The Race Is On....

There wasn't a lot to do for entertainment when I was a kid growing in Millville. So sometimes, if we got the milking done early enough, my old buddy Stinky Wilmont and I would scrape together 75 cents and catch a ride with my cousin up to the Sun Valley Speedway in Anderson. I wasn't really a big racing fan, but I was as anxious to go somewhere then as I am to stay at home now.

Sometimes, they would have what they called "Figure 8" racing, where all of the cars would hurry around the track and cross each others path in the center. Stinky just loved it. I, on the other hand, never understood the attraction. It just looked like a good way to get your car torn up to me. Still, I guess it was something to do.

I hadn't thought about those trips to Sun Valley for a long time, but a couple of days ago I made my first passage through the new 27 and I-70 interchange in Richmond. I was driving south when I found myself in the middle of a bunch of white and yellow and solid and striped lines running every which direction, with some lights hanging overhead in some various locations throughout the......project.

Now, I know that Mitch and the gang over in Indianapolis are awful proud of this....project. I know that we spent $27 million on it, and I'm sure that if I ever have to drive through it again, I can probably handle it. But probably most of the time I'll just slip up Waterfall Road or the Sim Hodgin Parkway.

There was one good thing that came out of the experience, though. I hadn't seen Stinky for years, but I'm pretty sure he passed me at least twice while I was maneuvering through the.......project.

Keep an eye out for him next time you go through.