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November 29, 2009
ONCE MORE FOR ERNIE
Yesterday,
November 28th, 2009, another huge crowd packed the
Saratoga New York Auto Museum for Ron Hedger’s most recent
installment of the “Lost Speedways” lecture and picture series. It
was a day of passionate recollection, but one moment brought a loud
and tearful moan. That’s when it was announced that Ernie
Gahan,1966 NASCAR National Modified Champion, had died quietly in
his sleep the night before.
Ernie, subject
of our last TEAROFF ( November 15
), the ultimate personification of the workingman racer, was beyond
popular. It seemed everyone had a favorite Ernie tale.
Several years
ago when Andy Fusco, Jim Rigney, and I were writing the FONDA!
book, Ernie told me his favorite racing memory. It was his first –
and, as it turned out – only win at his favorite track, the
egg-shaped Fonda Fairgrounds, jewel of the Mohawk Valley in New
York. A sidebar from the book follows.
(Larger Version HERE for easier
reading)
Race on, Ernie.
© 2009 Lew
Boyd, Coastal 181
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