(Editor’s Note: The following column is part fantasy, part truth, part history, but most importantly — pure KO.)
I always wanted to be a race-car driver. One of my fondest memories is riding my bike to Chris Economaki’s house. Every weekend, we would journey to the Nutley Velodrome to watch the midgets run.
We worked the grandstands selling peanuts and 50/50 tickets, and when there were breaks in the action, we even helped push the cars onto the track. Throughout the night’s events, we listened to track announcer Gary London, who later became a columnist for Chris in National Speed Sport News.
Following the races each week, I always had a lot of people asking me what happened that night at the race. So, one day I suggested to Chris that we start a little newspaper about auto racing. He thought it was a great idea. We had just completed our first edition when Chris was offered a ride in a midget. However, he had what he called “rectal pucker” and retired after one race. I got the ride. Chris, with a much higher IQ than me, decided to keep the paper going, and I continued racing midgets.
Since those early days, auto racing has changed greatly and not necessarily for the better. I think the time has come when there is just too much technology involved with both the cars and the work in the pits. We should think about going back to the days when wheels were changed with a hammer, pit boards were used to communicate with the drivers, and drivers were handed a drink of water during the pit stop. 
There was never a prettier sight or sound than 33 front-engined Watson-style Offy roadsters lining up three abreast for the Indianapolis 500. A.J. Foyt or Parnelli Jones working the wheel as they threw a cageless championship dirt car into a rough and rutty corner was another sight to behold. Unfortunately, nowadays the tracks are generally smooth and slick and the drivers are hidden by ugly side guards on cars that look just like all the other cars in the starting field.

 The Champ: Olson won the 1982 and 1987 USAC national midget championships.

Some may think I am senile or slightly opinionated, but I must say that I don’t agree with any of the changes made in auto racing since 1968. As a guy who still tries to race midgets whenever I have a weekend off from the world’s greatest job as a broadcaster with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, I would offer a few of my observations and solutions to these problems.
The drivers may be the biggest change I’ve seen. When I first started racing, drivers never sent Christmas cards because they might not be around by Christmas. Drivers had no PR people, had no money to buy rides, and often towed the car to the track and slept in that same vehicle. There were no luxury buses to run to after the race.
Drivers today have physical trainers and eat healthy, while Jimmy Bryan smoked big cigars and drank beer with the crew. A.J. Foyt covered his thick steaks in butter. I never saw either of these guys fall out of the seat during a race while driving cars without power steering.
How would I improve racing today? I’d encourage the drivers to be themselves and not to be afraid to have a good time after the race. Ken Schrader and his car owner, Nick Gojmeric, and I took great pride in seeing which guy would load his car up last after racing at Kokomo, Ind., every year, while emptying a cooler of beer and telling lies.
I suggest getting rid of those buses and getting a good Ford 150 van with an open trailer and a killer eight-track player. It might not be as comfortable as a bus, but you will get better mileage and feel better about yourself in the morning.
No doubt about it, racing has changed. I remember when Roger Penske first came to the track in shorts and a wifebeater T-shirt while sporting a long ponytail. At that time, Mario Andretti was just a tad under six-feet tall.
Over the years, though, one thing has always remained the same, and that is Chris Economaki still won’t give me that 10-percent discount on this racing paper.