Дональд К. Дэвидсон: Историк Индианаполисского Мототрека

American sports historian
other individuals with this name

Donald C. Davidson (born 1942 43) was the historian of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1998 to 2020, the only person to hold such a position on a full time basis for any motorsports facility in the world. Davidson started his career as a statistician, publicist, and historian at USAC. His radio program, The Talk of Gasoline Alley, is broadcast annually throughout the "Month of May" on WFNI in Indianapolis, and he is part of the IMS Radio Network. Davidson is a member of the Auto Racing Hall of Fame, the Richard M. Fairbanks Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame, and the USAC Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Mike Pence.

British born, Davidson was from Salisbury, Wiltshire in South West England. He worked as a cinema projectionist at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. He first learned of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when he became passionately interested in Grand Prix motor racing in the mid 1950s. Part of that interest stemmed from viewing highlight films of auto races. It did not take long for his interest to transfer over to the Indianapolis 500, plus other forms of American oval track racing. Davidson sought out books, magazines, and other various publications relating to auto racing. He then proceeded to memorize, in great detail, the results of every Indianapolis 500. He has been described as having Selective Retentive Easy Access Memory. Davidson saved up his own money and first visited Indianapolis in May 1964. Lou Palmer called the program "Do it to Donald" Topics for discussion are broad, but are often focused on biographies of drivers, team owners, mechanics, and other personalities associated with the race or the track. Other popular topics include track lore, famous cars, race recaps, members of the IMS Radio Network, the museum and its exhibits, and specific events from a particular year. Discussions regarding non race winners and drivers of relative obscurity (particularly drivers from the very early years) are warmly received, as it offers "fresh" content to the program. Controversial topics are frowned upon, and a small list of oft repeated subjects that have been answered ad nauseam are usually avoided (the Turbines, Jigger Sirois, the Jim Hurtubise "beer engine" incident, the 1911 controversy, and others). In addition, shows that air during Brickyard 400 week invite questions about NASCAR and USAC Stock Car history, both of which Davidson is also well versed.

By the late 1970s, the program adopted the now familiar name The Talk of Gasoline Alley (in reference to the nickname of the garage area at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway). Although in the early 1980s, the title The Talk From Gasoline Alley was also used. Starting around 1983, the show moved from the downtown studios of WIBC to the track itself, and for one year was set up in the lobby of the Speedway Motel. The following year, the show moved to the garage area. Eventually Davidson was invited to broadcast the program from one of the team's garages, and mechanics were usually heard in the background working on the cars. In many years, the show was done from the garages of the Jonathan Byrd team. Starting in 1990, a special post race drive home show has also been aired, immediately following the conclusion of the IMS Radio Network race broadcast. In recent years, the program has originated from the media center at the Speedway, or from the WFNI studios downtown. For much of its run on 1070 WIBC AM, the hour long show aired daily at 6:00 p. m. local time. That coincided with the time of the day the track closed for practice (or time trials) each evening. In early years, it was co hosted by Kevin Calabro. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the show was jointly produced as a part of Dave "The King" Wilson's nightly drive home show. Consistent with airing on a traditionally news/talk station, the show was frequently at the mercy of numerous breaks for news, traffic, and weather reports, and occasional pre emption for breaking news and other live sports coverage. For a brief period, the show was expanded to two hours, with the second hour carried on Network Indiana, a syndicated feed that was picked up by several stations around the state. Starting in 1994, the program expanded to new events at Indy. The show was added the week of the Brickyard 400 (1994–2009, 2013–2019), the weekend involving the F1 U. S. Grand Prix (2000–2007), as well as Moto GP. During the decade of the 2000s, WIBC began streaming over the internet, effectively exposing the show to a nationwide/worldwide listening audience. In 2006, the program became available in podcast form. Davidson's other radio experiences included regular appearances on WIBC's Sunday morning program "The First Day" in 1976–1984, and a nostalgic radio program titled "Looking Back with Davidson" on WIAN in 1973. The show is traditionally aired live, however, on rare occasions when Davidson (or the co host) has prior commitments, the show will be pre recorded. In those cases, no phone calls will be taken, instead the topics will be culled from e mail or Twitter requests. As of 2017, the show has aired for 46 consecutive seasons, and has produced upwards of 1,275 episodes. In 2010, Davidson was inducted as a member of the Auto Racing Hall of Fame at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2013, he was inducted into the Richard M. Fairbanks Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. and likewise WFNI ranked him #10 on the list of Top Ten Influential People (Non Drivers) in Indy history. In June 2016, Davidson was named the grand marshal of the Indy Legends Charity Pro–Am race.

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 500 Yearbooks and magazine articles. In 1974 and 1975, he wrote a short lived series of Indianapolis 500 annuals entitled "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. In addition to his work on the radio Davidson also co hosted local Indy 500 practice and qualifications coverage on WTTV (1984–1989) and WNDY TV (1995–1997). An updated second edition was published in 2013. Davidson has appeared on numerous television programs, including Motorweek Illustrated, SportsCentury on ESPN, and Indy 500 The Classics on Speedvision. Davidson has served as a lecturer at IUPUI and for many years taught a course in motorsports history. He has been a frequent guest speaker at various engagements including trade shows, civic and social events, banquets, and awards ceremonies. Davidson lives close to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and has an office inside the museum. In 2003, a house fire swept through his basement, destroying some items from his personal collection, including a photograph of himself with 1911 Indianapolis 500 winner Ray Harroun. On his radio program, though he is guarded of his age, Davidson mentioned that he shares a birthday with Indy 500 winners Jimmy Bryan and Takuma Sato, as well as driver Gene Hartley.