A few fraternity brothers and a girlfriend and I drove up to Louisville together in a big silver Mercury back in the spring of '70.  I remember a hot and sticky day in the bleacher section of Churchill Downs, sipping warm Gilbey's Gin from the bottle, as the scorching race-day sun beat down on us.

And a horse named Dust Commander (at 16-1 odds) winning the Kentucky Derby.

That spring the economy in America was in bad shape (the stock market was in a dive), and the ongoing war in Vietnam was splitting the country and draining it of its energy. The secret bombings of Cambodia were revealed by the news media and seemed to be the tipping point for angry war protesters all over the country.  At Kent State--a horrible moment in American history--young student protesters were fatally gunned down by members of the Ohio National Guard. Americans killing Americans became the death knell for the war.

 

 

 

 

Dust Commander wins the 1970 Kentucky Derby

 

 Sipping warm Gilbey's from the bottle

 

"It was like falling down an elevator shaft and landing in a pool full of mermaids.”

Hunter Thompson

 

But three days before Allison Krause and her Kent State classmates were shot and killed, we were headed to the Kentucky Derby!  Mint Juleps and swills of Old Forester and 10 bucks on Dust Commander seemed to be all that mattered.

 

 

 

 

Read Hunter below--talk about capturing the moment....