Okay, let's go back in the day............................as Rocky and Bullwinkle's, Mr. Peabody, would say..........."set the way-back machine for September 1969, Sherman........................ (remember?)" In classic fashion, Big Bill France, and friends, had constructed and was opening the "Alabama International Motor Speedway" that September. The big speedway had created such a buzz, (my dad even made the trip from North Carolina) that Ford motor company had named their aerodynamiclly enhanced Torino, the "Talladega" - before the speedway was completed, and before a lap was ever run. Not to be outdone, Chrysler had quickly developed the needle-nosed Charger "Daytona". The iconic winged racer would be unveiled at the inaugural Talladega 500.Storm clouds were brewing. AIMS had not, yet, hosted a race, but Goodyear and Firestone had been conducting tire tests that summer, and were both (privately) scratching their heads. The Alabama pavement seemed to be unusually abrasive, and coupled with the unprecedented speeds, tires simply wouldn't last for more than a few laps. As the big race approached, the tire problem had not been solved. Not surprisingly, the tire company's woes, were well known to the race teams.Actually, the storm clouds were brewing at (or immediately after) Daytona's Streamline Hotel gathering in December of 1947, at NASCAR's formation. By September of '69 the clouds had built and swirled into a cat-5, landfalling hurricane. The driver's position: "Bill we're making you a millonaire, and we a'int got nothing..........no pension......... no say-so....................no nothing!"There HAD been attempts at evening the score, most notably, Curtis Turner, Tim Flock and Fireball Roberts had entered into desparate discussions with the Teamsters Union in the early 1960's. Turner, of course, needed financing to complete the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Flock had some star-power and was Turner's good friend, and Fireball was the face of NASCAR. CMS's financing could be arranged, in return for Turner (and company's) deliverance of NASCAR's drivers into the Teamsters.If there was one thing that Big Bill detested more than a rain-out, it was any real or imagined threat to his power. Bill's role as NASCAR's self-appointed czar would not be challenged. He cooly announced to Turner and everybody else listening, that there would be no union in NASCAR...........he'd stop it with his pistol, if he had to,....... and he knew how to use it. Turner and Flock were expelled from NACAR for life. Fireball, meanwhile, had managed to work is way back into Big Bill's good graces, Richard Petty became the up-and-coming mega-star; business went on as usual..........minus Turner and Flock.............. The hurricane temporarily lost forward momentum, began an eight year holding pattern, and hovered just off NASCAR's coast.