Land Speed Legends
Conversations with men & women who make land speed racing legendary!
Land Speed Legends
THE LEGENDARY PAM CURTIS OLSON: From a Bar Encounter to Racing Fame, Pam Masters the Art of Land Speed Racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Sharing a Journey Filled with Humor, Camaraderie, and Triumph
What happens when a casual encounter at a bar ignites a lifelong passion for land speed racing and The Bonneville Salt Flats? Meet our legendary guest, Pam Curtis Olson, who transformed from a racing novice to accomplished racer on the Bonneville salt flats. Pam's journey is a tale of bold spirit and unyielding determination, seasoned with humor and the camaraderie of the racing community. Her daring request to race Terry Nish's streamliner lead Pam on the journey of a lifetime! Not only did she earn entrance into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club she discovered the joy and friendships found in land speed racing.
Join us as we recount Pam's thrilling pursuit of driving in both a roadster and streamliner. Experience the rookie mistakes, the adrenaline rushes, and the triumphant moments of nailing that perfect run. With anecdotes of close-knit racer camaraderie and the unique challenges of different racing vehicles, Pam's tale is filled with humor, resilience, and the thrill of risk-taking. Relive her record-breaking runs and discover the transformative power of community and shared passion on the salt. This is a celebration of racing legends, unexpected beginnings, and the relentless pursuit of speed and excellence.
Welcome to Landspeed Legends, a podcast talking to the men, the women, the legends that make land speed racing great. Discover the stories of these ordinary people whose passion for land speed racing has made them legendary. And now here's your host the Bonneville Belle, the High Boy, honey, the salt princess, alison Volk-Dean.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay so the legendary Pam Curtis, now Olsen, is here with us and she is I call her a high red hat. It's a faster red. But yeah, go ahead. And just why don't you start with how you kind of got into Bonneville racing or racing in general?
Pam Curtis Olson:Okay so, mine is a very kind of unique story because I was. I've never raised anything in my life ever and you know most of my stories start out with I was in a bar.
Allison Volk Dean:So this one will start. That We'll start this way.
Pam Curtis Olson:We'll start. We'll start it in the truth area. I was in a bar and there was a uh engineer drawing of the Terry Nish um Nish 998, 998 streamliner sitting there. And I was sitting there and he happened to come in and my um first husband uh knew Terry. So Terry came and actually sat at the table with us and he got up for a minute and I said to my husband I'm going to ask him if I can sit in his car and he says don't embarrass me, I'm like what We've met. Okay, of course I'm gonna embarrass you know who I am right.
Pam Curtis Olson:And so Terry came back to the table and I said, hey, can I sit in your car? And he said so Terry came back to the table and I said, hey, can I sit in your car? And he said yeah. I said can I start it? And he said you can drive it if you want. And I went OK, you know. So basically we were just kind of playing uncle, yeah. You know who's going to say it first oh cool, but neither one of us did.
Allison Volk Dean:Here we are. Game of chicken that ended up well, Well, yeah, so well yeah, it did. It ended up.
Pam Curtis Olson:Really great for me, yeah, because I didn't know that I could love something as much as I love going to Bonneville. It's just like everything to me, yeah. And so this new and improved husband he actually knows what he's doing and he can mechanic and stuff and he thinks it's fun and I'm like, oh, thank goodness because right now I don't have to scrape salt, I don't have to just sit there like the princess I was meant to be.
Allison Volk Dean:You make food and drink food and yeah, yeah, yeah I'm going recon missions with your son? Yes, that's right you've been having fun with him out here.
Pam Curtis Olson:Oh my gosh, he's so much fun. He is a cutie, he is so cute.
Allison Volk Dean:Okay, so we're at the bar. Terry says, let's, you can drive it. So what? What goes from there? How do you? What month is this Like? Or what year is this? Oh, it was 1998.
Pam Curtis Olson:1998. Okay, we started and I believe it was a Friday, so I had to go to the shop on Wednesday. Now, you know me, I'm most people think that I'm really outgoing and I'm not afraid of anything and I'm fine. Well, I had to go to the shop, okay, and I'm like am I going to make a total?
