Story and photo by Tom Baker - Team SWN

It is a shame that most weekly race tracks no longer sell programs.

I started going to the Oswego Speedway when I was five years old in 1973. I was ahead of my age group in reading skills just enough to be able to read most of the "Eagle" program they were selling each week.

The track owned a printing press back then. They would print the programs and distribute them to the newsstands across town on Wednesday or Thursday before each race, then sell them at the track on Saturday nights.

I was too anxious to wait until Saturday. The Carson family that owned Carson's News were friends of our family. Fran Carson, the owner, also ran the popcorn stand at the speedway.

I used to call that newsstand every two hours or so beginning on Wednesday afternoon to see if the book was in yet. Poor Fran. He was so patient with me.

The program had a page called the "racing game" in each issue where they'd randomly mark two cars that raced there with an X, and you'd add up their finishes for that week in the heat, semi, and feature. If the total for both drivers ended up 25 or less, you'd win a free pass.

I looked through every copy they had to find the best two numbers, won several times - that always allowed both my parents to go on the same night - one got in free.

I have copies of the "Eagle" from as far back as the 60's. I treasure them now. Great research for my Inside Groove Supermodified Podcast.

When I managed Chemung Speedrome in 2002, I spent all day Monday at home writing all the copy and laying out the pages of their program to send to the printer on Tuesdays. What a blast that was!

Blogs, websites, and social media are fine, but they're not collector's items like a track program used to be, and there are no whistling program sellers at the track anymore like "Pete The Program Man" Trenca at Oswego.

I miss Pete, I miss Fran, and I miss track programs.