Page 47 - AreaNewsletters "Sept2022" issue

A nal note regarding the tragic race on June 8, 1969...
A lawsuit naming several entities and individuals, including Sid Langsam, as defendants was led by Mrs. Opal Barker, wife of Jack Barker, a spectator who was hit in the head by a ying barrel and su ered a permanent brain injury. Langsam was still grieving the loss of life at CDR and this appeared to be the last straw in his reluctance to keep CDR viable.
In February 1973, the Douglas County District Court case was settled. Langsam and CDR were found to be not negligent but others did not fare as well. Mrs. Barker was awarded $602,000 for her husband’s estate and $150,000 to her individually.
The ndings included the following: “Mulhall and Blackwell were guilty of simple negligence; Keller’s negligence was willful and wanton.” Why? How?
The 40-lap, 106-mile race started on time despite threatening clouds. Chief Steward Alex Keller learned the day before the race that Racing Steward Churchill Blackwell couldn’t ll the barrels with water because all he had was a garden hose and it required an entire evening to ll all of the barrels. Keller never followed-up and the barrels were never lled.
The next morning Keller and Blackwell had a similar conversation about the barrels not being lled with water, witnessed by two individuals.
Mulhalls’ simple negligence was that he raised his hand o the steering wheel to his pit crew when they signaled him to slow down because of the heavy rains. It was determined that Mulhall should have nodded his head or waved a nger only.
The road course was next to close in 1973 upon Langsam’s death, with many attributing his illness to a broken heart over the 1969 crash.
For several years the racetrack languished until Unique Mobility Inc.,
a manufacturer of electric vehicles, bought it in 1978. They tried to keep the track open, even attracting the NASCAR Winston West Series for the Coors 200 in August 1982. This turned out to be the last professional race at this venue.
Real estate developers had an interest in the property and purchased it in 1983. Bulldozers moved in, destroying the track and building roads for a development called “Dawson Ridge.” Ironically, this development never came to fruition.
And so we come full circle to present- day Castle Rock and the preliminary approval of Dawson Trails!
Special thanks to Angie DeLeo and Claudine, who provided invaluable assistance with information at the Castle Rock Museum. Acknowledgement
to James Hansmann, the Collections Curator at the Castle Rock History Museum, who wrote the book, “Racing at Altitude: The Story of Continental Divide Raceways” that provided critical content.
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Castle Rock “AreaNewsletters” • September 2022