Allison Volk Dean:Ass yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:You can say it this is a racing podcast. Myself if I go down there? And what if he was just kidding? And what if he's just like ew, you know I was drunk. I can't help you, lady, you need to move on. So I get there. And he actually put me in the car and it was full on um. What was it? God fire suit, full on fire, suit, full on um helmet everything that's a tight fit.
Allison Volk Dean:I'm a big girl, yeah, okay, so he gets me in there and I'm, and this is in the. Is this in the Royal purple streamliner? Yes, ma'am, Okay.
Pam Curtis Olson:And it's you know, I've never, not, I've never. So I get in this thing and it tells me to pull myself. Clear up there.
Pam Curtis Olson:Well, I'm starting to have an anxiety attack gonna be bad. I'm like you need to get me out of here. And I sweat normally. Just you know, I could just walk down the street in a snowstorm and I'll sweat. So it's just pouring off of me. He gets an air hose, literally gets an air hose and start spraying it at my face. Literally gets an air hose and starts spraying it at my face and I'm like, okay, well, I guess that's how we're going to start. So finally I'm like really you need to get me out of here. So he pulled me out by the helmet and I start take, I start stripping stuff. You know I had clothes underneath, so calm down. I start stripping stuff. You know I had clothes underneath, so calm down, anyway. So he goes well, I guess you're done. And I said no, I'm not done, we're going to start with one piece at a time, like Johnny Cat.
Intro:You know.
Pam Curtis Olson:So one fire suit, pant on and in, and then just piece by piece and it was awesome and I was like OK, like okay, see, told you. So I would just hang out with him literally at his shop almost every day, just like cease, was there people that know, cease, like he's not a real talker, okay, and he's busy working on a car and a business, and you know, and terry says you don't have to make, you don't have to make, you don't have to convince me. You got to convince him and the rest of them, and I'm like that was a part of the deal. No one said anything about being nice.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, that's right.
Pam Curtis Olson:Gosh. So anyway, yeah, and Cecil said you don't need to be nice to me If my dog likes you. That was Peanut. Peanut hated everybody so I would bring the damn dog treats and stuff and she hated me talker. But I guess I am so, luckily for me.
Allison Volk Dean:I was blessed to have Jeff Nish and Larry.
Pam Curtis Olson:Vogue, who owned Roadsters, so that you know, terry didn't have to put some weird strange woman in his car and go down at, you know, 75 miles an hour. Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:It's a hard car to go slow in. Yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yeah, so anyway, I was fortunate enough to be able to license in those roadsters and it it didn't happen like overnight. Okay, like it. I believe it was almost God, was it 98? Yeah, so 98, 99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2001 to 2003.
Intro:So that's five years of me sucking up okay literally I got the dog, yeah definitely to the dog yeah, she still hated me though, but anyway, moving on.
Pam Curtis Olson:So, um, yeah, did some licensing runs because of the Jeff Nish team and Larry Vogt's family. It was pretty funny because you, my friend, were doing licensing runs yourself. And so the best part is all the hoodlums, we call them, they all wanted to strap sexy little Allison into the car. Jeff is the one that has to strap me into the car, and he didn't want me to miss out on that by saying oh, you realize, pam, that the boys are strapping Allison in, and there's like a whole team of them and I have to do you?
Allison Volk Dean:You got a man to strap you in. You got a man to strap you in. I just had boys, that's right.
Pam Curtis Olson:It was great, though and it was, it was fun, yeah, so I'd never driven a race car. I've never done anything like that.
Allison Volk Dean:So the Roadster was the first time. First time, ok.
Pam Curtis Olson:First time ever, Wow. And I would come with full hair and makeup, you know, not glam, but like I'd have my hair done. It's like Terry would look at me like what the hell, what are you doing?
Pam Curtis Olson:I got to look pretty going in it Right and then you know, as you get out you're just a big sweat bomb. Oh yeah, and remember that one year at band camp, Just kidding. So we went, we went to oh, it was you and Megan was just little Uh-huh, and she was in the truck with us and I screwed up on the first run in your car, Mm-hmm, and so we had to go get back in line and it was one of those years where there was one track, 4 million cars waiting to go.
Pam Curtis Olson:And it was hotter than.
