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Mr. Franks:
I saw your post on the message boards @ dirtdrivers.com
I have some pics, albeit very very few, of Playland Speedway, pre 1974.
I never drove a race there but I did get to hot lap in a spring open practice, about 1973 or so, in Glenn McKeighans first Camaro. It was a Blue 69 camaro # Z-62.
I used to help Glenn and Al back then. Al was like a father, brother, and best friend all rolled in one, and he taught me many things about stock cars at a time when I just couldn't get enough of stock cars. Al could build or make anything.
I not only helped Glenn and Al, I also helped Jim Winchester build his little Kharman Ghia mini stocker. I helped Ron Stander (Yes, the "Bluffs Butcher") build his Playland car too. Ron Stander is one of the nicest people anyone could ever know.
Looking back, those were the very best of times.
I suffered a very serious crash in 1988 which left me without much of my memory, but I am getting a lot of it back thanks in no small part to e-mails, and pictures, and websites like yours.
Darrell Taylor and I used to E-Mail occasionally, and I made the trip to Omaha from here in the
Dallas area for the "Final Sunset" where I met Darrell and his Wife and a friend of theirs to witness history at another place that I spent a great deal of my youth. Sunset Speedway.
It was brutal cold that October night, and Darrell couldn't stay for the last night of racing, but we talked of old Playland the best we could with frozen faces, shivering like crazy. Darrell has no idea how much it means to me that we were able to meet after all these years and share some common history at a place that, thanks to you, will live on.
As I explained to Darrell, writing to Playland people is a memory release for me. I can't just sit and conjure up memories, due to the nature of my head injury, but seeing a picture, or reading someones words releases so many memories.
I was thrilled to see your website.
The pics I have of Playland itself are after it shut down, and stood in very bad condition.
I have a few pics from the days when
Glenn and Al had an orange 56 or 57? Chevy, #62. I have one taken from the
walkway by the front strait as Glenn passes by doing some hot laps. There's one
of Glenn and Al standing by the car in the old north pits. One pic of the Camaro
I had a small part in building with Glenn standing beside it.
Those two guys were
great to me back when I was a kid. I have not had any contact with either one
for over 30 years. To tell you the truth, I don't even know if they are still
with us in this world.
As I sit and look back on those times so long ago, for me, a picture is indeed
worth a thousand words, and even more for me in regained memories. I think from
the dates and notes on the back of the pictures, I was anywhere from 14 to 17
years old when these pictures were taken. Thanks to a twist of fate, my head
injury limits what little I can actually remember from those days. Memories
mainly consist of smells of popcorn and exhaust smoke, engine and crowd noises,
colors, and cars flying around Playland speedway. Occasionally I'll have a name
or two of other drivers come back.
Glenn and Al were both special people in my life back then. That they let a
neighborhood kid with a love for cars hang around was absolutely the best thing
in my life then. It was brutal cold working on those cars in the winter in that
tiny garage, and I didn't care. All I wanted to do was be around Al and Glenn
and learn what they had to teach me about those cars. I was lucky, and they let
me hang around and help in small ways at first, and later, as I learned more, I
did more to the cars. I even got to be what I'd call an apprentice pit crew
member on their race team. I was thrilled that they let me do that. (More
thrilled that I was able to get in the pits underaged!!) Stock cars were all I
could think about. Al was like a best friend to me, and he helped me to learn
about welding in roll bars, and building all sorts of parts on those cars. I
remember Glenn and Al as friends who always had time to explain something about
the cars as I learned. Al was fun to be around, always making everyone laugh,
and he was a great mentor to me. Glenn taught me about engines, and he was top
notch in that stuff. He had, as I recall, a handbuilt Z-28 engine in the orange
62 car. (A true Z-28 302 cu in small block.) That detail stands out clearly and
then on the other hand I can't remember what the blue camaro had, perhaps the
same engine. I remember them racing at Playland, Harlan, and Sunset. I don't
know if they ever did Des Moines or not, but maybe. While I never drove a
racecar back then, aside from that one terrifying time I hot lapped the car at
Playland, (and not too successfully I might add) I did, thanks to Glenn and Al
McKeighan, get to live a dream that many kids only wish they could fullfill. I
got to be a part of the racing experience at Playland Speedway. I just wish I
could remember more of the Playland days.
Thanks for the website, and all the memories it helps bring back.
Thanks to Glenn and Al McKeighan. They deserve mention in any Playland history
discussions. Thanks to all those who I have forgotten the names of as
well.
And especially,
Thank You, Dan.
Dave Hubbard.
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