Dale Earnhardt & Sonny Hutchins - For DAVID EARNHARDT

NOTE : I tried to send this as an RR mail to David Earnhardt , but it had too many characters and wouldn't let me process it to send. Of, course, anybody else interested in reading about Dale Earnhardt and Sonny Hutchins is welcome to read along.

David,

I've always enjoyed the stories of how Stick Elliott became a role model for Dale Earnhardt's driving style and have particularly enjoyed your postings on the subject. As I told you once, the only time I ever saw Stick race was around 1965-1966 in a couple of GN races at Richmond on dirt and I believe Rockingham and Charlotte in Toy Bolton's car.

When I grew up in Richmond, Virginia (I'll turn 64 in October), the terror of the short asphalt weekly NASCAR tracks for his perceived "dirty" driving tactics was Richmond restaurant and bar owner, Sonny Hutchins.

Sonny actually gave up racing for a about a decade to concentrate on his 4 bars and restaurants in Richmond. He came back to drive the famed #90 NASCAR modifieds and speedway Late Model Sportsman cars for Junie Donlavey, as well as some modified rides in a special #21 that the Wood Brothers built for him. Some of the greatest success for Sonny came as an "old man" driving the Carolina blue #01 Late Model Sportsman cars owned by Emanuel Zervakis. Sonny even put a Zervakis #01 Cup car on the front row at Martinsville beside Richard Petty and led the first part of the race, beating Richard into turn 1.

Sonny didn't look like a race car driver. He was short and squat and wore thick black glasses, but you didn't want him on your bumper. In later years, Richmond's "Terrible Tommy" Ellis patterned his driving style after Sonny. Funny thing was, Sonny usually had everybody laughing after the race, even after he'd crashed you out.

Sonny died in 2005 at age 76. Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Spencer and "Terrible Tommy" Ellis all called Sonny the roughest, dirtiest driver they ever raced. When Dale started some pavement LMS racing, Sonny spun him out two consecutive weeks at Richmond and Martinsville. Years later they'd laugh about it.

Before he died, the Richmond paper did a story on Sonny in 2002 that I thought you might enjoy, since it mentions the run-ins with Dale.

Here yo go ( with a couple of photos I added):

RACING LEGEND

As NASCAR's Winston Cup and Busch Grand National divisions come to town this week for the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway, let's pause and look at a Virginia racing legend. Meet Sonny Hutchins .

One of NASCAR's best drivers of all-time, he hails from Richmond and still lives in the area, operating with his brother "Piggy" The Attach restaurant on West Broad. Yet in 32 white-knuckling years, Hutchins won about 400 races and competed against the best drivers of the past half-century. Name a great. Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Cale Yarborough, Ray Hendrick they all battled door-to-door with Hutchins. Several current Winston Cup drivers including Jimmy Spencer, also matched driving skills with Richmond's rim-rider.

Now 73 and gray of beard, Hutchins says he doesn't miss driving. But mention the sport and his bespectacled eyes twinkle like tinseled stars. Maybe that's because when he drove, this one-time pedal-pummeling charger drove all out. "I was an aggressive driver and, of course, I had a reputation for spinning people out, knock 'em out the race, but these people don't understand. When you're racing, you're racing to win," Hutchins says. "I wanted to win every race I went to." That was no easy task. Fellow lead-foots the late Ray Hendrick, Al Grinnan and Ted Hairfield sure didn't want to finish second, either. In those days drivers did not settle and were not happy with second place. So many a bent fender and tall tempers ensued.

Though Hutchins was known as a nice guy off the track, on the track he did all that he could to win. If that meant spinning a guy out, then so be it. Not surprisingly, fights followed rather often. "Hundreds. Every time I turned around I was fighting," Hutchins says, grinning. NASCAR no longer looks the other way.

Today when drivers make contact on the track, NASCAR frowns. When one driver wrecks another, as Winston Cup's Kevin Harvick did to Coy Gibbs in a Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville recently, NASCAR acts swiftly. Harvick was suspended for the following week's Cup race.

But that sort of rough driving was commonplace in Hutchins' day. "Yeah, and then we'd get out and fight afterwards. It didn't make any difference back then," Hutchins says. "There wasn't as many people and there wasn't as much money involved, television. I don't agree with all that NASCAR does, but I gotta agree with them here. They did the right thing. It's the greatest sport in history, automobile racing."