Allison Volk Dean:Hades Almost as hot as it is now.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yeah pretty much, and I'm sitting in the car because I feel like a tard and I don't know you guys that well. You know you're in the air conditioning, anyway. So, yeah, yeah, we get that done and but back up to the part where I screwed up and your dad had was pushing me back and so I had my helmet off and I'm sitting in the car in that roll cage and your dad had come up and bumped me and my head would go back oh, oh, as you're taking off.
Allison Volk Dean:No but we're coming back. Oh, I got you.
Pam Curtis Olson:And he's like bumping the car and my head's hitting the road.
Allison Volk Dean:Like this isn't fun. I'm like okay.
Pam Curtis Olson:I understand that's my punishment. Thank you, sir. May I have another so?
Allison Volk Dean:you did, though you licensed up in that roadster. You did. So you did, though you licensed up in that roadster. You did, I did and you did good.
Pam Curtis Olson:Well, I mean that first time maybe not a rough, not the first time, not the second time, because the second time I pulled into, they said okay, we're going to start you in third because that was a tight fit. Yeah, okay, yeah. And like, my legs were a little longer than most. So all they said was and when you get to this, all you do is pull back into fourth gear. So I'm a dumb, I'm an amateur rookie, yes, and I pulled into second gear and then there was a lot of metal in the oil pan after that and I didn't know what that meant.
Allison Volk Dean:The engine didn't like that.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yeah, and so that's why I got bumped all the way back to the pit. Yes, oh, there you go.
Allison Volk Dean:That's when that happened. Oh, that makes more sense. So, yeah, that's it. Trust me, you're not the first driver to do that. I'm sure a lot of guys and girls are like yep, yep, yep, done that before. So Larry's like I've never done that Because I'm perfect. So yeah, no it's. I think it's very common. I think it's happened multiple times on that roadster.
Allison Volk Dean:So it's not just me, no, it's not just you. Thank you, oh my God, I hope I don't have to pay for that. Well, you got, you got to come back and did you license up in that one. Did you come back another, meet and race that?
Pam Curtis Olson:Okay, it was like three years we did licensing and stuff.
Allison Volk Dean:And then, yeah, because we were kind of back and forth, I think I would take we had another roadster I was licensing up in and then we kind of back and forth. I think I did a run and then you came in and did a run. I can't Seems like that.
Pam Curtis Olson:I don't remember that, but I mean remember how it all happened. Yeah, I do know that we were doing it at the same time. Yeah, and we got in the get up to in the Roadster, an A or up to A is over 200.
Allison Volk Dean:Or did you do your A license?
Pam Curtis Olson:I did my A license in this In the Streamliner?
Allison Volk Dean:Okay.
Pam Curtis Olson:And he's, you know, we're farting around doing whatever, and he just, Terry, looks at me and he goes get in and I'm like oh my God, it's real, it's go time. Now, what are you going to?
Allison Volk Dean:do big mouth Stupid bars, Stupid bars. So you get in and you go get your A license. What was it like writing that streamliner the first time?
Pam Curtis Olson:Oh, my goodness, okay, like everything he said was going to happen or to do. I mean, all I could hear was that in my head boom, boom, hit your shifts, do this, do that, and I think the craziest thing well, oh well, it's not the craziest, but funniest thing, then we'll go to the craziest thing.
Pam Curtis Olson:So you know you practice getting in, getting out. You got to do your bailouts, all that happy stuff. So Cease is going to push me off and I feel like all of a sudden I'm a cow stuck somewhere and I kept like moving around and moving around. Terry goes. You need to get her some air so that she can just calm down.
Allison Volk Dean:Get that hose on you, that air hose.
Pam Curtis Olson:So here comes Dr Air into the helmet and you know, the minute they put the lid on that thing, like everything else went away. Yeah, it was like peace, yep, love and harmony. Yeah, it just kind of clears up and, um, cease, pushes me off. And I hear in the radio, go, go, go. And I'm like, oh crap, here we go. It just hooked up the way it was supposed to. It did exactly what they said it was going to do. I hit my marks. I did go a little fast on my licensing run.
Pam Curtis Olson:So Mr Nish called into Glenn and said sorry about that, and the beautiful thing was he could still hear Glenn's voice. I can anyway, saying that was a beautiful run. I'll license that.
