I really could not get over how mostly quiet and deserted Arlignton was whenever I visited in 2001. After all, Illinois racing had just been given huge gifts by the Assembly a year before when new Gov. George Ryan was cutting mega-deals to reopen AP (as well as other things) after DD's 1997 "shut 'er down" snit fit.
But things had changed in those two years Arlington took off. Used to be you could find Racing Forms and Green Sheets in every White Hen and other convenience store in the north and northwest suburbs in 1997, but no more when AP came back online. And simulcasts were the thing now, which were still new in 1997. All Chicago players knew for a fact they could win and win big playing some track on TV now when they couldn't before 1995 when the only offering was the local races. So there they were in the OTBs playing simuls instead of coming out to the track. What a different track now than before DD took the two years off.
