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Indy memories '74
Words and photos
by Steve McDonald
6/18/04
Looking through some old
stuff I have accumulated I came across my ticket
to the U.S. Nationals in 1974. A reserved seat
on the west side (pit side) was a whopping $10.00.
That's right -- ten bucks, half a sawbuck, a
couple of fives, a super sized value meal. The
story of how I got there is almost as interesting
as the price.
 At
match race at Capitol Raceway in Maryland one
of the booked in cars was the ATI Black Magic
car owned by Jim Beattie, owner of ATI. While
I was admiring his trailer, he invited me in
to look around. It was a three-axle Chaparral,
big money in those days. We talked about drag
racing and I told him that when he first opened
his shop in Silver Spring one of his first jobs
was the overhaul of my parents' 1958 Buick's
Dynaflow. It had some kind of problem with the
planetary and he had to take it in and out about
a half a dozen times. He said he remembered
the car because it was one of the first ones
he had worked on and it kicked his butt for
a few weeks.
 I
asked if he was going to Indy and he said, "Of
course, everybody goes to Indy." He then asked
if I was going and told him that I didn't have
a ticket or any place to stay. He said to call
his office on Monday and ask to speak to his
secretary. Of course I called her on Monday
and we got hotel reservations and tickets. We
had to pick them up at the credentials desk,
and we were to identify ourselves as representatives
of Levi's. We had to pay for the hotel (I think
it was $22.00 per night, big money for a Holiday
Inn) but we had passes for the whole event.
Whoopee!
Little John Lombardo was staying in the same hotel and was rebuilding the engine in the parking lot. My best friend, David, watched for a while and then went up to bed. Our room overlooked the parking lot and about an hour later, around
11:30 p.m., they fired up the Funny Car. Lombardo drove it down to the end of the lot and did a few burnouts and then they shut it off.
I went up to the room and realized that David had the key. No problem, I think, he has to be awake after that. Knock on the door -- no answer. Knock a little louder -- no answer. I start pounding on the door now, waking up people in other
rooms. Finally he opens the door and says he didn't hear me. I asked did he hear the Funny Car running? He answers "Huh?" He sleeps through anything.
The next morning we head out for the track,
but first we must have breakfast. What's a road
trip without breakfast? We stop in the Steak
and Egg on east 38th Street. We look at the
menu and order coffee. The waitress comes over
and we order steak and eggs. "Sorry," she says,
"no steak." Okay then, ham and eggs. No ham.
Bacon and eggs? Sorry, no bacon. What do you
have? "Three eggs," she says. Scramble them
with some toast, we say. "Sorry, no toast."
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