Hutchins' career started on March 18, 1950, in Richmond at the Fairgrounds for the Hank Stanley Memorial Race. Stanley, who drove for Richmond's Junie Donlavey, burned to death in a race in Charlotte and the race was devised to help raise money for his family. Well, 19-year-old Hutchins, always a car enthusiast, managed to wrangle a ride for the race. Longtime NASCAR announcing legend and fellow Richmonder "Jolly" Joe Kelly was there. "Sonny placed second in the heat race and seventh in the main that night," he says. "That started one of the greatest careers in motorsports history." In those days, and for years to follow, Hutchins drove modifieds, drastically altered late-model hot rods that sizzled speedways. Hit the gas, hold tight and tear 'em up. That's the way it was in those mostly 1936 and '37 Fords and Chevrolets.

"I've loved cars all my life, but I always made my own living," Hutchins says. "There was no money in racing. Hell, as much money as it cost me to race, it's a wonder I ain't in the poorhouse." Hutchins supported himself by running a restaurant. Though drivers with his success now make millions, in those days a win could bring a few hundred bucks. Finish out of the Top 10 and you were fortunate to bring home $50. "When I started racing, if we had $400 in a car, that was a lot of money," Hutchins says. "Nobody raced for a living back then."

No matter the opponent, Hutchins opened a can of whip-ass and poured it on when he fired his cars up. He drove anything with an engine, four tires and a gas pedal. He was hell on wheels. Ned Jarrett, two-time NASCAR Grand National (now Winston Cup) champion and renowned racing announcer, remembers racing Hutchins quite well. "I didn't race against him a lot in the modifieds and sportsmen series," Jarrett says, "but certainly anytime I did I knew he was the man to beat."

Hot rod Lincolns, Chevys, Fords, Dodges and darned near anything else that would run marked Hutchins' days of racing. Door to door with bootleggers, farmers and neighbors alike Hutchins came from an era when if you had the will and lead foot, why, you could go racing. There were no image consultants and multi-million dollar sponsorships. Drive past most gas stations in those days and chances were there would be a hopped-up race car out back. Racing was an entirely different world then.

"They used to run Grand National races out at Southside Speedway (in Chesterfield County)," Hutchins says. "(One time) we took a car right off the car lot, put a motor in it, fixed the right front axle and went out there and blew the motor. We brought it back home, put the old motor back in, fixed the wheel back, took it back over to the lot and sold it. Everybody used to do all those tricks." Times sure have changed. Today it's aerodynamics and wind tunnel testing; back then it was hammer down and get the hell out of the way. Hutchins held nothing back. When green flags dropped, he chased checkereds like a bulldog goes after pork chops. Tangle with him, and he bit back. Hard.

Current and longtime Winston Cup team co-owner Glen Wood of Stuart, Va., fielded modifieds for Hutchins for a time during the 1960s. "Sonny was a hard driver, as hard as they come," Wood says. "Sonny really didn't do it for money. He just loved it." But many a driver held on tight and wondered 'why me!' when Hutchins came knock, knock, knocking on their doors. And bumpers. And fenders. It wasn't personal; Hutchins just wanted to win.

Even the late Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time Winston Cup champion who was long known as "The Intimidator" for his aggressive driving style, came fender-to-fender and lost to Hucthins. Well, Hutchins was the intimidator before The Intimidator. A bumper-banger who made drivers sweat, the burly Virginian wore such a name for himself that Earnhardt later told him that he taught him everything he knew about being an aggressive driver. "Dale came to Richmond and we ran at the Fairgrounds," Hutchins says. "He was driving that No. 8 car. He was running all over the track like he always did and I just knocked him out the way and went on. Called me a dirty driver. So, the next week we were in Martinsville. Coming off the second corner he was doing the same thing and I was leading the race.

He's blocking me up so he won't go a lap down. So I tapped him and he spun and hit the wall. Aww, he cussed and called me all kinds of names." Typical stuff, really, in those days. "Course then he got a break and went on into Winston Cup. Anyway, Butch Lindley got killed and Earnhardt was signing autographs to raise some money for his wife. I said, 'Dale, who's the rottenest driver?' Course, his reputation was just terrible. He said, 'Yeah, but look who taught me.'" At that Hutchins rears back his head and laughs heartily. That was racing for him. It was fun. "Right up to when Dale died we never were close friends," he says, "but I went to Charlotte four or five years ago and he tried to get me to come down to his shop. They had a string of convertibles that would run around the race track (as a pre-race ceremony for the World 600 race) and he wanted me to ride with him." Chalk that up as the measure of the men.

