By Dean Adams
Ski won the Daytona 200 riding for Vance and Hines Yamaha
That win was the biggest in his racing career. Later, I was talking to him and said, “Man, Ski that must have been the greatest day of your life, huh?” Ski said “No, not even close.”
“Oh, then the day you got married or when the boys were born?”
“No, well, yeah but no…”
“Okay, what then, Ski?”
He then told the story about his dad being a Marine Colonel who flew fighter jets and helicopters (in I think Viet Nam). His dad had been invited by Goodyear to do a ride-along in the Goodyear Blimp over a college football game or something pretty mainstream. Ski said he talked the pilots into letting him drive/fly the blimp as they were just up there doing circles anyway. “That thing drove like a big old Cadillac,” he said. That was the best day of his life, he said.
Ski also said pre-teen Dave asked the lead pilot where the throttle was to spin the Goodyear blimp up a little, but the pilot replied, “Don’t you touch that throttle, son.”
