Eric,
Good stuff. One of my lifes special events was when I got the phone call from Frank Coons after knocking on his door a few weeks prior. I was an AMC gear head and while doing some detective work I ended up at Tracos door wondering if they had any AMC stuff left over. They did. Tons of trick parts that where in the parts book for 6 months to officially be "production" The phone call was to tell me they lost their lease in the storage unit out back, come and make us an offer on the AMC parts. I felt like Spanky sitting in the Giants treasure chest. What a great experience. I got to know Frank and Jim Jones, well. Jim Travers was retired by then. They ended up doing our engines for us in the Lola T600 we were running. Right there on the strip that you mentioned. All the real racers. Before the days of bubble packs. They made everythng. Years later there was an article on Jim Travers and Frank Coons about their days at Indy. I just about fell over. Never realized how huge they were.
Chris
Historic Race Car Replicas