> Now for some roadster news! While I was dining at lunch one day in
> the town where I work, population is small BTW and I had driven the
> roadster that day to work, I was approached by a gentleman asking me
> about my car. I told him that I was in the process of restoring it
> and that some day it would look better. He then made the statement to
> me that he knew all about these cars and that he has 7-8 of these in
> the woods behind his house. Yeah, right! I introduce myself and he
> tells me that his name is Keith Hege and that he used to crew for Jim
> Fitzgerald! I then got cold chills, This is the man that worked on my
> original 1969 2000 30 some years ago! This man is a walking history
> book of Datsuns! After I got back to work, I called him at his house
> and asked if I could come over. So, 2 days later I spent 2 1/2 hours
> at lunch with him and walking in the woods looking at roadsters and
> parts. His stories about racing with Fitz are great! Rob, you need
> to talk to this guy! I will try to get some pics the next time I go
> visit.
Okay. Let me put on my producer's/history buff hat for a minute and make a
suggestion. Any time you get the opportunity to spend time with someone like
this, get yourself a small cassette recorder and record your conversations,
with permission of course. As a bit of an aside, this is particularly true
with older members of your family. You can get a small recorder that uses
standard cassettes at Service Merchandise, Circuit City and probably Radio
Shack for around $30. In many cases a small audio recorder is better than a
video camera since a camera sometimes make people self conscious. Great
tools and you don't need to worry about taking notes. ;>)
While I was working for Naval Media in DC in the late '80s I worked on a
project about the history of naval photography and interviewed a number of
the men who shot much of the stock footage of WWII that we see in all sorts
of film and TV. I can't begin to explain how cool it was talk to these folks
and hear their stories first hand.
Can imagine you imagine sitting down with Bob Sharp, Pete Brock, John Morton
or ant number of other significant figure in Datsun racing history, and
having recording of the conversation? Or doing this with you grandparents or
great grandparents telling family stories?
FWIW, Ron
The ACL Group
Arlington, Texas
(817) 572-0873
ronday@home.com
ronnie_day@acd.org
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