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Donald Davidson (born January 28, 19??) is the current historian of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the only person to hold such a position on a full-time basis for any motorsports facility in the world.^[1]

Personal history

British born, Donaldson first learned of the Speedway when he became passionately interested in Grand Prix motor racing in the mid-1950s. It didn't take long for his interest to transfer over to the Indianapolis 500, plus other forms of American oval track racing. He came to the Speedway in 1964 after writing to radio announcer Sid Collins and amazed the crowd by being able to recite the record of every driver who had ever competed in the "500." He came back in 1965 and was hired by the United States Auto Club as statistician, a position he held for 31 years. As of January 1998 he officially became the historian of the Speedway. He is also now the longest-serving commentator on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network staff, having served in at least some capacity on every radio broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 since 1965.

USAC years

Davidson returned to the Speedway to attend the race in 1965. He reunited with Sid Collins and the Radio Network staff. He joined the staff as a popular fixture, and sought permanent employment in Indianapolis.

A few days after the 1965 race, he secured a job as a full-time statistician at USAC.

The Talk of Gasoline Alley

In 1966, Sid Collins arranged for Davidson to host a 15-minute daily semi-radio program on 1070 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.

In 1967, Davidson was unable to continue the program because he was going through basic training in the National Guard. He missed a considerable part of the month of May at Indy in 1967, but was able to attend the race and serve on the radio network broadcast.

After management changes at 1070 WIBC in 1970, the station vastly increased their coverage of the Indianapolis 500 for 1971. Davidson was invited back to host a one-hour nightly quiz show about the Indy 500. The show was unnamed as of yet, and callers won prizes for answering questions correctly.

After a few seasons, the show evolved from a call-in quiz show to a caller-based question & answer talk show. Davidson began fielding the callers' questions, preferably of a nostalgic nature, about the history of the Indianapolis 500. The program took the name The Talk of Gasoline Alley (in reference to the nickname of the garage area at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway). Davidson was often invited to broadcast the program from one of the garages, and mechanics were usually heard in the background working on the cars.

Eventually, the show was expanded to two hours, with the second hour carried on Network Indiana. Starting in 1994, the program began to be added to the station's evening programming when events other than the 500 began to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the week in July/August for the Brickyard 400, and the weekends involving the Formula One United States Grand Prix, from 2000-2007, and the motorcycle Grand Prix beginning in 2008. Starting in 2006, the program has also been available as a podcast.

In 2008, after 37 years on 1070 WIBC, the station was reorganized, and the program moved to 1070 The Fan. Currently, both hours are carried by 1070 "The Fan."

Books and media

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 Carl Hungness 500 Yearbooks and magazine articles. In 1975-1976 he wrote a short-lived series of Indianapolis 500 yearbooks titled "Donald Davidson's 500 Annuals." During the month of May for numerous years, Davidson penned a daily column in the Indianapolis Star about Indianapolis 500 history.

After many years of helping others with their books on the Indianapolis 500, Davidson wrote his own, put out through the publishers of Autocourse, entitled Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500, co-authored by Rick Shaffer.

Davidson has appeared on numerous television programs, including SportsCentury, and Indy 500 The Classics on Speedvision.

References

1. ^ Davidson, Tim (2009). "The Answer Man: A Brief History of IMS Historian Donald Davidson". 2009 Indianapolis 500 Official Program (Indy Publications): p. 42-47.