One trailer story we know to be true is the latest legend,
as told by Bill Crites, 63, the former NHRA employee who
hauled this high-mileage container to the 50th Nationals.
The journey started 2000 miles to the west, at the Wally
Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. As
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Crites climbed into the
museum's van, director Sam Jackson explained that the trailer's
chassis and running gear had been rebuilt, and suggested
that Crites might forget that the lightweight trailer was
even back there. For the first day on the road, he practically
did.
"About six hours east of Flagstaff, I looked in the
mirror and saw something flapping on the side of the trailer,"
Crites recalls. "I pulled over and saw that the entire
skin was separating from the wood frame. So, I crawled to
the next town that had a Wal-Mart and cleaned 'em out of duct
tape. The trailer was literally held together by duct tape!
I wish I had a picture to show ya, but I wasn't much in the
mood for photography. The tape did the job, as long as I stayed
under 55 miles an hour, and didn't catch a lot of wind.
Bill Crites, who spent 30 years
as an NHRA photographer and graphic artist, was lured
out of semiretirement to reenact the Safari trailer¹s
1955 journey to the Midwest and the inaugural Nationals.
Its extra-long side window was open for public viewing
during the 50th edition. (Good Communications photo
by Dave Wallace) |
"I finally got to Indy late Tuesday, just before the
race. It had to be on display in the Golden 50 area by Thursday
afternoon. Somebody called [local trailer-dealer] Bruce Litton,
who made an emergency call to Paul's Trailer Service, which
put three guys on it. They got it done and painted in a day.
"When we went to pick it up, one of Paul's guys said,
'When did you set this thing on fire?' I'd heard stories
from the division directors about crashing and rolling the
thing, but nothing about burning it up. Sure enough, he showed
me a black, burned-out section inside that was covered with
a rotten piece of plywood."
"I've been asking all the old guys about it, but nobody's
talking."
Neither is the trailer. 
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