Re: DOVER’S LAST DAY: May 23,1976….the story unfolds

[robert]

To all the ODF Members,
I sent Dino a message the other day about what might have been the reason for the closing of the track. He said “Post It”.
Here it goes. Every once in awhile, over the past years, I would bump into someone who came to the track and start talking about the good old days. On quite a few occasions a certain story would be brought up by different people but had the same ending. I have been told more than a few times about this. It’s just to strange to be a coincedence. But as the story goes, there was an accident at the track one day, pretty bad, maybe fatal. The Police Chief of Mt. Pleasant was either a friend of the family of the person injuried or related to that person in some way. Anyway, he had a lot of pull and supposingly had a big part in closing down the track. He was a real hardass in his day. They called him “Duke”. I lived in Thornwood at the time of the tracks closing, in the Town of Mt. Pleasant, in “Duke’s Territory”. I knew who he was, his reputation, and stayed out of his way. He was always trying to give us a hard time…didn’t like fast cars…hotrods…motorcycles. We never got caught doing anything, but were always accused of everything, if you know what I mean. I’m trying to give you members an idea of what kind of person he was and why , in my mind, this story could be true. If anyone can add too or take from this, please do so. I’m only conveying to you members what I’ve heard over the years.
Bobby M.