It has been a busy last few weeks. Lyn and I have helped celebrate some birthdays. I’ve reconnected with some old friends. We held that celebration of life to honor my late son, Mark. We took time to honor the State Trooper and the Sheriff’s’ Deputy.
On one of the weekends during that time, I took time to watch parts of the NASCAR race that was held on the streets of Chicago. Back in the days when I held a part-time position as a charter bus driver, I spent a few weekends driving the streets of Chicago. I don’t have many pleasant memories of those trips.
I had the race on television and watched it on occasion. I was multi-tasking that day. I recognized some of the streets. I bet closing off the streets used for the race really caused traffic problems.
Shane van Gisbergen was the driver who won the race. After the race, the announcers said that it had been his rookie NASCAR Cup race. They also explained that this was the first time in 60 years that a rookie Cup driver won the very first race that they competed.
My mind started wandering back and it occurred to me that I was present in person for that race. My good friend, Larrie (Bud) Johnson and I had traveled to Florida the summer before. We visited the Daytona Speedway and quickly made a play to return soon for the Daytona 500.
We knew all about the Indianapolis 500 and all the people that were always in town for the race. We saw that the city of Daytona was totally filled with hotels and motels.
We figured we could go a couple of days early and it would be no problem to secure a motel room. We were wrong. Everything was full. We were finally directed to a place that had a list of private homes that would rent a room. The first home we visited was close to everything and looked good. We had learned that the motel room prices were about triple the cost we had paid the last visit.
We met Mrs. (Maw) Hartzell at her house and she gave us a tour. It looked nice and when she announced the room fee, Bud and I looked at each other with mouths wide open. She thought we were upset at the cost she had offered. She quickly said, “Now that includes breakfast.”
In fact, we were shocked at the much more reasonable price as compared to the motels. We quickly paid her and totally enjoyed staying at her house. We even went back for a few years and sometimes there were four of us.
Over the years, we got to know “Maw” Hartzell’s family. Her son was a chef for the astronauts based at Cape Canaveral, Florida. She was very proud of him.
There are several races at the Daytona Speedway during the weeks leading up to the Daytona 500 in February. Bud Johnson and I were probably present when Johnny Rutherford won the very first NASCAR race that he was ever entered. It happened to be the second 100-mile qualifying race for the 1963 Daytona 500.
A few years ago, Lyn and I were traveling in Florida. We spent a couple of days in Daytona. I’m not certain, but I think we found “Maw” Hartzell’s old house. A great trip that brought back special memories.
Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools. He can be reached through email at fdshonk@aol.com.