“50 years went by damn fast. And today this is sort of special to us. My wife and I felt that it’s about time that I got the hell out of here. In either case, as of today, I’m resigning all my positions here at Pocono Raceway. We’re going to take it a little easy and as I say get the hell out of here. We’re very fortunate that we have some great grandchildren and as of today my oldest grandson, Brandon (Igdalsky), who’s already president, is going to become president and CEO of Pocono Raceway. And his younger brother Nicholas is going to be COO and Executive Vice President. And their sister Ashley will become the Secretary/Treasurer of the corporation. I’ve had a hell of a good time doing all the things I wanted to do. And I felt that going on 87 (years old) nobody lives forever and I better get the hell out of here while the getting’s good. Brandon is well trained, he knows this track as they say the proverbial back of your hand. And I think that he’s well prepared to do all the things that have to be done. These are the three guys that are going to take care of Pocono Raceway and let my wife and I sort of have it easy a little bit. I want to thank you all for all the nice things you’ve said, and even the bad things you’ve said. And there have been both. So we’ve had a nice time working here and I’m quite sure that Brandon, Nick and Ashley are well trained to do what they have to do. And if there are any questions, I’m prepared to answer any.”
Can you talk about what you’ve accomplished here over the years and what a big thing you’re turning over today? “Well, all we started with here was $48 and the last time we did a mint value was around $600 million so I think that it’s been quite a jump. Bruton (Smith) kept after us, they wanted to buy it, wanted to buy it for many years. We always felt that this was something special. We put it in trust so they couldn’t sell it if they wanted to sell it. We put it in trust, so that the first step is to do what we’re doing right now, leaving it to our grandchildren. And then they can’t do a damn thing until Rose and I die and until all of our three children have died. Until then, then it would be turned over into a trust made up of our seven grandchildren who are all here today pretty much. They are ready to do what they have to do at that time.”
What I’d like to know is who’s going to carry the .45 that you used to carry? “I never thought of that. I don’t know if you remember but Clay Earles down in Martinsville, he used to say that he was either dressed or undressed. If he was carrying a piece then he was dressed. If he was undressed he wasn’t carrying a piece. I was threatened up here many, many years ago. I know you guys have no idea what it was like up here but it was really desolate. I used to live in my trailer in the back of the old office and I had a always had a German Shepherd with me and I always carried, I had a permit to carry a side arm. I just got in the habit. And ever since then I always carried a side arm. It’s just a habit you get into. But you always had to be armed when you were here. This was a very desolate country 50 years ago and I always carried a side arm and still do. And now I’ve gotten too fat I can’t even put it in my belt. Yes that will continue.”
How long have you thought about this decision? “Oh gosh, I don’t really know. It was something that just evolved and evolved and evolved. When I realized that my three grandchildren are capable then I start thinking heavily about it. They’re really three super kids right here, and we have a lot of confidence in them. As you can understand turning something over after it’s been in the family with Rose and I, it’s quite a compliment to them is the way you’d put it. They’re really good kids and smart kids. Even gave me three great-granddaughters. Two are twins, Madison and McKenzie, and now we’ve got pretty Peyton, she’s our little baby and she is a doll. She’s going to grow up thinking her name is Pretty Pretty Peyton because that’s all I ever call her. It’s been a nice trip. And I feel very happy and lucky to have these three kids. We’ll continue on from here and I’m quite sure that they’ll take care of you guys as I did and hope to do in the proper way.”
With all your free time, what’s your next project? “Well I have built already right across the street from the entrance we’ve built a completely fully complimented resort, the Village at Pocono. And you’ll be surprised to know that this little girl right here (Ashley), she built it. I mean literally built it. I taught her how to do construction and she took it under control and now she’s in charge of the whole project over there. We have seven villas and each of the villas has four two-bedroom apartments, furnished. She built it, she runs it. If you’ve never been over there you should go take a look. We have a big clubhouse and a big sprung building. You might see something like a tent over there and that’s called a sprung building. It’s a very unusual building. Whenever you build a building with a swimming pool in it they deteriorate the wood if you use wood, or brick. So we had this one building we found that was 10 inch I-beam, and the I-beam is covered with a fabric manufactured in Germany when we built it. It has 10 inches of insulation and then it has another fabric on the inside. So the water from the swimming pool can’t do any damage at all. It’s quite a building. And next to that we have the clubhouse. And in the back of that we have a playground for the children. And Ashley now runs that whole operation but she actually built it herself. She’s in charge of the running of it. So right now we don’t have any other new projects. We just keep going the way we’re going. If we see something that interests, I’m only 87 so what the hell I might as well give it a try and if I screw it up? I don’t care, let them worry about it. But as you can tell just by the way I’m talking right now we’ve had a good time. Rose and I come from very poor families. And all of our parents are dead. We even kept a secret for many years. We ran away and got married and they never knew about it. After we felt that the marriage was going to last we had a real Italian wedding and got married again. And they died and never knew that we had been married. And I was going to divorce her a couple of times but I figured I’d have to get divorced twice so I said the hell with that, I’m not going to go through that so I just put up with her.”
“Our three children they are in charge of, with their mother. We have a “crooked” accountant and the four of them are on the executive committee. Dale Capone is our “crooked” accountant. They are very capable and they run the executive committee which really and truly does run Pocono Raceway. And now I say with the three grandchildren we’ve had a pretty good time.”
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