September 5, Friday – The Gathering

I wanted to see the lay of the land so I headed for the Wisconsin Point Light. The huge sand bar off the Superior Bay represents is the largest bar in the world that was formed in a body of freshwater. The lighthouse on the point was part of a complex made up of the lighthouse and several buildings back from the lakeshore. The houses were empty but were used by the University of Wisconsin/Superior. A far away vision came to me about staying in one of the houses as a caretaker. The buildings needed my touch; broken windows to start with.
Things at the fairgrounds/speedway had changed since I had left. Before leaving for Wisconsin Point, I had moved my RV from the main parking lot to a side lot next to the horse corral. RV’s had descended on the area. Snee-Oosh now had many neighbors who all seem to know each other. Cars had filled up the parking lot and hundreds of common folk were milling around. The racing community is a culture and a cult. Everyone was hanging out with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. All engaged in friendly chatter.
Ron had said that things started happening around 7 p.m. but since it had rained in the afternoon, things were questionable. Around 7:30 I heard noise coming from the dirt track so I headed over. I found an area you could be close to the track without going through the grandstands. I joined four other observers watching the action. Instead of cars racing around the track, there were 15 or so pickup trucks plus a monster tractor were going around and around the track. They were trying to pack down the track and it showed it. Red mud coated every vehicle out there. About 45 minutes later a deputy sheriff joined us with the remark about seeing things for free. No one reacted and he spent the next 15 minutes just hanging out and talking with us. Before he left he said that we would probably be asked to leave when they came around to check for wristbands. Soon stock cars started replacing the pickup trucks out on the track. They went through noisy warmed up and then were replaced by the sprint cars. I was wishing that I had brought my ear plugs and was getting into the scene when a couple of guys came walking by and asked to see our wristbands, which of course none of us had. A local said he didn’t want to pay $25 and then have the event rained out because they don’t refund your money. I wander back to Snee-Oosh where the interior light up in from the airport beacon next door and the refinery torch cast an eerie red glow. Fifteen minutes later the skies opened. The track was quiet all night long.