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One of my favorite rituals for the Month of May began Monday night, when Donald Davidson kicked off another season of The Talk Of Gasoline Alley. It is a trip back into yesteryear of the Indianapolis 500 with Donald Davidson as he takes questions “of a nostalgic nature” from callers. Donald has been doing this show in some form since 1971 – long before there was such a thing as “talk radio”. I can remember listening to Donald on the IMS Radio Network as a kid in the sixties and seventies. He is one of the few remaining links to my childhood at the Speedway.

I’ve been listening to The Talk Of Gasoline Alley ever since WIBC-AM 1070 (now WFNI – 1070 The Fan) started having live streaming on their site. I’ve got every podcast of every show since 2006, on my iPod. Most people do yard work listening to music on their iPod. I listen to Donald. I’ve heard Donald with various co-hosts and also going solo. When he was still at WIBC-AM 1070, Dave "The King" Wilson served as co-host. Upon his exit after the 2007 season, Donald handled everything by himself for a couple of years. Last year, they paired him with Kevin Lee who will handle those duties again this year. Monday and Tuesday night, Curt Cavin sat in for Kevin. I like Curt, but I got the impression he was trying to hurry things along too much. Part of the charm of Donald’s show is the slow pace. It’s a reminder of another era.

I’ve been listening long enough that a lot of the stories are repeated, but even when the same question is asked every year, Donald always puts a different spin on it and the answer always contains some little nugget that I didn’t know before.

But listening that long has taught me that there are certain questions that you don’t want to ask Donald. He doesn’t get rude, mind you. That’s not in his nature. But he’ll politely inform the caller that he prefers not to talk about certain things. Only once have I ever heard Donald lose his cool. That was immediately following the 2007 race, when a drunk caller called in suggesting that the officials were trying to give the win to Dario Franchitti and were trying to keep Danica Patrick from winning for “political reasons”. Even then, Donald was much more civil than I would have been. He simply told the caller to get off the line and keep the lines open for people that cherished the Indianapolis 500 instead of stirring things up.

Here are just a few of the subjects Donald would rather not talk about:

The turbines: While they are certainly of historical significance, I think Donald is just plain talked out on this subject – and he has tried to let listeners know that. Consequently, there has been a sub-cult movement as of late that has found callers telling the screener that they would like to ask a question about Eddie Sachs or Sam Hanks. Only to reach Donald on the air and ask him another lame question about the turbines

The latter years of Jim Hurtubise: Donald would love to take questions regarding the early career of driver Jim Hurtubise who as a rookie in 1960, had a qualifying speed of 149.056, which bested the pole speed of Eddie Sachs by 2.5 mph. A couple of his qualifying laps came dangerously close to breaking the 150 mph barrier, which wouldn’t fall until two years later. Hurtubise was one of the fastest qualifiers at Indianapolis throughout the early sixties.

After the demise of the roadster, Hurtubise became more of a novelty act and less of a serious racer. He kept trying to qualify his front-engine Mallard, throughout the seventies. It’s last appearance was 1968 – the last appearance for any front engine car in the Indianapolis 500. One question that Donald loathes to discuss is Bump Day in 1972. Hurtubise actually had qualified a rear-engine car, but had his Miller beer sponsored Mallard in the qualifying line. He kept pushing it back where it never made it to tech inspection. When the gun went off, he opened the hood to reveal the Offy engine had been replaced by ice and beer for anyone who wanted one. USAC officials were not amused.

Another story involving Hurtubise that Donald is reluctant to talk about is when on Bump Day in 1978, Hurtubise was upset when USAC wouldn’t allow him to run the Mallard because it wouldn’t maintain a required speed. It started out with him clowning around during a rain delay. When they were trying to dry the track, “Herk” jumped into Bob Harkey’s car and refused to get out. Everyone had a big laugh at the time. However, when he ran out onto the track when Harkey had begun his qualification warm-up, things suddenly became unfunny. Now he was wasting valuable time with qualifying underway. Track officials tackled him on the front straightaway and he was banned from the track for the rest of the month. Donald finds it sad that this once great racer is remembered only for pulling stunts later in his career.

