Decades ago when I was stationed at MacDill AFB, during late 60's we would ride in Triolio's Corvette convertible
to Daytona for the Firecracker 400. We got sunburned, but it was a great race and we had real seats
just before the finish line.
Years later on I got into the sports car scene and would work as a corner worker during the Paul Revere 250 which started at midnight July 3rd and we got passes that allowed us to go ANYWHERE at the speedway........including watching the 400. The workers for the 250 were supplied by Central Florida Region of SCCA.
There were times we would watch the 400 from the infield on a piece of plywood fastened to Marvin Wagner's VW bus.
It was great for rotating around as the race was running. I don't know how we kept from falling off the roof.
Marvin Wagner was a member of MacDill Sports Car Club even though he worked as a cop in Largo and eventually for a car parts
company on Florida Ave in Tampa. We would get a 10% racers discount by saying the items were for the "Horseless Carriage Buggy Works".
The last time I saw Wagner was at an autocross at the old engineering parking lot at USF......where he was racing a Lotus Cortina......
that had belonged to British Racer Jim Clark.....
still painted British Racing Green with a white stripe and had an honest twin can lotus engine.
Over time there were many Firecracker 400's, but as I got further into the sports car scene, there were less of them.
I still have the Firecracker 400 patch on my Macdill Sports Car Club jacket......along with a fortune in rare patches
of car clubs and race tracks that no longer exist.
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Last edited by senor honda; 06-30-2019 at 07:34 PM.