Passing of Joe Carver

I heard today that Joe Carver former Promoter at Langley Speedway past away. The man was a legend in the race track promoting world.... God Speed Joe

Sorry to hear of Joe's passing. He raised Langley back from the dead after leaving Nashville at the suggestion of the late Pete Keller and also served a pretty good stint as business manager for DW.

Joe Carver in victory lane at Nashville with Bobby Isaac - 1970. Steve Cavanaugh photo

From the Newport News (Va) Daily Press:

Former Langley promoter Joe Carver dies at 76

By Marty O'Brien, mobrien@dailypress.com

7:30 p.m. EST, January 19, 2013

Joe Carver, one of the best-known promoters in Langley Speedway's 63-year history, died on Saturday. A resident of Concord, N.C., he was 76.

Carver moved from the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tenn. to become promoter of what was then known as Langley Field Speedway, serving at the track from 1973-83. A series of promoters had experienced little success during the four years prior to his arrival.

"The place looked awful, the program wasn't very organized and there weren't many people there," Carver said during a 2000 interview with former Daily Press motorsports writer Al Pearce of his first impressions of Langley. "But we could see that it would be a real challenge, and we welcomed that.

"I think our 10 years there saw some of the best Late Model racing among some of the best drivers in the country. I think we helped put Langley on the map."

Pearce said on Saturday that the first time he met Carver, in a 1973 introductory press conference, he expressed cynicism that the new promoter could deliver on his promises to improve Langley.

"Do you know how many people I've heard make that same speech in the past five years?" Pearce said he asked Carver. "Joe replied, `Yeah, but I'm not like the rest of them because I'm going to do just what I said I was going to do.'

"He did, and more. He loved nothing more than stirring the pot, keeping people talking and wondering what he was going to do next."

Carver was an innovator, whose gimmicks included match races. He brought in big-name drivers from around the region and nation, once creating a $1,000-to-win match race between Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip, Sonny Hutchins and Ray Hendrick, won by Hendrick

In addition to Waltrip, Carver brought in NASCAR legends Bobby Allison, Benny Parsons, Dick Brooks, Lennie Pond and Neil Bonnett to race in special events. Waltrip tweeted on Saturday that Carver "is one of the best track promoters and PR guys I've ever known."

Carver promoted any feud, real or manufactured, that he could to draw attention to the track. By 1977, a grandstand that had been sparsely populated four years earlier was often crowded.

Some controversies were very real. Phil Warren, who owns a record seven Late Model track championships, said that when Carver decided to drop the Sportsman Division, which featured regional stars, from the weekly rotation in favor of the more locally oriented Late Models, some protested.

"He was a good person, but he could be a tough promoter," Warren said. "He felt the Sportsman car count was too low, so he had the foresight to make the big change to the Late Models that proved to be right in the end.

"He knew how to keep cars and fans at the track."

Elton Sawyer became the first driver to win three consecutive Late Models at the track during Carver's tenure in the early-1980s. He moved on to a long career in the Nationwide Series before becoming a competition director on the Sprint Cup level.

"Without a doubt, he was one of the best promoters ever," Sawyer said of Carver, whose long post-Langley career included PR work for NASCAR race teams. "He influenced my career a great deal by teaching me about the marketing side of the sport.

"I'll be forever indebted to him and his family. It's said news to hear that he died."

NASCAR pulled its 2 Cup dates from Nashville in 1984 around the time of Warner Hodgdon's financial fiascoes. A few years later, 2 groups put proposals before the Metro Fair Board to lease the track. One was fronted by Boyd Adams - the other by Darrell Waltrip and Joe Carver.

The DW/Carver group's proposal said it would work with NASCAR to return Cup racing to Nashville. Adams' group PROMISED it would get "Winston Racing" back. The Fair Board was (and remains) too stupid to know the difference between Winston Cup and just regular RJR-backed, Winston-sponsored, weekly series racing. Also as I recall (though I don't have Tennessean articles right now as research), I'm pretty sure I remember Adams' group proposing to give a bigger cut of concession sales to the Fair Board.

So with racing myopia and a clear vision of greed, the Fair Board agreed to lease the track to Adams' group over DW and Carver. To Adams' credit, he did get NASCAR and Winston-sponsored racing to return as he'd proposed. The little track even got a few more Busch races thrown its way before the Dover folks derailed things like a Wal-Mart building in Small Town USA.

