Hi!
The University of Virginia Library online collections will soon feature news clips from WSLS-TV in Roanoke from 1951 through 1971. We've come across a clip about stock car racing containing a man we can't identify. I've attached the clip to this post. Any thoughts to his identity? It's the man on the left, and the interviewer calls him "John" at the beginning. The clip carries the date of February 14, 1970.
Thanks for any insight!
Copyright UVa Library
My money is on Dave Fulton knowing....he knows everybody from that region.....
That's exactly who I was thinking as well, Bill.
Or..possible Ray Lamm
Somebody will know, Leigh...just let everyone have a chance to see it.
I don't know who John is but I do know that most so called outlaw tracks were and are insured.
i never found one that wasnt insured and most all were run in strick accordance of the rules---money was sometimes better too..
I don't know the answer, but since it is a Roanoke TV station I assume it was someone who raced around that area. Only John who comes to mind at all is Delana Harvick's late father, John Paul Linville - and, I don't even know what he looked like. Harlow Reynolds & NB Arnold are from this neck of the woods, or maybe Margaret Sue Turner encountered "John."
If Dave thinks its DeLana Harvick's dad, you could tweet a link to the video and your question to her on Twitter at @DeLanaHarvick.
But I'm pretty sure its NOT John Eubanks.
If Jeff Gilder still has a contact to Morris Stephenson, I bet he would know. He was around all the southwest Virginia tracks in the 70s.
I see that Morris Stephenson is still doing a racing column for the Franklin (Rocky Mount, Va.) News-Post . Here's a contact e-mail address at that publication. I bet Morris will recognize the individual in the WSLS interview.
fnpcharles@franklinnews-post.com
Morris Stephenson
That gentleman "John" may have also been a promoter or a sports writer for the Roanoke Times or Roanoke World News. NB Arnold needs to see this clip.
I beleive this is John Prillaman who was from Roanoke. He was an insurance salesman and helped at Martinville Speedway as an ambassador or checkered flag committee member. He also was a fixture at Franklin County Speedway and probably had many clients in racing. He was very knowlegable about local racing. That is about the best I can remember.
By the way, for any of you who haven't visited the UVA Library site of WSLS-TV clips, there is some awesome Martinsville 16mm stuff there as well as Rockingham, Charlotte and Daytona, including clips from final beach race.
Here is the link below to that wonderful collection:
http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2214294
