All right kids here ya got it, the big exciting "new track" trip for 2015, Energy Downs, in Gillette Wyoming. So called, I guess, because Gillette is mainly famous for the coal strip mines that dominate its eastern approaches. This track used to run races, years back, and then didn't, but now is again thanks to the Historical Racing little wonders, and Mr. Eugene Joyce's Wyoming Racing LLC that runs the histrorical racing emporiums.
It was a dry and dusty track in a dry and dusty landscape, as one might expect in a Wyoming Zone 2 area, the "extractive industry" zone. The drive down from Billings had mainly been interesting for the number of squashed gophers on the interstate east of Buffalo, crossroads to elsewhere, and most of the way to Gillette. It was like you were driving on a carpet of gopher fur. It's a quiet ride.
So, in I pulled to the Camplex or whatever they called it, took up a seat in the stands to start handicapping, when what do you know, there's Mr. Eugene Joyce himself, out pressing the flesh with race patrons all over the place. He was everywhere. And when he wasn't meeting and greeting patrons he was doing every job at then race meet, including walking the track between races and picking rocks! That's what it takes to make a race meet go. That, and money from the little wonders.
I had a good time. It's no trivial drive from Billings to Gillette and then back the same day just for small time racing, but I was glad I did.