Now, don't get the idea that Hutchins raced strictly locally. He first drove at Daytona in 1965 in a modified owned by Donlavey. Two years later, he drove a Grand National (Winston Cup) car at Daytona and finished seventh, one spot ahead of seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty and behind winner Mario Andretti. "I ran Talledega, Daytona, Atlanta, Charlotte. I ran the beach down in Daytona in 1951, ran modifieds," Hutchins says. "You'd run down the highway, then go off on the sand, then you'd go out to the edge of the water and then you'd come back up on the highway. It was a mile each way and a quarter mile in the turns, so it was two and a half miles long.

Hell, I think the first time I went down there I started 77th. They ran a 100-and-some automobiles." That said, no one knows for sure how Hutchins would have fared had he landed a full-time Winston Cup ride. "You know, practice and experience is what gets you going in Winston Cup, and Sonny ran well when I saw him," Wood says. "He was a great race driver. He was as good as they come. On top of that, Sonny was a great personality. Still is." Yet through the years, he raced against most of the sports biggest names. He remembers three-time Cup champion Cale Yarborough as "tough," Richard Petty as "great," and David Pearson as "smooth."

And of course, he had some memorable run-ins with three-time champion and current Fox TV broadcaster Darrell Waltrip. "Darrell was a great driver. He said I was a dirty driver, too," Hutchins says, smiling. "We ran a match race at Langley Speedway one night, Darrell, Ray Hendrick and myself. Ray won, I ran second and Darrell was third. He said I was a rotten driver." But gosh could that "rotten driver" just drive the wheels off a car. Put Hutchins behind the wheel and chances were he'd end up in first place.

"I thought I was the toughest driver out there," he says. And as such, he developed dozens of rivalries through the years. From Runt Harris to Al Grinnan to Bill Dennis to Geoff Bodine and Tommy Ellis, if a driver wanted to win they had to beat Hutchins. But his No. 1 rival was Ray Hendrick. "I gave Ray his last party he ever had before he died," Hutchins says. "Richard Petty was there. Ray and I were never close, now. We were rivals. We fought. He knew that if he messed with me that he'd get it back, and I knew that if I messed with him I'd get it back.

They didn't come any better than Ray Hendrick." Funny, but that's what current Winston Cup driver Jimmy Spencer says about Hutchins. "Tell Sonny Hutchins that I learned everything I know about racing from him," Spencer says. Hutchins retired in 1981 after suffering a heart attack shortly after a race at Southside Speedway. Today, he runs his restaurants, watches races and readily welcomes the opportunity to talk about the sport he loves so dearly. "I never played baseball, football, basketball, golf. I couldn't tell you who is a football player or a baseball player," Hutchins says. "I just love racing."

This was one great story. I always liked watching Sonny run at Southside and South Boston. I was at the Martinsville race where he led the first 90 laps. One thing i remember was watching Sonny drive that #01 with one hand. He had the other arm draped over the inside roll bar. I don't know how he did that. I saw him one night at Southside driving the "Bumble Bee" #3-VA car. Late in the race, the rear tire came off. He drove it a lap and half on 3 wheels and then came into the pits. Yes, he had run-ins with others. but weren't they great races back then. I'm sure Bill Dennis, Lennie Pond and a bunch of others had run-in's with Sonny at Southside, but he usually won. He and Ray both should be in the Hall of Fame.

Donald, was that "Bumble Bee" #3-VA the orange '58 Chevy of Jimmy Scott? If it's the car I'm thinking of, it always was a fan favorite with those (I guess) 180 degree headers.

I second your nominations of both Sonny & Ray to the Hall of Fame. Those two guys always beat everybody who dared intrude on their territory and usually won whenever they ventured into the territory of other folks.

