Fire Up Heater, Snuggle, Watch Marty & Tiny

I see where our RR member TMC Chase is finally back home in Nashville / Franklin after an extended stay on the road.

Thinking of Chase's road trip made me recall the opening theme by Dave Dudley of the famed not-to-be-found anywhere movie, "Tiny Lund Hard Charger." The movie opening, as highway signs to varied racing venues passed by on the silver screen was Dudley's "Six Days on the Road."

Naturally, I did a quick Google News Archive search to see if something I had missed previously might be found to lead to a print/VHS/DVD or any other such copy of that now lost film. No luck, of course.

But I did find that if I had resided in Spartanburg, South Carolina on December 2, 1967, I could have caught a doublebill at Spartanburg's famed Starlite Drive-In featuring not only the Tiny Lund movie, but Marty Robbins' "Hell on Wheels." I saw both movies in 1967 and as much as I love the music of Marty Robbins, his movie, featuring scenes with the 777 runing at Nashville Fairgrounds was one of the worst movies of any genre I ever saw.

Anyhow, I checked the weather archives and the low temperature in Spartanburg was 31 degrees on December 2, 1967 - very cozy weather for the drive-in, requiring plenty of snuggling to stay warm. Here's the ad from the December 2, 1967 Spartanburg Herald-Journal and welcome home, TMC Chase!

The Legend should enjoy seeing all those different big taifinned Chrysler products racing at Nashville in the mid-60s!

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

Thanks, Dave. Fins to the right of me, Fins to the left!!! Love those fins. I also loved that "Six Days on the Road" too. The opening of the Tiny Lund movie was one of my favorite parts of that movie but the reason it is so special is because my Daddy, the guy who always was in the background and so shy he could never speak in public, was in that movie carrying our Plymouth 43 flag (which I still have by the way) across the infield at Augusta. He was so proud of that. After that "movie debut" he was a changed man in my opinion. I don't recall any time after that when he was as shy. Quite a life changer for him.

One other note on that flag, Richard autographed it when he won his 19th race in a season to break Tim Flock's record and he autographed it again when he won his 55th race at Darlington to break his Dad's record. Also, when he won the Rebel 400 to break his Dad's record, the convertible pace car was taking him to the press box and Johnny Reb was on the hood with the Stars and Bars flying in the wind, and I was on the trunk (Richard was in the back seat) with the Plymouth 43 flag flying. That picture made Stock Car Racing Magazine with the Rebel 400 report.

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

What a great memory of your Dad... and right here at Father's Day time.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"