But as we all know, Cup has never returned. Could DW and Joe have pulled it off? We'll never know. But considering where DW was in his career and Joe's promotional expertise, I'm inclined to believe they could have made it happen. If nothing else, they probably could have worked local networks better with folks such as Gary Baker to improve or relo racing in Nashville on a more orderly and timely basis than what happened with Dover.

I'd have to agree with your premises.

Joe Carver Will Be Missed By Friends, NASCAR
Larry Woody | Senior Writer, RacinToday.com

Sunday, 20 January 2013

J oe Carver served up Dale Earnhardt to Nashville media and fans. (File photo courtesy of NASCAR)

Joe Carver dictated the first racing story I wrote when I was assigned the beat in the late 1960s, and he once prodded a grumpy Dale Earnhardt into the Sports Department so I could interview him.

Joe, as PR director of Nashvilles Fairgrounds Speedway, had a major influence on my career as a fledgling racing writer. He introduced me to drivers and NASCAR officials, provided insight into the sport, and steered me through a lot of stories.

But more than being my mentor, he was my friend.

When I received word that Joe had died of cancer Saturday, at age 76 in Concord, N.C., it brought a flood of emotions and memories.

In 1968 I was in college, working part-time in The Tennessean sports department, when the sports editor told me go to the Fairgrounds and interview Richard Petty.

I had two questions: Wheres the Fairgrounds and whos Richard Petty?

Id never been to a racetrack or seen a race.

Ask for Joe Carver, the sports editor said. Hell help you out.

I did, and a life-long friendship was born. Joe introduced me to Petty and walked me through an interview in which Joe asked most of the questions. Later, as I typed the story, Joe hovered over my shoulder offering gentle suggestions. The first racing story that carried my by-line was largely written by Carver.

Joe was a dedicated PR person and shared the promotional flair of colorful track owner Bill Donoho. Carver was constantly hustling stories to the Nashville media. Once, a few days before a big race, he called the newspaper and asked me to come out and interview a driver hed brought in for some pre-race publicity some guy from North Carolina named Dale Earnhardt.

I explained to Carver that I was stuck in the office I worked on the copy desk in addition to writing and I didnt have time to go out to the track. Carver said that was no problem hed bring Earnhardt to me.

Shortly afterwards, Joe escorted a reluctant Earnhardt into the sports department. Dale slumped into a chair and prodded by Carver mumbled through an interview. In ensuing years Earnhardt and I became good friends and hed often joke about getting dragged around by Carver.

Joe served a stint as Darrell Waltrips PR person. (I once asked Joe what his title was, and he laughingly replied, Servant.)

Everybody liked Joe, and he often ran interference for the sometimes-acerbic DW. Whenever Darrell peeved some thin-skinned media type, Joe was there to smooth things over.

Carvers career eventually took him to Langley Speedway and although I didnt work with him while he was there, Id often hear reports about the great job he was doing. Wed sometimes cross paths along the NASCAR trail and re-live yarns about the good old days at the Fairgrounds.

Joe was a tremendous good-will ambassador for racing. He devoted his career to drumming up publicity for the sport on every level from Saturday-night fender-benders to the big-league Cup Series.

In those early days PR people had to hustle to sell racing, and nobody did it better than Joe. He understood the power of the press and how vital it was to the sport. He brought the media and drivers together. He made covering racing fun.

The sport will miss him, and so will his legion of friends.

I trust that somewhere Joe is proof-reading this story and just as he did with the first one I wrote some 45 years ago shaking his head and chuckling over my spelling and typos.

Larry Woody can be reached at lwoody@racintoday.com
Larry Woody | Senior Writer, RacinToday.com Sunday, 20 January 2013

I remember Joe from my days at Georgia International and Prototype Engineering's involvment with DW. I looked in an old business card holder and found Joe's old card, it has the name "Winston Cup Marketing Group, Inc. " on it with that "WC Marketing Group" part marked out and "Celebrity Connection" in it's place in ball point pin ink. Winston or NASCAR must have made him and partner DW quit using the WC part. Joe was a great promoter and PR person and represented the sport well.

RIP, Joe Carver, I'm glad I got to know you.