Portland International Raceways is a top-level car racing track famous for hosting the GI Joe. Now that GI Joe's is dead and gone the race must have a new name. But in the early 60s there was bike racing on the same course, except instead of a modern and well-surfaced track it was on the city streets of a flooded-out city. Vanport was built during WW2 to house the workers in Kaiser's shipyards. In 1948, exactly when I was busy being born not far away, a dike ruptured and the Columbia river poured into Vanport. All the houses floated away leaving foundations, streets, and spooky wooden water towers. We raced Tuesday nights on those streets. Eventually the City of Portland decided to make our race course into a real race course and PIR was born. This photo is from a race in the early 80s. Here's the idents, thanks to riders who were there: Jack Springer in the BBC jersey, Jerry Powell on his super-cool 753 Raleigh, the first one I ever saw, then Ed Hershberger, Dr. Mike Reznick, and mostly obscured, Bill Pooley.