Southern California Crazies

6/9/03

he Left Coast is as much self-promotion as it is unjustly maligned. Without question, the surf is better here than North Carolina or Nebraska, but the girls in Texas are as every bit as pretty as they are here, if not more so. Yes, better movies have been made here than in Vermont, but Florida oranges are every bit as good as their California counterparts. Get the picture, with all this?

California has a lot to crow about...at it's best, it can be deliciously over-the-top with things new and adventurous, and it can also smothered under a ton of negative statistics with the same two "attributes." I'd like to talk about the latter...a trend that if it didn't get started here, it definitely flowered in the middle 1970s. The trend of fans pouring out of the stands onto the infield, really threatened to swamp the legendary outdoor parties hosted by Bill Doner and the late Steve Evans at Orange County International Raceway and Irwindale in the Bicentennial years. I can think of no more dramatic an example than one that took place at Irwindale at (I think) the 1975 or 1976 32 Funny Cars annual at Irwindale.

This show, like so many of the period, was proceeded by a week to 10 days of high-powered radio ads done by Doner, Evans, or both. I'm sure you have heard examples, but if you haven't, I suggest you check out one of Evans' "Be There" tapes issued a few years back. The hysterical, gotta-be-there, frantic-ness of the announcers as they belted out the name of the stars racing ("The Snake," "The Mongoose", "240 Gordie," "Jungle Jim," "I couldn't name 'em all if I had all day") was a show in itself and it seemed for a while to set the tone for the actual event.

I loved them and the events -- up to a point.

At Irwindale, there was honest seating for probably about 7,500 fans; the Doner-Evans extravaganzas usually brought in that with ease, plus another 3,000 who were stuffed under the bleachers, in the aisles, and along the fences. On this particular night, the show

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was highlighted by two rounds of all 32 nitro Funny Cars with the quickest two coming back for the final. In addition, Irwindale had booked in death-wish go-karter "Leapin' Larry" McNameny as an added bonus. In his act, McNameny took this souped up kart, drove it up and down the track a few times, built up speed, and then would hit a jump ramp (ala Evel Knievel) and try to fly over a dozen cars and land on the other ramp to the tremendous applause from 10,000 smog-smoked, beer-sodden drag animals. To McNameny's ultimate misfortune, he never successfully made a single jump and was killed a few months later at Orange County when he tried to cushion a way too-short jump with his face on the edge of the landing ramp.