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I drove from Omaha to Hot Springs Arkansas (12 HRS) for one race. To Watch Alydar. He got beat a neck by a horse called San Juan Hill. Thats what kind of things crazy fans did before we were blessed by technology.
A couple of other things I used to do pre technolgy. To find out the weather on a particular race day I would call directory assistance in the city of a track and ask for the number of "John Smith" , then I would ask the operator, Hows the weather there today.
To get results: Find the name of a Bar across the street from the track of choice. Call after the race for results. The bartender would yell out to the customers, "Hey who won the sixth race".
To get a Form: I would go with my Dad to get a form on Friday night for Saturday's races. There was a news stand downtown and the last flight in from Chicago had the forms. The cars would be lined up at the news stand for a couple of blocks. Sometimes it was 11 to midnight if the plane was late. Boy my mother was understanding!
These are very crude but real examples of how difficult timely information was to get 35 year ago. We have great tools at our disposal now. Wish pops was alive to see it and I wish this industry could all row in the same direction. It could be even better.
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