Memories at the Motordrome

When I had started to write this blog posting, my dad was still alive, in the last several weeks, my dad suddenly passed away, so not only do I have memories of the motordrome races, but I also have great memories spent with my dad.

One of my favorite events to attend as a child were race nights. I was always into cars growing up: I had a collection of matchbox and hot wheels cars, every race car that was probably ever made by either company and my favorite racer's car: Jeff Gordon. There was a track near our home growing up called the Motordrome. Every Friday night was race night, my dad and I would attend Friday night races together and watch races for the the entirety of the racing events. There were a number of different car classes that raced. They had stock cars, sprint cars, trucks, and a few other classes. They even had the type of race car that looks like a nascar. I relived these memories when I found out the track had been abandoned and was for sale. The track presently has been torn down to prepare for some sort of drilling operation, but the memories will always remain.

I cannot quite remember where the parking was when I went there as a child, but we walked up to the entrance and got a ticket from the ticket booth and two drinks, and went to our seats in the grand stands near the finish line of the track.

When we explored the grounds when it was abandoned, we went in through a back part of the track on a utility road and walked back up cutting through the fence line, and ended up behind the grand stands. Everything had been overgrown, but I could still picture the races happening while staring at the empty track, the empty garages in the middle of the track, and the empty stands on the other side. I imagined people in the bleachers, people at the concession stands, and lines of people walking around. It was a surreal experience.

Of the racers that stood out to me as a child was one of the champions, his name was Mark "Boom Boom" Bloom. I have always remembered him. I once attended a car cruise that he had attended, and I missed him, but we left our information for him, and I remember him calling the house phone when I was about ten years old and telling me how much he appreciated my support and sending me a personal autograph and some memorbilia. I kept his autograph until I had moved out of my parent's house as well as several other autographs from other racers at the track who had showed up to the car cruise.

Personal Reflection: I have a lot of memories of this race track as a kid and going to it and seeing it abandoned was nostalgic. I also have a lot of memories of attending races and sporting events with my dad in general. When I was growing up, my dad made sure to provide me with a broad appreciation for professional sporting events: we started small with events at the Motordrome as a family and then those events became traveling for NASCAR races in Charlotte, North Carolina, attending the Indianapolis 500 for formula one racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and attending the Coca Cola 600 at Daytona in Florida. We also attended a race at Bristol in Tennessee while visiting old family friends of ours. Dad and I attended a baseball game at all 30 MLB stadiums, we attended an MLB all star game in 2004 and attended a playoff game together in 2013 for Game 3 of the NLDS, Pirates vs Cardinals. Dad and I also attended many college football and basketball games together for University of Pittsburgh, Ohio State, University of Texas, and even some NCAA tournament basketball games that were hosted in Pittsburgh. We attended Ohio State football, University of Pittsburgh football, and University of Texas football games together. I got to see Vince Young play at Texas and pull off the greatest comeback in Texas history. I also got to attend an Ohio State vs Texas game when OSU was #1 and Texas was #2. Dad and I also attended sporting events for my alma mater, Old Dominion University. This does not totally capture everything we were able to do together as father and son during the near 30 years I was able to spend with my dad, but it does make me appreciate all of his teachings and his hard work to be able to provide such amazing experiences for me during our time together.

When my dad wasn't providing experiences for me in the sports world, he was playing his favorite game of golf. He was an accomplished golfer. He had four hole-in-ones during his playing life, he had won eight Youghigheny Country Club (YCC) Championships and had won at least three Senior Club Championships at YCC. He played the number one golf course in the world and before he passed away suddenly, he was planning on following the process to become a member at Oakmont County Club. He took many trips over the pond to play golf, he has played in Ireland, Scotland, and the United Kingdom, as well as possibly Dubai. He has played at St Andrews, Torrey Pines, Royal County Down, Muirfield, and Oakmont, to name a few of the notable courses he has played. He loved to play golf with his close childhood friend Tom and they traveled all across the United States and the world to play golf together. I remember a time that Dad, I, and Tom went to a baseball game to see the late Roy Halladay pitch. Now, I bet Dad is talking to Roy about his greatest moments in baseball.

I imagine my dad in heaven playing golf every day with his father and just having an amazing time. A close friend of my dad's shared this sentiment about his passing as "a wound that will never fully heal". I look at the memories we made together, all of the vacations we got to spend time together on, I remember dad crawling around on the floor while playing with Augusta (our dog) in the house and I remember nights where we wished that the races would never stop. My dad was always so proud of us and all that we accomplished, and just being able to share these memories at the motordrome probably made him smile.

(RIP Dad, 1959-2023, husband, father, brother, and friend)