David Salyers
The Class of 1958
Lincoln Community High School
Lincoln, Illinois
Attended Lincoln College for one semester, 9/1958-1/1959
Transferred to University of Illinois, 1/1959
Couldn't raise enough money to go back to school in fall
1959, so joined the Army. Trained as a medical specialist; worked in the
ER at Madigan General Hospital, in Washington state; worked in a manufacturing
pharmacy in Frankfurt, W. Germany, from 1960-1962.
Was able to travel widely in Europe, learned German and also
got some college credits from the U. of Maryland extension.
Returned to U of I in 9/1962, after spending a scintillating
couple of months working the night shift at the old china factory.
Graduated in 1965, with a degree in history, split minor on sociology and
German.
Went to work in the marketing dept. at Smith, Kline &
French Pharmaceuticals, in Philadelphia. Worked there for a year, then
returned to U of I to start a computer programming services business with a
couple of school chums. Be aware that I was the marketing/general
management component. I didn't then know much about computers, etc. --
and still don't.
Viet Nam put paid to that business. My two partners, the
technical side of the business, were all fleeing the draft by joining draft -
exempt businesses.
In 1967, I went to work for Caterpillar, in Peoria, in
marketing services. I applied for an MBA and was accepted to several
schools. After choosing one, I asked for delayed entrance, and
went to work in Vienna. After than job ended, I traveled to
Greece, sailed the Greek Islands for a couple of months, ending up in Palermo.
From there, I traveled through North Africa with three Swedish
kids. We parted company in Koege, Denmark. From there, I went
to London and was lucky to find a job. I stayed there until 3/1969, when
I thought it would be a good idea to return to the US to make some money for
school.
I came to Chicago, and began buying residential real estate. I
decided not to go for my MBA. I worked as an assistant editor
with the leading restaurant trade magazine -- "Restaurants &
Institutions." I stayed there until 1972, as wine columnist and
features editor. As a side job, I was restaurant critic for
"Chicago" magazine from 1970-72.
I then joined "Playboy" magazine's public relations
department and worked there as director of public relations until 1984, when I
was named the #2 guy in the corporate public relations department.
In 1981, I married Sandra Carman, who at the time was in
public relations for American Hospital Supply Corp.
In 1985, I got involved in motor racing, campaigning a
sports-racing car in SCCA amateur races. For an old guy, I did
relatively well, setting a lap record for the class at the Blackhawk Farms
circuit, in Wisconsin.
In 1987, I moved into the showroom stock class -- a class for
street-legal cars like Camaros, Porsches, VW GTI's, Saturns, Hondas, etc.
I was a factory driver for Peugeot, which paid us very nice purses for high
finishes (even though we were running in an amateur class). I managed a
pole position and win for Peugeot at Road America in 5/1987.
Soon after, I met a fellow from Columbus, Ohio, who was
campaigning two factory Peugeots in a couple of professional sedan endurance
series -- the SCCA Escort Cup and the IMSA Firestone Firehawk series.
I left the amateur ranks and began driving for him. In
these two series, I competed against some drivers who today are Indy car
NASCAR and Trans-Am series drivers, including Robbie Buhl, Al Unser, Jr.,
Dorsey Schroeder, Chris Neville, etc. Our races were endurance
competitions -- the shortest was 3 hours, the longest, 24 hours.
Endurance racing is much more interesting than sprint races,
because there were three different classes of cars on the circuit at the same
time. Pit strategy was paramount to success, and we had to change tires,
and even brakes in the longer races, so a good crew was vital.
In 1990, I moved to a Ford Probe team, also from Columbus,
Ohio, and raced for them off and on, until 1992. The series took us to
many of the top road-racing venues in North America -- Road America, Sebring,
Road Atlanta, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, and Mosport, in Canada.
(I had a pretty spectacular crash at the 24 hours of Watkins
Glen that was an ESPN highlight. Fortunately, no one was hurt. I
got tapped from behind on a high-speed portion of the course and things got a
bit hectic for a few moments as I went backwards up the track at a dramatic
rate of speed.)
Since 1992, I've done some driving, but not at the same level.
Spent a good weekend in Feb. racing at Sebring in the kind of sports racing
car that I used to drive.
In 1/1987, Sandra and I began our own public relations
and marketing communications company, which she still operates. I still
teach -- as adjunct professor -- the public relations sequence in the Master's
of Communication program at Illinois Institute of Technology graduate school.
In 1970, I began buying small residential buildings on
Chicago's Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods. As time passed, I did
some renovation and in 1985, a partner and I developed 13 single-family homes
in Lincoln Park.
In 1998, I began doing real estate development and sales full
-time, working with a fellow with whom I've owned property for more than 20
years.
Sandra and I live in Lincoln Park, in a building I've owned
since 1973.