On the first day of summer, the summer equinox, the year's longest day . . . I was once upon a time at the 2-mile, 7-turn road course in Ohio for The Longest Day of Nelson, a 24-hour sports car event for amateurs. The Nelson Ledges Road Course is just south of Cleveland in Garrettsville, Ohio. In the early '80s I was there with Richard Abbate, who hauled in two Mazda sports cars inside an old school bus from New Haven. Because it was the longest day, the shortest night, Richard combined those facts with the St. Crispin's Day (actually, October 25th) speech from  Shakespeare's Henry IV to inspire his men (and women) who drove the cars, fueled the cars, and fed everyone. It went something like this:

From this day to the ending of the world,

Long shall we be remembered

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For here to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhood cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon this longest day

I don't remember how we did. I do remember waking in the middle of the night, in a shared tent with a Rastafarian, and his bright hat had come off in the middle of the night. I opened my eyes to see these dreadlocks, and at first blush, thought he was a lion.

After the racecars were loaded back onto the hollowed-out bus, I remember Richard approaching me and asking me to drive it back to New Haven for him . . . stick shift and all. I had never driven a TRUCK . . . and now I was trying to make it up the hills of I-80 in a bus heading for Connecticut.

Well, that was another adventure . . ..