The original host's first name was Bob (can't think of the last name).
In addition to what Mike noted...
\ Just as much as you had to reach the $50K goal exactly (read, if you were two squares shy of winning, you had to draw a "+2" card), you were eliminated if you drew a "-1" or "-2" card and that moved you down exactly to "square one".
\ In every contestant's track was a randomly designated bonus square (IIRC, bells and the square's light flashing signaled the bonus was hit...this as opposed to the word "bonus" popping up on the "double play" board). The bonus associated with the bonus square was a brand new car. The player could leave the game and take the car or stay in the game. (Also, IIRC, after two players hit their respective bonus squares and took/declined their cars, all the other players' bonus squares were voided.)
\ Before the double play era, the losing contestants were each given $1000. The player could take the 1000 or trade it away for one spin of a wheel (spaces represented lots of cash and prizes; later limited to just cash; odds were really good you'd land on something better than 1000, so players often took a chance and spun).
\ Later in the run and before the double play board was introduced, each player was given $1000 to start the actual CE game. For each legitimate move up or down the track, the player won/lost $50 (i.e., a "2" was worth $100 in addition to moving up the track 2 spaces; a "3" for $150; a "-2" for a loss of $100). Still later, moving up or down was worth $100 per move. Reaching the goal augmented the player's total to $50K while the others could keep their cash or trade it away for a spin of the wheel (IIRC, the most a player could win in the main game without winning the $50K was $1450/$1900; still, odds were good you'd win something more than $1000...yet there were a couple of $1000 spaces meaning a net loss of money).
...and there was a side-game I remember that was used during the double play era call "Whirl Win". Worked much like the bonus game of the most recent version of "Beat The Clock". Put the player in a booth where various denomination of cash are swirling around and grab as many bills as possible and place in his/her bag ($25,000 was possible). In "Whirl Win", there was a specially marked bill that guaranteed a full $25,000 win if all the other cash wasn't in the player bag.