My Racing "Treasure" / How About Yours?

When I went to my very first race - Spring 1964 Richmond 250 NASCAR GN - at the Richmond fairgrounds dirt track, it didn't take long to realize that the folks around me in the bleachers that really seemed to be "in the know" and acted like they knew what they were talking about all seemed to share a common trait. They were all sitting on what my buddies and I came to call "The Darlington Cushion ." It was a square, whiteseat cushion with the Southern 500 logo and Darlington Raceway on it. This was the pre-sanitized Southern 500 logo that included a Confederate / Rebel battle flag.

As I began to go to local weekly racesin Richmond at Southside Speedway I saw more Darlington cushions. Around Richmond, having a Darlington cushion was the badge that marked you as a "real" race fan. Oh how my buddy Frank and I wanted a Darlington cushion to prove that we, too, were real race fans and knew what we were talking about and had been down to South Carolina on Labor Day to see the "Granddaddy of them All" - the Southern 500 . We continued to go to Grand National races at Richmond, Rockingham and Beltsville, MD, as well as NASCAR weekly Modified racing at Southside, Langley Field, South Boston and Old Dominion Speedways. But we still didn't have a Darlington cushion, the true badge of the real race fan. That was in the days before on-line selling and to our knowledge the only way to get that one true badge of honor was to go to the Southern 500. Oh, we saw people with Charlotte cushions and Daytona cushions, but they were like an American Flyer train set compared to a Lionel set or Japanese China compared to English China or Lexington style barbecue compared to the one true barbecue style of eastern NC. Only the Darlington cushion was the real deal for the real race fan. To make matters worse, Ray Melton , the old military veteran, carnival barker and P.A. announcer was a personal friend of Richmond promoter Paul Sawyer. Melton was "Chief Announcer" for all of Paul's races, but Melton was also chief announcer at Darlington and as such spent a lot of time talking about it on the mike at the Richmond races. Our September Richmond race always followed the Labor Day Monday Southern 500 by exactly six days, so we always got a complete replay of the Southern 500 from Ray at the Capital City 300,NASCAR GN dirt track racing's biggest payday.

Finally, on Labor Day 1966 (as I have previously recounted on these pages), my buddy, Frank and I arrived in Darlington via Greyhound Bus for the 1966 Southern 500. Our first task upon entering those sacred and hallowed grounds was to purchase a Darlington cushion for each of us. From that hot 1966 Labor Day forward, Frank and I carried the badge of the true NASCAR race fan to every race we attended at every venue, large and small, NASCAR Grand National or local, weekly modified, sportsman and late model sportsman. Dirt and asphalt."Outlaw"tracks, too. Every single soul who ever saw us go through the grandstand gates at any track from that day forward knew we were the real deal. We each carried a Darlington Cushion. The badge of honor among race fans.

Somewhere in my garage in a box lies that tattered old Darlington cushion.Its coveringwas made of a slick, shinyvinyl - not like the stadium cushions you see today. It was very thin, today's stadium cushions are very thick. It was stuffed. Really stuffed. No foam block. When my Darlington cushion started wearing out the stuffing literally started coming out. Not having access to 200 mph duct tape, my Darlington cushion was repaired with colored electrical tape to go out again in the dust and grime and murky Friday and Saturday nights under inadequate lighting at tracks that long ago added to my memory banks images that can never be replaced. I sat on that old cushion as the stars and cars of NASCAR's elite Grand National Racing Division passed in review. I jumped from that cushion to cheer Curtis Turner and David Pearson and Richard Petty and JT Putney and Ray Hendrick and Sonny Hutchins and Al Grinnan and Farmer John Matthews .

Never again will I want a racing related item so badly as I wanted that Darlington cushion.

How many of you good RR members had an "original" Darlington cushion? Were you as proud of your cushion as I was of mine? How about any other treasured racing artifact?

Well Dave, my treasured artifact is not something you set on but something you wear. Before team uniforms were part of an advertising campaign they were home made. The crew that went to Rockingham Speedway with Dad in the 60's had white cotton shirts with a #4 made of red and blue cloth sewn on the back. He even made one for me and my brother, I still have it.

