So, I took the phone and had it for three years before it got wet and ruined and not once, not the first time, did I ever even attempt to take a picture.  When I got my replacement cell phone last year, I got the 3G thing because my plan was up for renewal and I could get the phone for 99 cents.  I have learned to take pictures and have learned to send those pictures to Ann’s phone.  That is the extent of my technical knowledge with a cell phone.  Ann, on the other hand, had to get a new phone about 8 months ago.  Now, bear in mind that she had never sent a text message although she had received one or two from the daughter on her old cell.  Within 48 hours, Ann is texting, taking pictures and forwarding them, getting videos, playing games privately and with friends on-line, although she has stayed away from Alex Baldwin and “Words with Friends”.  She has “apps” that tell her of news bulletins and that update her as to weather, anywhere she is or anywhere she is planning to go.  She is absolutely amazing with that thing.

As for computers, she has the desk top and knows how to do so many things on that computer.  I actually need her to turn that on for me because I am never sure if I’m pushing the right button or not.  She can do so many things on that computer that I can’t even begin to tell you all of them.  She obviously has tremendous patience, as being married to me for 30 years should attest, but she also has the ability to learn these new things and understand them.  Wish I could say the same for me but that just isn’t so.

Going one further, when you look around the website here, there are many of us to whom computers were something from science fiction stories when we were teenagers.  It’s not like we grew up with computers in school.  I learned to type on a huge Royal typewriter in typing class in high school.  Certainly is different typing on the computer but I have adapted to that relatively well, although typos may indicate otherwise.

Now that you have my background in technical issues, we’ll get to the racing related point of this Legendtorial.

First, let’s discuss road course racing.  I was not a huge fan of road courses with Riverside, Sonoma and Watkins Glen, not one of which was close enough for me to consider attending.  Television coverage of a road course race is difficult, I know, but watching them on TV just never provides the thrill for me.  Then, a couple of years ago, I attended the Augusta International Raceway Preservation Society event in Augusta, Georgia for the first time.  It was then that I remembered that back in November, 1963, several friends and I traveled to the ONE race that was held there which was won by Fireball Roberts and that was his last win.  Someone, maybe Fred Harper, mentioned that much of the old road course track was still visible in the woods.  So I took a walk and found the track as well as the huge concrete letters that spelled out Augusta International Raceway.  It was then that I realized how much I had enjoyed that race as my friends and I had walked all the way around the infield of the track watching the race from the different turns.  It was a really wonderful sight to behold as those drivers, back in 1963, would throw those big stockers through those turns.  I left Augusta that day with a new enthusiasm for road course racing.  As PattyKay recently wrote in a home-page article, stock car racing really did begin on twisty mountain roads with moonshine loaded cars racing the revenuers (Please do not tell NASCAR I said that).  So, you see, this old dog learned a new trick about appreciating road course racing.

Now, let’s talk about something else this old dog learned this past weekend.  I have made no secret of the fact that I have a strong dislike for the way Danica Patrick came into the sport and what she has been doing in the sport.  I am much like Ernest Sutton and the Forum Post he put up this past weekend.  I am very impressed by the run Danica made at Road America.  She had a legitimate chance to win that race, certainly a top five, until she was punted in the turn.  No further comment on that.  But I was impressed with her skills.  BUT, and this is the major issue with me, the interview she gave on pit road after the race was stellar.  I had already told Ann that Danica would never consent to an interview after the unceremonious way she was dumped,  but was I ever wrong!  She gave the best interview she has given since I’ve known who she was.  No, I’m not becoming a Danica Patrick fan by any means, but I have to give her credit for how she drove and the way she handled that interview, although I know she was probably scripted with what to say.  She still handled it well.  So, you see, another new trick this old dog is learning:  to admit I may have been totally wrong in my previous comments about Ms. Patrick, but then again, maybe it is easier for her to give decent interviews when she’s not begging for the “heat” in those stupid commercials she does and when she is fully clothed in her driver’s uniform.   I will still reserve the right to blast her in the future if I feel like it; after all, that’s what I do here. That’s why I get paid the big bucks.

Last week, Bill McPeek was in the studio during this show and I had the opportunity to talk with him several times when we were off air in breaks.  I have tremendous respect for Bill for the way he handles himself.  Part of what I learned from Bill last week was that he personally knows D.W.   I’m sure most of you were listening and Bill informed me of that fact.  Bill also told me that D.W. is basically a good guy, and some of you here, especially Tommie Clinard, have supported that statement several times.  I told Bill McPeek that, based on his statement, I was willing to concede that I could possibly be wrong about D.W., although I have issues with that.  Now, for the young man in Charlotte who burned up my e-mail the last time I said something positive about D.W., you are certainly welcome to hit me again, but this time know that my talk with Bill McPeek gives me reason to believe that D.W. and I could sit down and settle these differences we have.  My major issue with him has been my perception of his total lack of appreciation for the roots of the sport. Bill tells me this is not so.  He tells me that D.W. always praises the pioneers of the sport and does have great respect for what came before HIS perceived beginning of the sport in 1979.  Again, I’m not ready to become a D.W. fan, but I’m willing to listen to Bill McPeek because I have a great deal of respect for him and his opinions.

Maybe teaching old dogs new tricks was not an appropriate theme for this particular Legendtorial, but I did feel like an old dog learning some new things this past week.   Much happened this past week that took me back in time and through the pages of my mind, as the song says, and maybe my mellowness as I write this is more the result of knowing that the majority of my life has passed but what lies ahead is not worth wasting time in petty disputes and criticisms.  I have learned a new appreciation for many things in the past year, nothing more so than the appreciation for all I have.  Wow, I’m one lucky guy!  If you think this was too personal, yes, I would have to agree with you.  But I had to point out that things change and although I’ll never be able to do what Ann does with her cell phone, I’ll manage to hang around here and fill this time slot with my opinions!

-Tim

E-mail me at:   legendtim83@yahoo.com

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