Donald, found this posting by a race fan 4 years ago who responded to the question How Did You Become a NASCAR Fan? at the Answers@yahoo.com site:

My neighbors dad worked the local race tracks on the weekends and would take me every weekend for cutting his grass back when the late model divisions were loaded with chevelles, cougars, galaxies, and roadrunners. Hobby stocks were 55-58 chevys , fairlanes and such. You could actually tell what kind of car it was at a glance. We went to Richmond when it was 1/2 mile, Southside Speedway, Langley, South Boston. Jimmy Scott had a bright orange 58 chevy with a bumble bee painted on the side #3va. The exhaust had a high pitch you could here over all the others cars. It was good times.

AND:

Right here on RR, back in 2008, member, Mike Heath of Greenbelt, Maryland responded to a post by member, TL Patterson (cousin of the late Wayne Patterson) of Fayetteville:

T.L., I SAW YOUR MESSAGE TO PAUL ZAPPORDINO. I USED TO HELP DAVE MOLINARI EARLY IN HIS CARREER WHEN HE WAS WITH REDS KAGLE (67 & 68). THEN I HELPED JIMMY HAHN AND THEN I STARTED DRIVING IN 1969 AT THE AGE OF 16. I DID NOT RUN A FULL SEASON UNTIL 1973 IN THE #54 LIMITED SPORTSMAN CAR FOR DICKIE LOWE AND HAD TO RUN AGAINST JACK BLAND AND DICKIE BOSWELL. WE WON FOUR (4) RACES AT OLD DOMINION IN 73. I HAD TO BEAT JIMMY SCOTT IN THE #3VA (58 CHEVY) BUMBLE BEE CAR TO WIN MY FIRST RACE. DAVE MOLINARI KEPT TRYING TO RUN THE BIG BLOCKS BUT HAD TOO MUCH WEIGHT FOR HANDLING. GOOD HEARING FROM BELTSVILLE PEOPLE AND ESPECIALLY WITH A DAVE MOLINARI CONNECTION. DID YOU SEE DAVES PICTURE ON THE BELTSVILLE PAGE IN THE mdscrhof.net WEBSITE ? THAT WAS ONE OF THE CARS I HELPED ON. I WENT TO HERSHEY PARK AND TRENTON. THANKS, MIKE HEATH

Lotta memories on RR.

And, lo & behold, right here on RR, posted by David Bentley in 2010:

With this comment by our RR member, Ray Lamm:

Comment by ray lamm on February 3, 2010 at 6:36pm
i know jimmy scott run this 58 chevy first as drag car and them turn it in to stock car jimmy had special header on it. plus jimmy make up headers for junior johnson

Dave, I read the other replys. The 58 Jimmy Scott -VA was one of my favorites at Southside, but that wasn't the one Sonny drove. For some reason that weekend the #01 didn't show up.Sonny drove the "new" car Jimmy Scott used in the Late Model race. It was a 1969Chevelle Ibelieve.And yes, it still had the bumble bee sound. We always wondered if Junior Johnson "borrowed" that from Jimmy Scott because for a time there, Cales cars sounded very similar. Aren't legends great!

Thanks, Donald. Wish I could turn back the clock and let some of our newer fans see a few of those old races.

Heck Dave, I wish I could turn the clock back so I could see them over again. Is it me, or was the racing better back then. Today's drivers just seem spoiled, cocky or whatever. A fan could approach drivers back then and be appreciated. Also, drivers had personalities back then. They are just too squeaky clean today.

Not to take anything from the Sonny Hutchins story, but...well y'all started it. Jimmy Scott married my neighbor's daughter, Joan Marie. Jimmy had a fair amount of success in drag racing before he got into round-the-round. For a number of years he ran a 'D' Stock '58 Chevy 348 C.I. When he went circle track racing he built a '58 Chevy and that also was a 348 W-motor with the 180 degree headers you mention. Jimmy was a mechanical genius and had many innovative ideas on everything from motors to suspension. He later finally gave in and built SBC powered Chevelles, again with some unique suspension set-ups. Jimmy wasn't a top notch driver himself but his equipment was always competitive. Ted Hairfield came out of a year's retirement to win at Martinsville in Scott's Chevelle. Jimmy Scott was lost to cancer 3-4 years ago. His stepsonruns the garage now that Jimmy operated out of in Amelia for many years.

Thanks for that great inside look. Sorry to learn of Jimmy's death. He sure won over a lot of fans at Southside.

