Donald Davidson | |
|---|---|
 Davidson in 2016 | |
| Born | Salisbury, England |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Awards | Sagamore of the Wabash |
Donald C. Davidson[1][2] (born 1942-43[3][4]) was thehistorian of theIndianapolis Motor Speedway from 1998 to 2020,[5][6] the only person to hold such a position on a full-time basis for anymotorsports facility in the world.[7] Davidson started his career as astatistician,publicist, andhistorian atUSAC. Hisradio program,The Talk of Gasoline Alley, is broadcast annually throughout the"Month of May" onWFNI inIndianapolis, and he is part of theIMS Radio Network.
Davidson is a member of theAuto Racing Hall of Fame, the Richard M. Fairbanks Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame,[8] and theUSAC Hall of Fame.[9] In 2016, he was named aSagamore of the Wabash byGovernorMike Pence.
British born, Davidson was fromSalisbury,Wiltshire inSouth West England.[1][10] He worked as acinemaprojectionist[11] at theOdeon Leicester Square inLondon as well as theNational Film Theater.[12] His father Derek worked in the film business. He worked forGaumont Sound News,Elstree Studios, and was also a theater projectionist.[13]
Davidson first learned of theIndianapolis Motor Speedway when he became passionately interested inGrand Prixmotor racing in the mid-1950s. Part of that interest stemmed from viewing highlight films of auto races. It did not take long for his interest to transfer over to theIndianapolis 500, plus other forms ofAmerican oval track racing. Davidson sought out books, magazines, and other various publications relating to auto racing. He then proceeded to memorize, in great detail, the results of everyIndianapolis 500. He has been described as havingSelective Retentive Easy-Access Memory.[10][14]
Davidson saved up his own money and first visited Indianapolis in May 1964.[10] He had relatives inChicago, with whom he arranged to stay during part of the trip. He had written toIMSradio announcerSid Collins and amazed the crowd by being able to recite the record of everydriver who had ever competed in the "500." He was quickly and warmly welcomed by the Speedway staff as well as participants, and within hours of his arrival, he was given free credentials.[10][14] Collins invited Davidson to make a brief appearance as a guest on the radio broadcast of the1964 race.[10]
Davidson returned to the Speedway to attend the1965 Indianapolis 500. He reunited withSid Collins and theRadio Network staff. He joined the staff as a popular fixture, and sought permanent employment in Indianapolis.
A few days after the 1965 race, Davidson was hired byHenry Banks to work atUSAC as astatistician, a position he would hold for 31 years. He also worked as a publicist, writing the USAC newsletter and other related publications. Davidson left USAC in 1997, and worked briefly for IMS Productions, the in-house television division at the Speedway. In January 1998 he officially became the full-timehistorian of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and maintains an office at theMuseum. He is also now the longest-serving commentator on theIMS Radio Network staff, having served in at least some capacity on every radio broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 since 1965 (not including his guest appearance in 1964).[8]
Parallel to his work on the IMS Radio Network, Davidson also worked on the local radio coverage of practice and time trials onWIBC.
In 1966,Sid Collins arranged for Davidson to host 15-minute semi-daily radio program on1070 WIBC during the month of May. The program was called "Dial Davidson", and allowed phone-in callers to ask Davidson questions about the Indianapolis 500.[10]
In 1967, Davidson was unable to continue the program because he was going throughbasic training atFort Rucker in theNational Guard.[10] He missed a considerable part of the month of May at Indy in 1967, but was able to attend the race itself and serve on the radio network broadcast.
After management changes at1070 WIBC in 1970, the station vastly increased their coverage of the Indianapolis 500 for 1971. Davidson was invited back to host a one-hour nightlyquiz show about the Indy 500. The show was unnamed for the first two to three years, but for a brief time it was called "Stump the chump".[15]Lou Palmer called the program "Do it to Donald"[10] and Chuck Riley called it "Stymie theLimey."[10] Callers won prizes if Donald did not know the answer.
After a few seasons, the show evolved from a "rapid fire" call-in quiz show to a more long form caller-based question & answertalk show, with Davidson taking the role ofraconteur. Davidson fields the callers' questions, preferably of anostalgic nature, about the history of theIndianapolis 500. Furthermore, he prohibits himself from using any sort of reference material during the show, relying only on his own memory. Not only does he answer questions, but he adds various anecdotes,vignettes, statistics, driver biographies, and may recount other related stories, typically of personal experiences regarding the subject matter.[16] Topics for discussion are broad, but are often focused on biographies of drivers, team owners, mechanics, and other personalities associated with the race or the track. Other popular topics include track lore, famous cars, race recaps, members of theIMS Radio Network, themuseum and its exhibits, and specific events from a particular year. Discussions regarding non-race winners and drivers of relative obscurity (particularly drivers from the very early years) are warmly received, as it offers "fresh" content to the program.
Controversial topics are frowned upon, and a small list of oft-repeated subjects that have been answeredad nauseam are usually avoided (theTurbines,Jigger Sirois, theJim Hurtubise"beer engine" incident, the1911 controversy, and others).[17] In addition, shows that air duringBrickyard 400 week invite questions aboutNASCAR andUSAC Stock Car history, both of which Davidson is also well-versed.
