What kind of car do you drive? A Hyundai Tucson with an indeterminate number of miles and an indeterminate number of payments. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? It was rib steak, but now it is government cheese. I'm partial to containers of cut fruit, wax or otherwise. What is your favorite all-time track to visit? There isn't one in particular, though my loyalties can be bought. What is your favorite track to bet? Parr Meadows, since I've had this thing for defunct, eastern Long Island quarter-horse outposts. What is your favorite big event in racing? I've either attended or covered Breeders Crowns, the Jug, Hambletonians, Kentucky Futurity, World Trotting Derby, all Yonkers' stakes, etc., but the one event that I remember as much as any was the March of Dimes Trot at dearly-departed Garden State Park. It was the Fall of 1988 and the race lived up to what it was supposed to be. Sugarcane Hanover picking off Ourasi and Mack Lobell late; tremendous. I was able to take Dad, too, which made it better. You were a victim of COVID-19 layoffs at Yonkers Raceway. Are you surprised the track didn't bring you back? Are you bitter? I'm never surprised, knowing that one handicaps based upon past performance. Once the furlough began, it took about nine weeks for an MGM someone to pick up the phone to see if I wasn't decomposing . . . yet. I've never officially been notified that I was not returning. I sort of figured that one out. After 24 to 25 years of being the marginally-photogenic and reasonably-competent face of the place (with tenure supposedly grandfathered in after the MGM sale), I did not receive a nickel in severance. So much for those lovely parting gifts. Part of your job at Yonkers was being a public handicapper. How good of a handicapper are you? Decent, but what horseplayer thinks otherwise? I've never been one to pick short-priced horses, then salute myself when they win. The public doesn't need me to find 3-5 shots and I won't bet them. The object, as I see it, is to beat the board, and if I can do so a few times per program, that ought to compensate for the cavalcade of losers, theoretically. Your broadcasting style was always a bit self-deprecating and your writing style quirky. Is there a hidden stand-up comedian inside you? Ironically, Self-Deprecating and Quirky is the law firm I have on retainer. I've never taken myself that seriously, and the philosophy is/was very simple. I write/wrote what I see/saw and I say/said what I see/saw. The obligation I felt is/was always to make it an interesting read or broadcast, hopefully through some semblance of wit. Also, after writing professional (sometimes even well-crafted) comedy for some time, what's been learned is this . . . that if I can fool one more person into laughing with me than at me, the meds have been sufficiently regulated. You've worked with a number of on-air partners. Do you have a favorite? I've been fortunate to have sat next to handicappers/co-hosts who had an opinion, including Peter Kleinhans, Matt Rose and Gary Machiz. However, the rapport I enjoyed with Peter Venaglia always played better, because not only did he have an opinion, but we'd go off the rails and reservations numerous times, taking shots at one another religiously during every broadcast for years. It made the show unique and, I would surmise, enjoyable. Both of us have very thick skins and I'm just glad there's no audio floating around of some of the off-air, un-PC back-and-forth. He's not a well man (joking), but I nonetheless consider him a good friend. Did you know in a Google search that you are the seventh Frank Drucker? Do the first six also have lengthy criminal records? How long were you working at Yonkers either as publicity director or in other jobs? Back in 1989, I was at the New York Post, dividing my time between copy editing and covering the races. It was the debut season of Yonkers' Fall and Summer Racing series, a live hour around the stakes schedule that aired throughout the country via regional cable outlets. Gary Sussman, the track's publicity director at the time, hosted the show and invited me to be the handicapper. The Summer Racing shows went through 1996, I believe, and I advanced from handicapper to trackside interviewer to co-host. Gary went to work for the then-New Jersey Nets and I became publicity director. Gary and Matt Loughlin, who worked trackside after me and has been the New Jersey Devils' radio voice for years, are also not well men but good friends. The same goes for directors Al Bernstein and Mitch Levites. What do you miss most about working at Yonkers? The pay envelope. The people, not so much. What have you been doing over the last six months? Are you retired or seeking employment? I hate this living off the state, hate it. It's a new and unwelcome experience. I've never thought of retiring, at least not until the checks roll in from the online Ugandan lottery . . . that's legit, right? I need to get my ass out of bed with a purpose, so I've been trying to see what's out there, in addition to having a carefully-screened network of