Allison Volk Dean:I was like, yes, that's awesome, that's great. Oh, I love that you have that memory just to can still hear it. So what was like the difference between the Roadster and the Streamliner going from those two?
Pam Curtis Olson:Oh my gosh, you know, I've never driven a Streamliner I don't know.
Allison Volk Dean:I know what a Roadster's like.
Pam Curtis Olson:That's hell. Okay, that is bumpy, it's wild, it's unpredictable really, and it's like oh my gosh, people that drive roadsters are my heroes because those things are bumpy.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh yeah, and they like to dance with you.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yes, they do, and I'm not, like, really a dancer, not even in real life. Yeah, so there I am, I graduate to this and it was like a Cadillac. It was yeah, it was just so smooth and it was so perfect and the the rush was crazy. It was crazy, yeah, and I stopped. You know chris and ed sheer, they're right there and, um, when the, when the shoots hit, that was like whoa, whoa, yeah, oh my gosh you were born for this.
Allison Volk Dean:You loved it.
Pam Curtis Olson:I loved it. I was addicted. Yeah, and Chris and Ed Sheer show up with a bottle of water and they're taking the lid off and stuff like that. I did a perfect turnout, by the way, may I say Excellent, perfect. Right on the return road just waiting for the pickup truck, I was like, yeah, nailed it, governor, that does feel good it does feel good because you don't ever want to get yelled at I mean not really yelled at but you get that stink eye, shame yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:That eye that you're like thanks Yep Makes me feel worse.
Allison Volk Dean:I know Well, you did a good run, you got off the track Excellent, good job on that one. So that was your A license.
Pam Curtis Olson:It sounds like yeah, so I'm going Wait. A license is unlimited, right? Oh no, that's double A Okay, so that was.
Allison Volk Dean:A.
Pam Curtis Olson:That's over $250. Place and I'm driving Terry's van thinking. I'm all that in a bag of Cheetos you know, and they're working on the car. So I think that we're fine and it's. You know, I've got all day to stand there and just talk myself up because I'm so cool at that point and all of a sudden somebody comes up and goes you're going to miss your ride. And I'm like what they did some freaking NASCAR turnaround thing and put me back in line.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh, my God.
Pam Curtis Olson:Which was probably a genius move, because if I wouldn't have the night to think about it, I'd be like that's enough. Yeah, that's enough, yeah, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:That's good. So you got right back in line. Got right back in line For your unlimited To qualify. Oh, your unlimited and your qualification. Yeah, okay, and what was the record on that? Do you remember what class it was? It was an E-Fuel Streamliner. What was the record that you remember? 215. 215?
Pam Curtis Olson:215 or 250?
Allison Volk Dean:I think probably 250. 250. You're probably 250. 250. You're probably right. Well, unless you guys blew the record out of the water if it was 215.
Pam Curtis Olson:Okay, you're right, I'm a tard.
Allison Volk Dean:I could have, you could have.
Pam Curtis Olson:No, no, you're right and I should you know. If you would have asked me this stuff 10 years ago, I could have nailed it, I know.
Allison Volk Dean:You know Well, I asked you on the fly to do this interview too.
Pam Curtis Olson:So you're, you didn't have time to think about it. So anyway, get back in line, qualify and then go to impound.
Allison Volk Dean:So you got your unlimited license and qualified on the same run.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yeah, okay, crazy, huh. Yeah, I did the same yeah.
Allison Volk Dean:I'll say, sister, I knew it.
Pam Curtis Olson:So it was great. It was great. So we go to impound and then that night, you know, usually I'm drinking, but I didn't because I oh no, can't do that Well. I'll tell you what Getting out of the car. Let me tell you what we get out of the car. When I, chris and Ed came to get me out and, like I was, I couldn't breathe. At the end of the qualifying pass, we qualified.
Allison Volk Dean:I was like Okay, so is this on the record run then? When is this? Okay, so you had the night you didn't drink.
Pam Curtis Olson:And then you go back and you do your pass to for the record. Is that what you're talking about? I'm talking about my first time. So, yeah, okay, he's gone. So, like I couldn't breathe and Ed about died, he's like, hey, I'm like calm down, give me a minute. I'll breathe first that air hose, when you need one, you know. But now and then, um, I couldn't get out of the car because I was like noodles.
