Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006 | 7:26 a.m.
Now that the Stardust is closed, I'd like to add one more reason why it was a grand hotel in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They allowed our newly formed local Mensa group to hold (along with the second small convention we had there) the only turtle and tortoise races ever held on the Strip.
Some students and I started the practice at the old Basic High School and Channel 8 came out and put kids and critters on the evening news. We tried to get it recognized as an intramural sport, but the Clark County School District said no. The Stardust folks, however, said yes and let us use part of the parking lot near the front.
Turtles ran in a fenced-in U track, taking off from one end, going around the curve, up and over a wooden bridge, then plopping into a shallow water tank and swimming for the finish line.
Tortoises were put in the center of a 20-foot chalked circle, and the first one across the line was the winner. We had to caution both owners and spectators (some were tourists who never thought to see that on the Strip) not to point at an animal. That would make it withdraw into its shell and if it decided to take a short nap, it might not win.
We held several races for each group, partly to see if they would learn to be better racers. The only animal to consistently lose was the fossil tortoise brought by Roy Purcell, then curator of the Southern Nevada Museum in Henderson. He was likely just too old and tired to budge.
Thanks, Stardust, for the memories.
George Appleton, Las Vegas
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