie which was entitled “Ride with the Wind” and was being produced by Craig T. Nelson (of TV show “Coach” fame). The story line involved a washed-up, jaded motorcycle racer who, as the result of a crash, ended up in the hospital where he met a child being treated for cancer…and the child’s mom. The story would go on from there. The announcer pulled some people up onto the platform where I’d been timing for interviews to fill the gap in the program. He told the audience that Craig T. Nelson would be playing the part of Tim Shelby, the racer, and that his stunt double would be Geo Roeder. I glanced up toward the platform to get a gander at the goings-on and saw a back view of a tall scruffy guy with dusty black leathers that had the name Shelby and the number 66 on the back. I turned to my husband who was also looking at the platform and asked, “So Roeder is the stunt double for Craig T. Nelson, and that’s him they’re interviewing?” to which he nodded in the affirmative. I smiled and replied, “Remember that guy I told you I was rude to?”……
And that’s the story of how I met one of the famous people in my life.