A weekend of emotions...
Driving up to the Glen on the Tuesday before the race with my buddy Vince...
In his 59 Chevy Nomad wagon we arrived to find the track deserted and pondered where to park and claim our territory. Since Vince had never been or seen a GP before, I decided to have him occupy outside the last right hand corner to see the the pit entrance and main straight. "This will be perfect" we get them coming and going, slowing to hail the pits and the start from behind. We settled in for a long five days of "roughing it"...
On Wednesday things started to stir, a few cars and campers but mostly folks to set up the infrastructure. Lots of power, phone, water trucks and guard rail mending.
Thursday morning we awakened to the sounds of the Kendall garage coming to life, we headed over to find the Ferrari team transporter unloading. The Italian greeting of "hello, how are you guys doing" worked perfectly and in ten minutes we were helping them with tires, wheels and some spare parts to be moved and sorted.
We hung around most of the day, watching the teams begin assembly and set up their cars. A few drivers appeared in the afternoon...Merzario. Peterson, Stewart, Hulme, Revson and James Hunt. Everyone, including all the mechanics were super friendly, and were amazed on how laid back and how sincere everyone was.
A walk of the ever filling track ended our long day, and thoughts of a campfire and hot meal well deserved.
I'll skip Friday aside the fact we got to see the cars driven in anger...The sights, sounds and smell of race fuel exhaust likens the senses to a all consuming drug wanting for more.
Saturday came, and in hindsight, I wish it never did...
I remember everything going quiet, you could hear the wind blowing through the trees...then the loud speaker crackled that the session had been stopped. Word spread that there had been an accident on the uphill section and it was Cevert.
We made a beeline back to the garage, there was a crowd around Jackie and Ken, we could not get anywhere near them. Stopping in front of the Lotus stall I saw Emerson sitting alone, his hands covering his face. The worst had happened.
A pall fell over the entire circuit, no one spoke, only long faces were our end to what was to be that Saturday. We took to the track later that evening, out to the spot of the incident, to try find some closure and some understanding of what could have gone wrong.
Sunday came and the news that Stewart would not drive, in what was to be his 100Th and last Grand Prix, the team decided to honor Francois, and in respect, not participate.
We were treated however, to a ding dong battle of Peterson, Hunt and Reuterman, who for most of the race rotated in lock step mere seconds apart from each other. Ronnie held on, capturing his 4Th victory for the year in the 72 for Team Lotus.
