I was able to get work there because my next-door neighbor handled the business finances for the dragway. My job was to sell tickets that allowed people access to the pits where all the dragsters, crews and drivers were staged for the races. Carl worked in the role of security next to the pit pass booth to assure people stopped and bought a ticket from me before entering the pits. Sometimes he and I would swap jobs just to break up the boredom during the slow periods. I fondly recall during these slow times, Carl loved to irritate the hell out of me by looking at his watch and then telling me the time, every minute or so.
This pit pass booth was located next to the tower and slightly off from the starting line of the drag strip. It was a great spot to watch the races because you could see all the action; I mean everything from fabulous starts with burning rubber after the green light, as well as all the way to the spectacular finishes. I remember on many occasions getting pelted with debris from the engines of jet dragsters on the booth’s sliding glass window. On another occasion I remember seeing this funny car flipping end over end right before the finish line, later to find out it was only the fiberglass body of the car. Then it was always fun to root for the locals racing their beefed-up cars. However, the truly great thing about working at the dragway was if you got there early enough, you could mingle with the drivers and crews preparing for the races. You could see the dragsters up close and I met and talked with some of the greatest racers of that era. Like Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney, Big Daddy Don Garlits, Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and "Jungle Jim" Liberman to name a few.
After the evening races, Carl and I would take the money collected into the tower so my next-door neighbor Dick could tabulate the earnings and then secure them for the night. Once that was done, Carl and I had this ritual, with our six pack of beer chilled in a cooler, we’d drive to State Street in Saginaw, MI to the bowling alley called the “Eleventh Frame” to hangout. Disco was the music played at this place back then; oh yeah, when we had our fill of all that around 2 a.m., we’d go to Sambo's, later bought by Denny’s in 1984 for stake’ n eggs to satisfy our munchies.
Often as I’m flying from Boston to Freeland to visit my family, on the approach to MBS, I’m able to see the old dragway from the sky. Such occasions bring a smile to my face, as the memories of the time Carl and I spent at that place fill my mind with a joy and gratefulness of which I’ll forever cherish.
~Keith Alan Hamilton~
http://www.keithalanhamilton.com/
In the the mid-seventies I worked at Tri-City dragway Freeland, MI in the pit pass booth located behind the car and bottom left of the tower.
http://vintagemich.suddenlaunch3.com/in ... 1159138461