deviants, miscreants, guttersnipes and scofflaws looking on my behalf. Is racing still on your mind? I've not so much as even looked at a Yonkers overnight sheet, though I've wagered elsewhere through ADW's or at the Meadowlands when folks I loiter with have taken the trip. I've done some stories for Hoof Beats, primarily because I'm a big fan of the editrix, Kim French. What is your favorite sport to watch? Team? Football, basketball and hockey, but not as closely as in the past for a number of reasons. I don't find baseball to be nearly the same sport I grew up watching, so they've lost me. As Peter Vecsey's long-time Hoop du Jour column castigator, I suppose I find more humor in the NBA. He's another man who's not well, yet someone I consider a dear friend. Do you sense a pattern here? I have no favorite teams, however. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? Trying for mental stimulation, I indiscriminately rip tags off mattresses. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Perhaps incomplete, but perhaps not. How did you get started in the sport? Mom and Dad did not exactly practice solid parenting when they decided taking me with them to the track (they'd go a few times a month) would save the cost of a babysitter. I was eventually reading the program at a prepubescent age and my father made me earn my adolescent keep by running his action at the windows. You got to call some races in the last year. What was that like? It wasn't a gig that I ever had a desire to do, but after a tragic accident - shall not rehash it here - I was thrust, by me, into the job. I just tried being a quick study and the reviews were generally positive. If the memory serves, I did it for three nights, Peter Kleinhans, Howie Oil and Larry Lederman all took turns while others generously volunteered. I was especially indebted to Larry, known faker/hypochondriac, for helping out. Do you have a favorite horse from your time in the sport? I can't go past Niatross and Somebeachsomewhere to start a list. I watched the former as a fan and he was terrific. The latter invaded Yonkers for the 2008 Messenger, a few months after my mom passed away. There was torrential rain. It was as if the Good Lord was throwing things down from above and Noah was on the apron collecting two of everything. Somebeachsomewhere and Shadow Play hooked up in a helluva race, the former winning in 1:52 1/5 over a track that had to be an hour-and-a-half off. I was quite popular with the Maritime media leading to the race, and for some unknown reason, there are distinguished Nova Scotians who tolerate me to this very day. Here's a name that won't mean anything to anyone except me. Culver Pence was a bottom-of-the-classified-ranks New York-area pacer from when I misspent my youth . . . perhaps the first winner ever for me, so I've always retained a soft spot for him. What is the best advice you've ever gotten about harness racing? Post position is important on a half-mile track. What was your favorite moment in harness racing? The sheer exhilaration that only comes after going through 44 forests worth of losing tickets and finding a scratch. What's the strangest thing to happen to you in harness racing? Try this . . . I remember an upstate horseman coming down and winning some small event or other. We had this trophy, a prop, for the winner's circle picture. This was about a $6 flea-market special. Well, this gentleman had the trophy confused with a Faberge egg, thought it was the greatest thing he'd ever seen and would not give it back. He hightailed it back to the paddock and I had to chase him down. I was also recognized in the DuQuoin, Illinois men's room. Does that count? If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? Just one, huh? How about a horse not living in the same class for his or her lifetime? There's nothing more nauseating (for the non-owner) than having a 1-for-41 sort with $70,000 on the card subletting the non-winners of two's. When the object of the driver and the objective of the gambler is not the same, that ain't right. That's not my only pet peeve. The other ones are in my scintillating manifesto, which shall be completed once I finish cutting letters out of magazines. How do you view the future of harness racing? When one form of gambling is subsidized by another form of gambling and casino companies are involved, I'm pretty sure it's not exactly dealing from strength. Time for the stretch drive: Best Horse You Ever Saw?: Again, the names such as Niatross and Somebeachsomewhere for pacers, Mack Lobell and Peace Corps as trotters. Best Driver Ever?: Michel Lachance, for his success against some very tough Yonkers/Roosevelt foes. Best Trainer Ever?: Jim Jupiter (Editor's Note: No, he's not a harness trainer - Click here) Favorite TV Show?: I'm dating myself (which is legal in 46 states, by the way), but I'm partial to older comedies, The Odd Couple, Married...with Children and The Honeymooners. I've watched each episode a million times and I continue to find 'em funny. That's the litmus test. Trotters or Pacers?: See last winner.