View Single Post
  #5  
Old 01-21-2015, 03:04 PM
steve B steve B is offline
Steve Birmingham
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: eastern Mass.
Posts: 8,382
Default

The trepidation may actually be that Capone would do something that was normal for him but would get a player banned for life.

I heard a talk by a guy who did a documentary on 6 day bicycle racing. A couple of the racers said they both loved and hated racing the Chicago 6 day. The late night hours were usually "racing" in name only one from each team would ride but not really fast while the other slept. No actual competition happened. Except in Chicago. Capone would come in after hours at his clubs with an entourage. And since he liked racing a lot he'd offer what are called primes. Prizes - usually for sprints. The races I was in we had maybe two in 15 miles, for stuff like a gift certificate for a cup of coffee. The 6 days in the 30's had official primes, and ones offered by fans. Usually none at night. Except when Capone was there. He would offer primes of maybe a thousand dollars every time he felt the racing was lacking a certain something. Which at 3 AM is about every 5 minutes. And nobody wanted to NOT actually try for a prime put up by Capone. (Not to mention it was $1000 in the 30's ) He got his real racing, and the racers colluded so nobody won them all and everyone was happy and for some a bit wealthier. But very tired.

Steve B
Reply With Quote