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I was at the first 1971 Champ Car race, the Schaefer 500; and I extensively edited
section 3.1.1
to reflect the monster traffic jam on PA-115 between the track and the I-80 Blakeslee exit, a problem which exists to this very day, even though the State Police now reverse the northbound lanes before the race.
Interest was very high in the Delaware Valley, as local car dealer and team owner Roger Penske entered local hero Mark Donahue from Marcus Hook in the race. The grandstands were packed mostly with Delaware Valley fans, as USAC Champ Car racing was strong in the area, with the local ovals at Langhorne Speedway and Trenton Speedway drawing strong crowds; and our family sat in the top row at the S/F line for the race. [For what it's worth, I was also at the last Champ Car race at Langhorne in 1970, and last two at Trenton in 1979, before those tracks closed; and my ex-father-in law the late Jack Friedman was a mechanic on Rufus' '63 Indy 500-winning team, and has photos from Bobby Marvin's fatal crash at Puke Hollow in October of that year.]
In over a half-century of attending USAC Champ Car, CART, and IRL/IndyCar (as well as NASCAR and other series') races beginning with the `67 Indy 500, the last few laps after the late caution flag were among the most exciting I've ever seen. Joe Leonard shot past Donahue on the restart; and everybody was standing as Donahue hunted Leonard down. Since the infield was devoid of any real structures, we could clearly see the Tunnel Turn, when, on the last lap, Donahue retook the lead. To say that the crowd went wild would be quite the understatement.
Post race damn near had a disaster on pit lane: As the 6,000 gallon tractor-trailer tanker collecting the unused methanol was stopping at one of the pits, the tank overflowed and fuel sloshed forward onto the tractor. The driver hit the emergency brake and jumped out while it was still slowly rolling and dove over the pit wall, fearing a massive explosion. Even though it occurred several hundred yards from where we were sitting as we were packing up to leave, my late father reached over and pushed me over, fearing a massive explosion.