The Jigger Sirois Story:  The year was 1969. It was Pole Day and the skies were threatening. Rookie driver Jigger Sirois went out on a qualifying and ran a speed that would have made the race. Unfortunately, his owner waved off the run at the last minute – thinking it was too slow. Shortly thereafter, the skies opened up. The way the rules were then, Sirois may have ended up being the pole sitter, had his owner kept the time. It’s all conjecture because we don’t know what his fourth lap time would have been or if someone could have taken aim at his time.

Every year, someone asks Donald about this situation. He downplays the notion that he would’ve remained the pole sitter. You can always hear just a little irritation in Donald’s voice as he tells the story for the umpteenth time. Coincidentally, this usually leads into another question that always aggravates Donald – Can the pole sitter ever be bumped?

I really think that Donald’s favorite piece of trivia regarding Jigger Sirois is that his given name, Leon Duray Sirois, was given to him in honor of former driver Leon Duray – whose real name was George Stewart. Confused?

Details regarding driver fatalities: Although he acknowledges that fatalities have occurred and with alarming frequency in the old days; Donald prefers not to dwell on them. He mentions that a driver lost their life in a certain race, then moves on. He doesn’t go into detail, nor does he get melodramatic. He simply acknowledges it as part of the story. That’s an art form that’s missing in today’s sensationalistic society.

The confusing start of the 1958 race: The start of the 1958 race was extremely confusing. In 1957, when the new pit wall was added, someone decided it would be a good idea to have the starting grid leave the pits in single file. It didn’t work at all, so they decided to give it another try in 1958. The results were worse. The entire front row somehow ended up a lap behind the pace car. They all sped up and drove around the field and took their spots just in time for the green flag. Ed Elisian seemed intent on leading the first lap. As the field sped into Turn Three on the opening lap, Elisian lost control and spun into Dick Rathmann. This ignited a massive fifteen car pileup that took the life of popular driver Pat O’ Connor.

Donald gets asked about the start of this race, about twice a week but he’ll only tell the story about once a season.

Bobby Unser’s controversial win in 1981: This is one of the few areas that Donald and I disagree. When he does tell the story, you can tell that Donald doesn’t care for the way it ended up. He thinks that Bobby Unser was the main culprit that passed many cars under the yellow, while Mario Andretti sat innocently and watched. They BOTH passed just as many cars on their way back to the front.

Unser was considered the winner after the race, but the next morning – the victory was given to Mario Andretti. For five months, Mario Andretti was considered a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Then car owner Roger Penske appealed the ruling and in October, an appeals judge ruled in favor of Penske & Unser. Unser was fined $40,000, which basically covered USAC’s legal fees, and was awarded the victory. Bobby Unser never drove in the Indianapolis 500 again.

Donald seems to resent the fact that Roger Penske took the matter to court. Of course, this was very near to the time that CART and USAC had some court battles that involved Penske. Since Donald Davidson was a USAC employee at the time, I can understand his frustration.

The formation of CART in 1978: See above.

The CART/IRL split of 1996: Again, the pattern is forming that shows that Donald does not like talking about the politics of the sport or any controversy. This subject featured twelve years of politics and controversy.

The pace car crashing into the photographer’s stand in 1971: Unlike many in our society, Donald generally tries to treat everyone the way he would like to be treated. This is more about protecting the reputation of someone that Donald considered to be a very nice man. Eldon Palmer, a local Dodge dealer was chosen to drive the pace car (it was different in those days). While practicing, he had set up a cone in the pits to mark his braking point. Lo and behold, someone moved it on race morning. At the start of the race, Palmer came flying down the pits, looking for the missing cone. Before he knew it, it was too late to stop. He moved into a photographers stand at the end of the pits. Many people were seriously injured and Eldon Palmer lived with the shame it brought him for the rest of his life. Donald felt sorry for the man that had become a punch line. He later met Mr. Palmer and he thanked him for defending him in public.

In a one hundred year period for the Indianapolis 500, it’s pretty obvious that there are going to be some controversial moments. However, it is just as obvious that Donald Davidson would prefer not to discuss them. He will do his best to avoid controversy. In this age of reality shows, shock jocks and in-your-face journalism; I find his approach very refreshing. Most of those that listen to his show year after year do as well. So if you call in, have a question about Rex Mays, Sam Hanks, Wilbur Shaw or Tommy Milton. If you are looking to stir things up, you might try to find another show.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 6, 2011 at 4:04 am and is filed under Indianapolis 500. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.