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Since the racing season here in northeastern Ohio is pretty well finished after High School football begins, the chance to take Rich to the track seemed slim. But more out of desperation than desire, we went to visit my old racing buddy Jim on a Friday night. Jim was never much of a driver, but he knew everything about the local and not so local dirt track scene. As I'd figured, there were no local tracks still running. But Jim had heard a tidbit from a co-worker that hooked me like a giant trout! Sunday was the day of the Daniel Boone 200 lap modified race at Reading Fairgrounds Speedway in eastern PA. More importantly, this was to be Reading's last race ever!

READING! Just the name still strikes a chord in the heart of any longtime eastern modified fan. Reading Fairgrounds had the reputation of being the roughest toughest half mile dirt track in the country. Promotor Lindy Vicari prepped the track himself to a sticky multi-groove racing surface. He also paid $1000 to win a regular night's feature, huge money back in '78. With big money on the line, one was assured of seeing the best drivers in the east compete head to head every week. I'd long been brainwashed into thinking that Reading was the ultimate dirt track from the writings of Dr. Dick Berggren in Stock Car Racing Magazine. I'd been meaning to go watch a race there for several years but my own stock car misadventures had priority. But with the Fairgrounds being sold to a mall developer and scheduled for demolition, this would be my last chance. So armed with a Gulf gasoline credit card which was also good at Holiday Inn but not much cash, I tossed my 7 year old daughter into the back of my beat up Mustang Mach I, Rich jumped into the passenger seat and we left for the Holy Land of Dirt.

After arriving early Saturday morning and scoring a room and breakfast courtesy of Gulf Oil, we set out to see the Speedway. Other than the HUGE covered grandstands, Reading looked like most any other dirt track but for one thing. There was Lindy...the MAIN MAN himself , on his road grader working on the track for Saturday night practice! When he saw us, he stopped the grader to talk for a few minutes. After finding out how far we'd driven to come to the 200, he gave me our motel money back. Mr. Vicari also told us to look around to our heart's content. You could tell how proud he was of his speedway. Wow, this guy was a legend, we were just a scraggly bunch of fans and he paid our motel tab! I found out later that he reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn for visiting drivers and VIPs. This adventure was getting better and better.

That evening, we went to the Speedway early to watch the cars and drivers arrive for some hot laps. As the first car arrived, I went into sensory overload! There's the Norcia Bros. 81 that Sammy Beavers drives! Look , there's Lou 'the Monk' Lazarro's #4 from New York! Here comes Frankie Schneider towing his red and white #2 himself ! Berrggren's tales of Reading and it's stars had done a number on me. Rich and my daughter looked at me as if I were crazy, but they soon understood. For those who have never seen a dirt modified circa 1978, they were perhaps the nastiest, bad to the bone race cars ever! Sometimes called a "Heavy", as in heavy sprint car, these were open wheel cars with a cut down Falcon, Mustang, Pinto, Gremlin or other compact car body surrounding the driver.A few still raced '30s coupe bodied mods, but these were the low buck guys. Horsepower and handling, rather than aerodynamics was what counted. The mods were powered by mega horse big block Chevys and Fords with most sporting tall fuel injector tubes. With a huge hand grooved grooved Firestone 500 drag tire on the right rear, a dirt mod piloted by a good driver could fly through the turns almost sideways. It took a tough driver to manhandle these beasts and the weak of heart needed not apply. The cars were almost as well known as the drivers and none looked the same.

After most of the cars had entered the pits, I started to worry. Would HE come? The HE that I'm referring to was Gerald Chamberlain, the Everett Express. Coming from the western Pa town of Everett, Gerry had been the man to beat at Reading from the late '60s to the mid '70s primarily driving Joseph Bullock's Ford powered # 76 coupes, Pintos and Falcons. He'd held Reading's all time feature win record until Kenny Brighbill passed him in the late '70s. But with Bullock's retirement as an owner, Chamberlain and ace wrench Gus Frear formed C&F Racing, building Late Models for others. I knew that they had taken one of Bullock's older cars out of mothballs, put it back together on a tight budget and Gerry had won a feature at Reading that summer. But the sad fact was that Chamberlain wasn't doing much modified racing any more. Since I was a diehard Ford racin' woman, I'd visited their shop several times over the years for engine building tips. I'd promised Gerry and Gus that I'd come to Reading one day and watch them win. But this would be my last chance.... Finally, here came their hauler with a beat up # 76 Falcon modified on the back! Now my Reading dream was almost complete. But was the magic of a few years ago still there? Could Gerry win?

