One evening, I
was working at the Raceway. There were no customers in the place, so I picked up the
latest copy of Car & Driver magazine. I felt that I needed to keep up with what was
going on in the car world if I were to have any credence with our customers. Two men
walked in and came over to the counter where I was reading. "What's that you're
reading?" said one of them. I turned back to the cover, and explained why I was
reading it. "Good Mag," said he.
"I like it," I said "I read it all the time." After another bit of
chit chat, the men left. Our Asst. manager had been in the office, overheard the
conversation and had looked to see who was there.
"Do you know who they were?" he asked me. "No," I said, "Should
I?"
"That was Leon Mandel, and the other guy was Brock Yates. Mandel is the editor of Car
and Driver"
The next morning I told Lou that Leon Mandel and Brock Yates had been in the Raceway the
night before. Instead of the "That was nice" that I expected, I got "What
did you tell him?" and "Did you give him information about the Raceway?"
etc.
"Well, No,"I had to confess. After all I didn't even recognize them, although I
knew them by name.
Lou was "less than pleased" to say the least. The next day I went to open
the raceway. What to my wondering eyes should appear, but Leon Mandel waiting by the door!
"Oh thank heavens you came back!" I said. "I'm sorry that I didn't
recognize you last night, although I know who you are!" Leon just laughed and
we had a very nice chat. The next race night, Leon arrived again, this time accompanied by
his son Dutch. Our three boys were about the same age as Dutch and they soon became very
close friends. So, for that matter, did both our families. Ricky and Dutch still keep in
touch through e-mail.
My first race took place on a very nasty, cold day in April '69, I think it was. The
Formula Vee race (Leon liked to call it Formula Wee) was the last race of the day. Leon
was one of the officials that day. Now everyone knows that alcohol is strictly forbidden
in the paddock and pit areas, but after the racing was over, Leon came over to me carrying
a flask. "You can have this now," he said as he handed me the flask. I didn't
really want the Brandy being offered, but one did not say no to Leon. You just didn't. So
I took a sip, and as I did, he said, "You did very well today Barbara. You stayed out
of everybody's way." I had to laugh, but right then and there, I resolved never to
stay out of the way on the track again.
You should also know that it was Leon's idea to hold the first, and so far as I know, only
SCCA sponsored and approved slot car race. Leon himself was the chairman of the meet, and
the SCCA did send the official permit for the race. Of course no SCCA event is held
without all the proper safety equipment on hand, so a 1/24 scale ambulance and a fire
engine had to be at trackside. Supplying those was my job.
What a fun evening that was!
During that time, Leon was the editor of Car and Driver. He used Elmsford Raceway as a
backdrop for several of the photos that appeared in the magazine. Some of our Raceway
customers and employees were "models" in those shots.
He wrote an article about the "Pro" racers who toured the country, competing in
the top level races. He wasn't very flattering, but most had to admit that it was dead on.
It has come to be known as "The Sea of Pimples Article". We really
enjoyed the few years that they lived in our area, and missed them very much when they
moved to California.
Lately, we have had to be satisfied with short visits at the NY Auto show. It's coming up
soon, and while we will be glad to see Dutch again, it's going to be hard not to see Leon
Mandel. We loved him very much. |