Allison Volk Dean:Does everybody feel that? I think it's an adrenaline dump that you're having and I think it depends, you know, everybody kind of experiences it a little different.
Pam Curtis Olson:But yeah, I was spaghetti.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:And I'm like oh, oh, oh, just stop, I was Gumby, I was gummy, I'm like one of those things at the car dealerships.
Allison Volk Dean:Somebody help me, so you got out though. Yeah, I got out.
Pam Curtis Olson:And it was the most fabulous thing in the whole wide world to get a hug from the man that all I never wanted to do was disappoint him. Oh yeah, I never wanted to disappoint and it was a big stinking deal to me and everybody was excited and it was just, it was everything.
Allison Volk Dean:Yes, it's everything. You got the record. Yeah, and that was, and you got what's your record at.
Pam Curtis Olson:Two eighty seven, point eight to six.
Allison Volk Dean:And you still. Even if the record was 250, that's still blowing it out. It was big yeah, we, we really smashed you. Still, even if the record was 250, that's still blowing it out of the water. It was big.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yeah, we smashed it 215 would have really smashed it Right and they would have been like really, Is that the class? Let's go back to class it's somebody cheating?
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah no, you guys did good and you got the record, and you again. That's why I call you a high red.
Pam Curtis Olson:Because call you a high red, because you're close, you're getting, you're pushing up there on that 300. Yeah, now, how long did you hold that record for? Well, fabio came from Italy, you know, and they just spoke very little English, and I believe I got that in 2003. So, fabio, I, we held it for a long time. I should know I really should Like.
Allison Volk Dean:I said I asked him to fly, so it's like yeah, but so you held it for a while, though, and then Fabio he was. He came Okay, so he had his own streamliner from Italy. I remember when they came, yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yeah, they spoke very little English. They were so cute, so every day I'd go that I didn't get it.
Intro:Calm down, calm down.
Pam Curtis Olson:So the one day I decided to come late.
Allison Volk Dean:Guess who got my record you should have. Should have gotten there early, I know.
Pam Curtis Olson:They said, you better go down and see somebody. And I went, oh, really Good for them. And I walked down there and I, I believe I had a NIST shirt on. I didn't even have a two club shirt on, I had a NIST shirt and I walked down to their pits and they come running at me these all these Italian men so excited, and they're so excited. We're jumping up and down and hugging and I'm like, yay, they can't talk to me.
Allison Volk Dean:I can't talk to them, so it was fabulous, that's Lansmead right there, that's Bonneville. That's good, right, yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:Everybody is just so kind and everybody wants to help everybody. That's the best part about it. It's such a big family thing and you know, especially like your family, they just keep going, and going, and going and it's so much fun. And now Andy's doing it, and so he's keeping up the niche side and I just feel like I'm a sister. So I'm going to be here all the time.
Allison Volk Dean:You've been here for a while now You've earned your keep.
Pam Curtis Olson:You don't have to keep feeding us to make us happy, but you do, but you could. That way I don't have to do that feeding us to make us happy, but you do but you could.
Allison Volk Dean:That way I don't have to do that. Yeah, that's right, that's exactly right. Um, so you but you fell in love with this sport and, um, you kept coming out even afterwards and what? Um? Kind of what did you do when you were out here before, like, what do you currently do out here? What have you done since then?
Pam Curtis Olson:Basically, I just hang out in the pit and I will be a crew member, I'll do, I'll pull Paris, I mean, get parachutes picked up. And then you know there's kind of a process to get that car on the trailer Right. So you've got to kind of know the process and get it done. And then back in the day before we decided that, oh, I don't know, maybe a power washer would be good. I'm just saying we had to scrape salt like everywhere all the way, and the wheels on the car had little like round circles on them, they were chrome and they were so pretty and all that crap and it's like okay, and we couldn't let it go out when it was ugly, you know how to clean it, and that's still kind of what I was doing.
Allison Volk Dean:I was cleaning things and you know cause I I'm not a wrencher, yeah, so you do you pick up where in other places?
Pam Curtis Olson:which is great. I mean I sweep yeah, you know stuff like that Whatever needs to be done, yeah, and so it's just been a miracle, it's been a blessing. It's changed my entire life. Yeah, that little conversation in a bar changed my life.
