Hey everyone, before we get started, a quick note that this episode does contain explicit

language as well as some descriptions of violence.

It may not be appropriate for kids.

So far this season, you've heard a lot about Black Thursday.

That was the day the FBI made 70 arrests and busted open a $300 million drug smuggling

ring that had infiltrated NASCAR.

It happened on Thursday, February 18, 1982, which was four days after the day tone of 500

that year.

Very blue and billy Harvey were two of the bigger names involved, made bigger by the

fact that they had both competed in that very same day tone of 500 just days earlier.

Others involved from the racing world included Pee Wee Griffin, a successful short track

racer and car owner.

We were interested in Black Thursday because the names we just mentioned, they had all

known Mario Rossi.

And the arrests happened less than a year before Rossi disappeared.

Here's Mario Rossi's daughter, Tina Rossi Grimes, talking about it.

A lot of those key players that he was friends with and ran racing with went to jail.

That, you know, the people that that trial that happened, it just seemed too coincidental

to us that this the time frame, it just seemed too coincidental.

So we told the Rossi family that we would look into it.

But as we quickly learned in order to understand how Black Thursday ever even happened, we

needed a bit of context.

...