Sorry to hear about Jimmie's death also. It's a shame that he was not recognized for his contributions to the sport. He had a lot of fans back in the day.So glad you came on here andreplyed.Thanks.

dave - i got to ask you - did you ever see curtis turner drive on dirt or asphalt - i never did - if you did i would appreciate your thoughts .

I only saw Curtis twice on dirt at Richmond Fairgrounds.

First time in an ill running modified usually driven by Ed Hendrick. Other time in a Toy Bolton Chevy Grand National car in 1966 - started 8th, finished 4th. That was at the end of his career, but he looked pretty good.

I've told this here before, but I was standing with Glen & Leonard Wood on top of their hauler at Atlanta in spring 1986 and they were watching in amazement how deep Dale was driving down into the old turn 1 before he lifted in practice. Then the two of them started discussing who they thought was the best stock car driver they'd ever seen. One said Curtis and one said Dale.

David, when I checked back.. I saw Curtis two other times in 1966 - in the spring Richmond race in a Smokey Yunick Chevy and in the Southern 500 driving for Junior Johnson. I have no memory, though of his performance in either race.

dave this sonny hutchins stuff is amazing - i keep reading it over and over - you are an incredible source of knowledge - i only saw sonny drive one time in a late model race at martinsville 01 car - it was a ray hendrick runaway with sonny running third behind sam ard - or the other way around it was a long time ago - i was standing next to junior johnson one time when sonnys name came up - junior called him a dirty driving sob - i wish i could have caught more of him racing - dale never mentioned him to me - i heard stories of him and i know he made all the dirty driver lists - seems he was quite a character and driver - stick may have picked up some of his tricks from sonny - they raced nascar about the same time - from what i know stick sold his farm and belongings to go nascar racing in the sixties - with bolton they were suppose to be part of the under the table chevrolet factory effort - they wound up under financed and under powered - most of the time the cars were not competitive or couldnt take his demands - he did have some good runs - second at greenville and seventh at the southern 500 darlington - out of 93 races they only finished 35 - but out of the thirty five there were three top fives and fifteen top tens - stick could drive but most of the timedidnt have good equipment - i saw him put it on ned jarret and dick hutcherson at hickory only to blow an engine while leading - anyone who was at that race wont forget it - they had to red flag the race for the smoke - ive never seen a car smoke like that - parts on the track and lots of oil - when he came back to the dirt scene it was complete domination - in three years he won 106 races in boltons 55 chevy - he won lots of races in o.l.nixons #57 chevelles and camaros - over 400 feature main events - i guess you could say he was the sonny hutchins of our area - he could spinout someone and make it look easy - i saw him spin bothralph and dale in the same heat race - dale was young then but he would watch stick drive then talk to him - dale would allways say he has the best car control and he did - stick also had a comical side and was good with a sly comment - ever see dale say something slythen half grin and give that smirk - but anomosity came when ralph hired stick to drive for him - dale wanted so bad to drive ralphs cars - but it never happened - dale growed up hard - i asked him once who was the toughest driver he raced and he said cale yarborough - he may have meant nascar only i dont know - stick raced everybody hard - but dont take my word for it - ask mike duvall , freddy smith , billy scott , chuck piazza - he ended doug cooper career at carolina speedway doug was never the same - billy scott at metrolina broken collarbone - carl smart at concord - more than once toy bolton had to pull the tow truck to the back stretch to load up - tracks would put a bounty on him after three in a row - at that time he had the respect of ralph earnhardt and the awe of a young dale earnhardt - the big stick - john moose called him the king of the last lap .

It would certainly seem so. I don't recall anyone else running the 3VA and Scott competed at all of the area tracks during his tenure in circle track.

Woody, what are you doing over here in round track racing?? Ha!! (I know..racin is racin....circle track...1/4 mile..go karts, motorcycles, diesel trucks or soap box)

Here's a picture of the VA I took at SoBo. I don't know whether Jimmy was driving it, but I'm sure it was his car.

I remember watching both Doug Cooper and his brother Bob on the Richmond dirt. I sure enjoy hearing the old background stuff.

Neat, also to hear Junior Johnson's thoughts on Sonny's driving style, lol! Sonny was a real pleasure to have around the RIR track in his later years and always the center of attention, keeping everybody laughing.

Thanks.