Allison Volk Dean:I love that story. It's such a good story. It's so crazy and you just became a huge fan of the sport and you still come out from 2003. I think you're always out here. It seems like. I mean, it's not like I don't think you've really stopped ever coming out.
Pam Curtis Olson:I did Since then. We were going for it In 2004,. I was going for a three record. Oh, I think I remember that, yeah, and so I would have been like it would have made me the fastest woman in the world and it would have made me the fastest person on gas at that time.
Allison Volk Dean:Well, what happened with that? What didn't ever pan out.
Pam Curtis Olson:Well, I was in the car. So I was actually in the car to do it. Yeah, and I was just. You know, you get that feeling. Yeah, women's intuition thing. Yeah, yeah, and I was just. You know, you get that feeling. Yeah, women's intuition thing.
Allison Volk Dean:Yeah, yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:And I'm like something's wrong and Terry's like shut up, and I'm like no, something's wrong.
Allison Volk Dean:It's like yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:I'm like I don't think I wanted to beg Mike to do a shakedown, you know, because I could just feel it in my bones, yeah, but I didn't dare because I didn't know that and I should have, but anywho. So like getting on the line and everything, like I was in the blue room more than I was anywhere waiting. So terry tells cease, put her in the car real slow, because she's really bumpy today, because she's really bumpy today, really bumpy, and I was. I was like yeah, so anyway we get there.
Pam Curtis Olson:The last thing that Mike says to me is don't short shift or you won't make it. And I'm like, ok, so first thing I do. Second shift I short shifted. Well, this engine is bigger than my little E1. Okay, and it it was screaming at me and I'm like I'm going to blow this sucker up. Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? And it's just screaming and screaming. So I shifted because I don't. I used to drive a stick, so I thought that would be the right thing to do, but maybe you should listen to people when they know what they're talking about.
Allison Volk Dean:I don't know People that work on the car and the engine.
Pam Curtis Olson:You know, maybe you've got a little bit of knowledge. So it shook, the car shook and it was talking to me, but I thought it was because I short-shifted, because I just I didn't have the kind of experience that I needed, you know, really, and I just stuck my foot in it and it lifted and it went straight up in the air and it came down, went back up in the air, came down and did a couple rolls and the next thing I know Larry Lawson is sticking his face in my face and I'm on my side and he's like uh, pammy, you okay, hey, pammy, I'm like this is going to kill me and he goes.
Allison Volk Dean:No, he's not. That's so funny. You wake up and he's right there.
Pam Curtis Olson:So you know, you got everybody there and they're all and the fire's there and the paramedics and it was. It was a doozy of a crash. I mean honestly.
Allison Volk Dean:I remember. It's funny because like I'd forgotten about it until you started telling me. I'm like I totally remember it was a doozy of a crash, it was.
Pam Curtis Olson:And, like Bert Dahls, crashed at the same mile as I did in a streamliner doing about the same time, I mean same speed, oh yeah, and they end out and it was bad, it was bad, it was really bad. And then I think I crashed before him. Obviously, yeah, and the car didn't look that bad, it really didn't yeah, and the canopy had flown off way before. And I'm sitting there on the side trying to find the canopy thingy to release it, it's already gone, dummy.
Pam Curtis Olson:Okay, larry's got his head in here. There's a reason you can't find it.
Allison Volk Dean:What was it like to crash at that? Like what were you thinking? When did you lose your horizon?
Pam Curtis Olson:I'm like what.
Intro:He's like oh my.
Pam Curtis Olson:God Never mind, but I do remember going by the three at the timing stand, where Julie Berkdahl usually is, and I was like holy crap, I hope I don't hit him. I remember thinking that.
Intro:That's when my mind went.
Pam Curtis Olson:It was like it was over and paramedics, everybody shows up and I get they got a little fire in the back. So the fireman says to me you've got a little fire. And I'm like fat girl, small spot and I bail.
Intro:I don't even move the steering wheel.
Pam Curtis Olson:Okay, that thing is solid steel and I don't even freaking move it. I just push it out of the way and bet the fire extinguisher pulls with my knee and I'm out. I'm out.
Allison Volk Dean:I'm not going out this way.
