Frontier City: Part 3

Yesterday we learned of life in the frontier, Norman N. and his fater Cyrus coming to Amboy Township, that the township was noted in early times for its abundance of wild animals, and was a favorite hunting ground for the Indians for many years after the cession of the land to the Whites. And of course by general consent, they were permitted to make annual visits, which they seemed to greatly enjoy.

Today we come to the conclusion and epiloge of our story. We find that as a source of entertainment, Frontier City was a great place to have fun and besides the entry fee was what we could afford as a poor family – it was free, we had connections.

At Frontier City you could ride in or even on top of the stage coach, you could ride in a covered wagon or on a buck board wagon, you could ride an authentic riverboat and feeding the wildlife was the favorite of some of us. At designated times you could watch a gun fight on Main Street between two guys who thought the other cheated at poker in the nearby Saloon. On one occasion we were even able to watch a Civil War battle, although I’m not really sure the Rebels got this far north.

Well Maynard and Edna got older and the times were a changing and whala, again through the miraculous means of time travel we were once again in the late 20th Century. Frontier City closed up, the earth began to move and what emerged was – “The Michigan International Speedway”.

Although I have never been back since Frontier City closed, I can’t imagine that it is quite the same place now. I can’t help but wonder if when those RV’s come rolling in do they get ambushed by the Indians the way we did while riding in the covered wagon or how about the bandits that kept trying to rob the stage coach every time we road on it?

On the website for the Michigan International Speedway http://www.mispeedway.com/ which you might (or might not) want to check out a few things such as: Under their going “Green Initiative” it states: “NASCAR partnered with Michigan International Speedway in June 2009 for its “NASCAR Green Clean Air” program to help capture the carbon emissions produced by racing. Together they will be planting a total of 40 trees on the MIS property during fall 2009.” I’m sure that will take care of the local carbon emissions problem and no “cap and trade” will be necessary. In the picture you can even see the small lake (really oversized pond) where we used to ride the riverboat in “the old days at Frontier City”

At the Wikipedia website for the MIS you will find some fun facts including:

History

Groundbreaking took place on September 28, 1967. Over 2.5 million yards (1,900,000 m3) of dirt were moved to form the D-shaped oval. The track opened in 1968 with a total capacity of 25,000 seats. The track was originally built and owned by Lawrence H. LoPatin, a Detroit-area land developer who built the speedway at an estimated cost of $4–6 million.

In Roger Penske purchased the speedway for an estimated $2 million. During Penske's ownership the track was upgraded several times from the original capacity to 125,000 seating capacity. From 1996 to 2000, the track was referred to as Michigan Speedway. This was to keep consistency with other tracks owned by Roger Penske's Motorsports International before its merger with ISC.

In 1999, the speedway was purchased by International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and in 2000 the track was renamed to its original name of Michigan International Speedway. In 2000 10,800 seats were added via a turn three grandstand bringing the speedway to its current capacity. In 2004-2005 the largest renovation project in the history of the facility was ready for race fans when it opened its doors for the race weekend. The AAA Motorsports Fan Plaza—a reconfiguration of over 26 acres (110,000 m2) behind the main grandstand—provided race fans a new an improved area to relax enjoy sponsor displays, merchandise, and concessions during breaks of on-track activity. A new, three-story viewing tower housing the Champions Club presented by AAA and 16 new corporate suites also awaited VIP Guests, while a state-of-the-art press box and an expansive race operations facility high above the 2-mile (3.2 km) oval welcomed the media and race officials.

And under the subheading “Notable Accidents” you will find that on my birthday in 1998 “Three spectators were killed and six injured from flying debris during a CART race crash. Those killed were Kenneth Dale Fox, 38, of Lansing, Michigan; and Sheryl Ann Laster, 40, and Michael Terry Tautkus, 49, both of Milan, Michigan.”

I wonder if they got a proper burial up on top of “Boot Hill” near the fort where we used to defend the compound from Indian attacks? “Lenawee” land of the “Indian”, do we have the courage and the responsibility to now defend their honor and heritage, the ones who lived upon this land long before the frontiersman. Recall the memory of long ago, one day when the savages were cooking a coon in a kettle, and they asked him "shemokeman" meaning "white man, like coon"? Were they saying “please share some of our food, this is a beautiful land and we only desire to share it with you in peace”.

I guess the goal has remained the same for both enterprises - simply entertainment, although one thing is drastically different today than it was in my childhood, that being the clientele. Progress I suppose, but nonetheless I dream of the “good old days” and only regret that as naive children we never questioned “who the bad guys really were".

In all of life's stories there are strands of make-believe, reality, joy, sorrow and at times a touch of free enterprise, I will leave it up to each of you to decide for yourself how of these elements played out in this story.