Kenny Brightbill, Glenn Fitzcharles, Buzzie Reutimann, Tommy Hager, Freddy Adam, Frankie Schneider, Lou Lazarro, Will Cagle, Gerald Chamberlain.... These names likely mean nothing to today's racing fans. But back in the days before NASCAR grabbed the nation's interest, these drivers had Rock Star status for many of us as Jeff Gordon or Dale Jr do for some today. Most of the stars had nicknames like The Wily One (Cagle), The Shillington Slingshot (Brightbill) The Monk (Lazarro), Jumpin' Jack Johnson among others. Of course Chamberlain was my driver. Arch rival Kenny Brightbill was the enemy. Real heroes and villians stuff... After watching an evening of hot laps that were better than many features I'd ever seen, both looked like drivers to beat in Sunday's 200. We bought box seat tickets for the next day's action. They cost $8.00 which seemed like a bunch of money for a short track race. I''d paid $15 for a seat at Daytona in '78 for cryin' out loud!

Checking out of The Inn on Sunday morning, we headed for the track. It was easy to see why Reading Speedway was being squeezed out because Rt. 22 was nothing but a drag strip of plazas and stores. After grabbing some Pennsylvania Dutch french fries with vinegar for breakfast and buying T-shirts and a program with Lindy's money, we found our seats in an already packed grandstand. When our "neighbors" found out we were from Ohio, all they wanted to talk about was our local driver Lou Blaney's performance at the Syracuse Mile earlier in the month. Don't get me wrong, Lou has always been one of my heros and has won hundreds of features. But this day was reserved for the eastern guys. During the pre-race hoopla, a dark haired man walked across the track and the crowd roared! Who was that? Dang, that was "Taz", Al Tasnady, probably the most popular driver in Reading Speedway history! Finally it was time for the car weigh-in before the qualifying heats began. Reading had a reputation for wanting the fans to know exactly what was going on. So they rigged up a set of red lights at the scales. If the lights came on as a car was weighed, it'd passed. No lights, back to the pits. They also had a big clock in front of the 'stands. If a driver had a flat tire and brought out a caution, he had exactly 3 minutes to get it changed and get back on the track. If he didn't make it, the race started without him. The clock didn't lie, so everybody in the 'stands knew things were on the up and up.

Brightbill easily won his qualifying heat and got to start on the pole for the 200. Chamberlain didn't fare so well and was slated to start midfield. But could Gerry still win ? By the screaming of the fans when the announcer called his name, a bunch of fans hoped so including me. When the feature began, Brightbill pulled into a big lead on the field. But I was watching back in the pack and a certain #76 was picking off cars as fast as he came to them. Within a few laps Chamberlain had cleared traffic and was dogging Kenny's Pinto's back bumper. Just when I thought he might be able make a pass, BLAM!, Chamberlain's rear tire went flat! The caution came out, Gerry pitted and had to restart at the back of the field. Could he do it again? That question was answered about the 50 lap mark as Gerry had worked his way back to second. But big block engines running on alcohol are thirsty, and Gerry had to pit for fuel under green. Brightbill lucked out and was able to pit when a caution flag came out. Was this guy lucky or what?

At about lap 100, there was a snarl-up of cars in front of the flagstand. Driver Mike Grbac ended up on his side and a driver blinded by the dust hit Mike directly in the center of his mod's top. The red flag came out immediately. While the safety crew worked to extracate Grbac from his car, I noticed that Kenny Brightbill's # 19 was parked about 100 feet from my seat. I stared at Brightbill, wishing that anything short of him getting hurt....a blown motor, a minor crash, ANYTHING would take him out of the race and Gerry would win. After almost an hour, the race restarted. Brightbill was back in the lead but that red Falcon was working his way up through the field again! Could Gerry do it? Were there enough laps left? As the laps wound down, Gerry made it back to second place. But Kenny had too big of a lead and finished the Daniel Boone as the winner. Disappointed? I was.... But then I realized that I'd watched the greatest race I'd ever seen. I still feel that way today.

Epilogue: Mike Grbac later died from the injuries he sustained in the race. His son Chris, not yet born at the time of his passing is racing dirt mods. Reading ran a few races at the beginning of the '79 season under different managment, then subcumed to the wrecker's ball. Kenny Brightbill is still winning modified races in his late 50s. Gerry Chamberlain raced Late Model stockers in western PA for a time, but then dropped from the scene. I've lost track of him since. Richard is no longer my brother in law and my daughter has a daughter of her own. She still smiles whenever I bring up our Reading adventure. I took a sabbatical from driving stockers in 1996 but recently joined a vintage racing club. I'll be back behind the wheel of a friend's coupe a bit this summer. But I'm looking for a '70s modified of my own. Rumor has it that the chassis of a certain red # 76 Falcon is sitting in a field near Indiana, Pa. If I find it, perhaps I can bring back some of the magic of the greatest race I ever saw.