Dad tells a story about those team shirts. They took a '57 Chevy to Hickory in 1963. Dad was the only one with Nascar license so the two that went with him had to sit in the grandstands. The car was geared to run Rockingham, shorter and less banking than Hickory, so he ran so poorly that the crew took their shirts off in embarrassment and got sunburn.

Served 'em right, lol!

By the way.... in the early 70s we had these brown turtlenecks and brown "brushed" denim jeans with a white belt anda whitenumber 11 ironed on the back. We bought the turtlenecks, jeans and belts at the Roses store in Wilson. I hated turtlenecks then and I hate them now. When Roses started sponsoring Tommy Houston's Busch car I always thought about those "uniforms" we bought at Roses.

I think I have too many. I have lug nuts from cars. Autographs. I think the most treasured artifact I have is an autographed Dale Earnhardt card. When I was 18 and graduated high school I wanted Dale Earnhardt's autograph. I sent a card with a self addressed stamped envelop for him to sign and send back. I was away in college at the time. I sent it out with a fan letter saying I congrads on his Daytona win and good luck this season and that I still believed in him and admired him. The one last thing I said in the letter was and I kindly asked him, "Could you please sign this card and send it back. I do not care how long it takes because I know you get alot of requests. Just take your time and I'll understand."

Sure enough a year later I got a call from my Mom saying, "hey something from North Carolina came in the mail for you." Sure enough it was the envelop I sent to Earnhardt. Best of all an extra couple cents were put on the envelope because the price went up. I opened it up and sure enough I found an autographed Dale Earnhardt card that I sent. I still have it to this day. Its safely packed away at my parents house and indeed it is a very special thing to me.

I have far too many treasures from my years around the sport to start listing here. But I can tell you my number one treasure! My memories. All those years and wonderful experiences which, by the way, continue accumulating because of this site and all the awesome folks who hang out here.

Even though a have a collection of mostly 1/64 scale cars (don't collect them no more) at my house. I have a much bigger collection. As most of ya'll know, I volunteer at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame as a tour guide/historian. I am there almost every weekend if some sort of racing event is not that day and most days after school. Even though I have very few pieces on display to the museum, just seeing all the historic items several times a day still gets me excited. And I love to tell and teach people about every little thing that's in thatmuseum. So like I said, even though I don't own that much, I just like the to think that the museum it self is part of my collection. I just love everything in that museum, every car, every photo, trophy, uniform, article, signs, just everything. It's just my life, and I know I keep saying it, but I think I have quite a unique collection.

But to answer Dave's question about MY prized possession. I really couldn't think of one, I mean I have a shadow box in my room on my wall of my personally autographed Tony Stewart Home Depot Jacket and a framed photo with his and Denny Hamlin's tire pieces, both autographed. But probably, more than the autographed Richard Petty championship cars, and more than my copy of Bill Elliott's sports illistrated, and maybe even more than anything else is my autograph book. I went to the Ford South Show that was in Cumming Ga, where I used to live about 10 miles from Dawsonville, anyway, there were tons of old drivers there and I didn't have anything for autographs. So that night, my mother ran to the dollar store and bought me a leather journal/notebook that I use for autographs. I have everyone from local drivers to current Nascar to old Nascar to old Drag Racing. Every one from Glen & Leonard Wood, to all three Elliott Brothers, to Bobby Allison, to Raymond Parks (three times) to David Reutimann, David Ragan, Micheal Waltrip, Sam McQuagg, Hubert Platt, Phil Bonner, Linda Vaughn, and of course Richard Petty (I told him he could have a whole page, and he did) plus tons more. It's not even half-full (but close) I've also got every living member to our Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, and some family. I take that book to every racing function/race I go to. I don't know what I'd do if I lost it. I just means so much to me.

-Cody

Like The Legend, I have too many to list but if there's a few that are ultra rare, like my early Daytona pennant circa 1950's to the best of my knowledge, also a Darlington scarf with old stock cars on it made of real silk and no doubt from the 1950's. Lastly, I have a few racing promo posters, again, from the 1950's. As for old/new items...there's a 1937 modified Chevy in the garage..lol