Jack Maypole

[Ron Hill]

Charlie Strang wrote this about Jack Maypole in response to my questions about Jack...

[F-12]

Ron..........My Dad had a million stories about Jackie Maypole. They raced against each other for a long time during the time Dad lived outside of Chicago (Hobart, IN). He always said Jackie was a nice guy until he got on the race course where he became a focused driver and was most of the time hard to beat. My Uncle Bob ran against him in A & I think B hydro. Dad ran against him in C hydro with Dad usually coming out on top, then step his C up once in a while into F and creat some more hate and discontent. They had another guy named Danny Mahala (spelling) who was part of the Bradley Racing team. I wish he had written down all the names and places as they keep popping up on BRF. Dad didn't have a bad thing to say about the peolpe he raced against except one guywho owned an F Richardson Swordfish that hated Dad winning an F race with his C and would follow Dad into a turn and wave the snout of his hydro over Dad's fuel tank...............

[Skoontz]

My dad had several stories about Jack Maypole, as he worked at Jack's Johnson dealership through college.

By the time he dropped dead, my dad was married to my mom, and was working for our boathouse when Jack died at the show. Apparently, the show authority and the unions had a slick dal going, and still do. So when jack needed an extension cord to plug in a lighted display, he brought one from his car and proceeded to plug it in....The union steward came over to tell him he could not do that as he did not have a union card, and he came unglued. You have to know, the unions at those shows charge $125 per cord to pull up a ladder, climb the thing and plug in the cord. Then you get a cord rental fee of another $50 per day. you pay $9.00 for a hot dog....Jack was pissed, and that was the last time he ever blew up at anyone.

So, bascially, the Teamsters union and their takes 10 guys to screw in a lightbulb mentality cost Jack his life....

Dad described as, they were sitting in the booth, and a siren was heard getting closer and closer until it entered the show proper. The siren was the fire dept for Jack, he was dead before they ever got to him.

Another time Dad got a ticket for driving an overlength load of boats to Jack's dealership. He showed Jack the ticket and he told my dad not to worry, he would handle it. The next day the Chicago cop who wrote the ticket came to the dealership, and dad was called into Jack's office. The cop tells dad he is sorry there was a misunderstanding and tears the ticket up and hands it to Jack, then gives dad his license back.

[MN1]

Would this show have been in the International Amphitheatre in Chicago?
Mark N

[Skoontz]

Mark:

It could have been, however, I thought I remembered dad saying McCormick Place. The Ampitheatre always took McCormick place's overloads. When McCormick place burned to the ground in 1967 during the flower and garden show, the Ampitheatre ran most all of the big shows until 1977 or so when the new McCormick place was completed.

Another place it may have been was the Colluseum at 17th and Wentworth. The Colluseum was on it's last years in the 50's, and it took the seconds traffic for displays until it's demise.

Pretty Sure McCormick was it though.