By the late-1970s, the program adopted the now-familiar nameThe Talk of Gasoline Alley (in reference to the nickname of thegarage area at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway). Although in the early 1980s, the titleThe Talk From Gasoline Alley was also used. Starting around 1983, the show moved from the downtown studios of WIBC to the track itself, and for one year was set up in the lobby of the Speedway Motel. The following year, the show moved to the garage area. Eventually Davidson was invited to broadcast the program from one of the team's garages, and mechanics were usually heard in the background working on the cars. In many years, the show was done from the garages of the Jonathan Byrd team. Starting in 1990, a special post-race drive home show has also been aired, immediately following the conclusion of theIMS Radio Network race broadcast. In recent years, the program has originated from the media center at the Speedway, or from the WFNI studios downtown.
For much of its run on 1070 WIBC-AM, the hour-long show aired daily at 6:00 p.m. local time. That coincided with the time of the day the track closed for practice (or time trials) each evening. In early years, it was co-hosted byKevin Calabro. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the show was jointly produced as a part ofDave "The King" Wilson's nightlydrive-home show. Consistent with airing on a traditionallynews/talk station, the show was frequently at the mercy of numerous breaks for news, traffic, and weather reports, and occasional pre-emption forbreaking news and other live sports coverage.
For a brief period, the show was expanded to two hours, with the second hour carried onNetwork Indiana, a syndicated feed that was picked up by several stations around the state.
Starting in 1994, the program expanded to new events at Indy. The show was added the week of theBrickyard 400 (1994–2009, 2013–2019), the weekend involving theF1U.S. Grand Prix (2000–2007), as well asMoto GP. During the decade of the 2000s, WIBC began streaming over the internet, effectively exposing the show to a nationwide/worldwide listening audience. In 2006, the program became available inpodcast form.
Davidson's other radio experiences included regular appearances on WIBC's Sunday morning program "The First Day" in 1976–1984, and a nostalgic radio program titled "Looking Back with Davidson" onWIAN in 1973.[8]
In 2008, after 37 years on1070 WIBC, the station was reorganized, and the program moved to1070 The Fan. The show moved to the 8 p.m. timeslot. It is currently part of a two-hour daily block, withTrackside with Curt Cavin & Kevin Lee serving as a lead-in during the 7 o'clock hour. Typically either Lee or Cavin sat in to serve as host/call screener. Tony Donohue briefly took over the host chair in 2019. Since having moved to a dedicatedsports talk station, the program enjoys more leeway in the broadcast window, and is no longer burdened by news reports and the like. However, the program is still occasionally interrupted byPacers games, as WFNI is the flagship for the team. In some cases, the program has been simulcast ormirrored over to sister station 107.5 FM to avoid preemption.
Along with the traditional telephone calls, questions are now also accepted via e-mail andTwitter. In some cases discussion topics are pre-planned by the hosts, particularly for the opening segment, or follow-ups from previous night's question(s) kick off the program. A short list of longtime frequent callers complement the show, including Dave fromMarion, Paul inRacine, Mike inVernon Hills, Jerry inDelphi, and many others.[18]
The show is traditionally aired live, however, on rare occasions when Davidson (or the co-host) has prior commitments, the show will be pre-recorded. In those cases, no phone calls will be taken, instead the topics will be culled from e-mail or Twitter requests. As of 2017, the show has aired for 46 consecutive seasons, and has produced upwards of 1,275 episodes.
In 2010, Davidson was inducted as a member of theAuto Racing Hall of Fame at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2013, he was inducted into the Richard M. Fairbanks Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame.[8] In 2016,The Indianapolis Star named Davidson to the list of the 100 most influential people in the history of the Indianapolis 500,[19] and likewiseWFNI ranked him #10 on the list of Top Ten Influential People (Non-Drivers) in Indy history. In June 2016, Davidson was named thegrand marshal of theIndy Legends Charity Pro–Am race.
As chief historian for USAC and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Davidson has written, or contributed to numerous books about auto racing and the Indianapolis 500. His earlier contributions include the annual 500 Yearbooks and magazine articles. In 1974 and 1975, he wrote a short-lived series of Indianapolis 500annuals entitled "Donald Davidson's 500 Annuals." During the month of May for numerous years, Davidson penned a daily column in theIndianapolis Star about Indianapolis 500 history. In addition to his work on the radio Davidson also co-hosted local Indy 500 practice and qualifications coverage onWTTV (1984–1989) andWNDY-TV (1995–1997).[8]
After many years of helping others with their books on the Indianapolis 500, Davidson wrote his own, put out through the publishers ofAutocourse, entitledAutocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500, co-authored by Rick Shaffer.[20] An updatedsecond edition was published in 2013.
Davidson has appeared on numerous television programs, includingMotorweek Illustrated,SportsCentury onESPN, andIndy 500 The Classics onSpeedvision.
Davidson has served as a lecturer atIUPUI and for many years taught acourse in motorsports history.[21][22] He has been a frequent guest speaker at various engagements including trade shows, civic and social events, banquets, and awards ceremonies. Davidson lives close to theIndianapolis Motor Speedway, and has an office inside themuseum. In 2003, a house fire swept through his basement, destroying some items from his personal collection, including a photograph of himself with1911 Indianapolis 500 winnerRay Harroun.[23] On his radio program, though he is guarded of his age, Davidson mentioned that he shares a birthday with Indy 500 winnersJimmy Bryan andTakuma Sato, as well as driverGene Hartley.[24]
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