Back to Lakewood
Comparison of the 1946 Acme Telephoto shot and a photo taken in May of 2009 shows that this is very close to the spot where Robson and Barringer's cars came to rest.
A few weeks later, I was able to convince famed car painter Ron Edwards and GARHOFA vice-president Neil Rucker to join my wife, Suzanne, and myself at Lakewood Speedway. Edwards had long been a caretaker of the old track, so it didn’t take much convincing to get him to meet us at the property.
As we sat in the grandstands waiting on Rucker’s arrival, I explained my theory to Edwards, and showed him the picture. My idea, I explained, was to start near the old culvert, now a full on bridge, on the backstretch, and work our way up, trying to match the tree line and the banks on the backstretch to what we saw in the 63-year-old photo. It was a long shot, I admitted, but it was the only thing I had to go by.
When Rucker arrived, the four of us walked over towards the backside of the track, and made our way up the backstretch.
One problem is that the hills have washed away since 1946, and are nowhere near the size they once were. They are also now overgrown with pine trees, making it very hard to discern where the big hill ends, and the little hill begins.
But the edge of the big hill still remains, which gave us our first landmark.
Comparison of the crash scene in 1946 and the site of bridge on the backstretch today, and the trees around the bridge, indicate that this is the spot from another angle.
As we moved back down the straightaway, comparing the photo with the edge of the big bank, I found what I thought was the site. However, Edwards believed it was further back, placing it just before the bridge. Either place was well before turn three.
We both agreed that we were within about 50 feet of the spot, and I took photos of both areas.
The next day, I began comparing photos of the spot from the original wire photo to the ones I had taken the previous day. I asked some friends to help me to compare the photos, and try to determine which might be the correct spot.
That’s when I spotted the only thing that could be called a landmark. In the 1946 photo was the image of a young man who had climbed into a tree to get a better look at the scene. Behind that tree was another that had branches that, for whatever reason, grew in several haphazard directions.
I looked at the photo of the spot where Edwards had felt the cars had come to rest. There, mostly covered by other trees, were the haphazard branches.
Ron Edwards had been right about the spot. And I had been right that the accident had not occurred in the third turn. It was a triumphant day.
Oddly enough, life sometimes throws you a reward you didn’t count on. Later that same day, I received just such a reward by sheer chance. That is, if you believe in chance.