Pam Curtis Olson:And the you know, the safety people here are amazing, amazing and the officials are just everything. So the paramedics want me to get in the truck. I'm like, listen, pal, ain't nothing, a couple Budweiser's won't fix okay. I need to go back to the bar, I'm fine, so you didn't go back. I did not get in the truck no.
Pam Curtis Olson:So were you bruised? My knees were bruised, but that was from hitting the fire extinguisher pole. Okay, I'm serious. The worst injury I had, very worst was it was really really windy one day day and I got hit by the blue room door in my leg and that's the worst. That's the worst injury I've had. That week.
Allison Volk Dean:Oh, that's so funny. Well, that's, I love the stories about Terry and Mike that you're telling and like what, what was it like? I mean, how is it like out here without them now? Like after, after, like you can go with one or the other, but or what it was like with them, and then you know how it is now.
Pam Curtis Olson:Well, you know, we still got a big, fast car and but now we don't have 20 guys right working on it, you know. And then you don't have because I'm sorry, that's okay, it's hard not to have them here, because that's that's my love. Yeah, you, you know it's both and I miss him a lot. Yeah, and with Terry not being here, you kind of have to follow the rules a little bit better, because you know you have to be a little more, not so cocky.
Intro:Yeah.
Pam Curtis Olson:Because you don't have anybody to stand up for you really, and I'm just kind of out here as a crew member.
Allison Volk Dean:So it's like you know, oh so, so sweet, though you really had a love for them. I love those, ben.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yeah, and I love every single one of the people that come here. Yeah, and I want Andy to succeed and I want to watch your kids, you know, do their thing when it's time, and I just there's camaraderie out here, yes, between everyone, you know, even if you're going to take their record. Yep, it's just, it's everything, it's just such a, it's such a good feeling. And people say well, how much do you?
Allison Volk Dean:get paid to do that and I'm like what are you talking about? Okay, I pay stuff to go there. I lost money on this. I lost a lot of money on this. No, I didn't.
Pam Curtis Olson:But it was. I get my name in a book, I get to wear a cool red hat and a cool shirt, and other than that not it, yeah, no, yeah, it's for the glory.
Allison Volk Dean:You get the glory, yeah, yeah that's what it's about.
Pam Curtis Olson:Yep, and every year you know when the rule book comes, you check again to make sure that, okay, fabio still owns yeah, maybe somebody needs to go take that back, pam I mean, you know, somebody asked me that would you get back in.
Allison Volk Dean:I said no, I'm too old and fat now no, no and I'm not nice enough to suck up yeah you know I'm over that, yeah, but you're still out here enjoying the sport and loving your people. You got a great crew. I have a fabulous crew.
Pam Curtis Olson:Well, it's not my crew, it's Andy's crew.
Allison Volk Dean:Well, but you're part of it, You're part of the crew and you're the crew.
Pam Curtis Olson:It's fun.
Allison Volk Dean:It's so much fun, you're one of the few women over here, so somebody's got to look after these guys.
Pam Curtis Olson:Back in the day day I was like the only woman, yeah, the only one, yeah, and you know, cecil did all the cooking. Oh, he did, I didn't know that. Yeah, so he's racing cars, fixing cars, fixing engines, doing this, doing that and cooking dinner all at the same time and I'm like I can't even shut corn for you, dude because you scare me and so does your dog.
Allison Volk Dean:So does your dog. That's so funny. Well, that was an awesome story. I got me teary-eyed talking about the past and the future of this, and I think that's a good. That's a good reason to kind of focus on saving the salt and just for what's ahead for oh yeah these guys to keep them, keep it going yeah, yeah, it's got to keep going because it's so much fun.
Pam Curtis Olson:And you think to yourself, oh my gosh, people in Salt Lake have no idea. You're an hour and a half away from a wonder of the world and people come from all over the world. I mean, the Kiwis are just next door. Yeah, they're a kick. Yeah, they are, they're a lot of fun. So it's like we have people that you know cliff's been coming out forever. He comes from washington, just a crew to get yelled at, beat up, sat home sat home with dirty laundry yes, so it's great and I got to meet you and your family and I.
Pam Curtis Olson:I'm blessed beyond because of this place, because of this place and because of people like you.
Allison Volk Dean:Ah, that's beautiful, Pam. Thanks, allison, great interview. Thank you so much.
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