Once upon a time, a young Mining Engineer was assigned to the Butte, Montana office of the Bureau of Mines. Receiving the 4th of July off from work, and not having enough time off to drive home to see his girl, the young Engineer volunteered to help at a mountain race that a local European sport car dealer was sponsoring. He ended up working registration with the teenage son of the car dealer. A friendship was struck, and through that summer, the young Engineer was introduced to the world of sport car rally driving by the dealer's son.
Many years later, a man needed to build a structure on Bureau of Land Management land. Unique permits would be needed for that. He called the only government contact he had for help obtaining the permits - the Engineer from the Bureau of Mines. The permits were unique because they were for a rocket launch ramp. The Engineer was only happy to repay the favor to his long-ago friend.
The man building the structure was Evel Knieval. His rally car friend was my dad.