I have really enjoyed seeing the "other" photos of Jimmy Scott and his different 3VA cars you fellows are posting. I, too, was out of the Virginia area and only saw the '58 Chevy Bumblebee car race.

doug and bob cooper were from gastonia - i had a friend that lived just a few houses down from them - bob had a shop behind his house - doug was nascar rookie of the year in 1964 i think - they were a pretty rough bunch if you messed with them - carolina speedway used to run on sunday afternoon and the late model feature would end about dusk - the race was just getting started good and doug got a little out of shape off turn four - the top five cars were all nose to tale pushing each other - anyway stick clipped him and he spun - at carolina there was dirt bank inside on the front straight and dougs car went up the bank and barrel rolled about four or five times - no window net and his arm came out - broke his arm in three places - stick said he didnt do it on purpose it was a racing accident - after the race which stick won - bob was furious and wanted to fight - stick stayed in his car and just loaded up - bob wanted to get a gun but sticks wife or girlfriend allready had one on bob - there was bad blood over that incident for a long time - it ended dougs driving career - he was just never the same - a few years later again at carolina speedway bob and charlie blanton got into it wrecked in turn one - bob went after charlie who crawled on top of his car - he then jumped off and hit bobs son in the head with his helmet - bob grabbed charlie and they had to be broken up - it was wild at the carolina speedway .

I enjoyed reading this so much that I went through my old pictures and found this one. I believe it shows Dale following Sonny at Martinsville. I don't know whether Sonny was driving one handed or not, but he usally did. Anyway, this was one GREAT story. Thanks

"One thing i remember was watching Sonny drive that #01 with one hand. He had the other arm draped over the inside roll bar. I don't know how he did that."

Sonny Hutchins had real bad back problems during his racing career.
Sonny Hutchins found out that by driving with one hand and draped the other armover the inside roll bar will helped eased the pain in his back.

What a great photo, Donald! That's a Who's Who. Look at all those short track masters in that one picture which is the one in your attachment - Dale in the #8 and Sonny in the #01, Harry in the #77. Is Sam in the #00 that day? How about the other cars?

That's good stuff, Dennis. Thanks.

Dave, Thanks. I thank that was Sam Ard in the #00 that day because I believe it's tha same race that he and Monk Tate tangled on the back stretch. I'm curious as to who's in the brown #8. It looks like Ingrams car, but he drove the #11. Dale was in the Red & White #8. I wonder who that was in the car next to Hutchins? Looks like #3 or #31. I need to Google this race to find out.

Dennis, Thanks...I never knew that about Sonny. I'm sure it made some other drivers mad that he could outdrive them one handed AND with a bad back.

im pretty sure thats dale behind the sonny 01 car - i think a guy named hargett owned the car - this may have been the race i was at - if it was ray hendrick won it with sam and sonny in second and third - sonny may have been second - cant remember - what i do remember were the hotdogs - great hotdogs and racing .

Tommy Buxton had his recently built tribute to that #8 Hargett/Earnhardt car at Occoneechee this past weekend. Engine builder Lou LaRosa did a double take when he saw it and was giving a history lesson to everyone in earshot about the car. I believe Tommy's tribute car was originally a Pistone-built Late Model Sportsman driven by Joe Hendricks of Hampton primarily at Langley and Southside.

I believe that brown car on the inside is actually a #9, not an 8. We need to figure which race this is and see if we can get a rundown.

is lou larosa still building engines or involved in racing - last time i was around him i think he said something about owning car washes - it was forever ago - would have loved to hear him talk - i would love hear him talk about the osterlund days - dale wore that ugly yellow uniform with the blue stripe and yellow helmet - dale had some t-shirts that had- damn im good - printed on them they were yellow also - just ugly - i still have one of those shirts .

I'm not sure what Lou is doing... probably some other members here do. Grant Cooper has a shirt photo on his web site of Dale & the Wrangler history:

thats it - ive got one of those shirts - ive never seen a picture of one - dave you are awesome - thank you .

I tried to find something out on the internet, but no luck. Sonny did win a late model race there in 1978 but I don't think it was this race. Did Jack Ingram ever run a second car for someone else? This brown car looks like an Ingram color. Just a thought.

David, its great that you have one of thoses T-shirts.

From Beltsville, MD 1974 listing of drivers as posted by member Troy Curtis.

that was a very good story dave thanks