Don Naman, who made such a good name for himself at Maryville, TN before moving on to Talladega was one of the finest men I ever met around NASCAR.
I ran many very successful Talladega promotions with Don in the 80s.
Don agreed in 1980 to let Wrangler build a stand alone V.I.P. suite going down into turn 1 that became the envy of everyone in racing. We upholstered everything in 14 ounce Wrangler Jeans denim and split the cost with Avondale Mills of Sylacauga, Alabama.
We hosted many "celebrities" for other sponsors in that suite that Don let us build. All of the V.I.P. scenes in that awful movie "Stroker Ace" were filmed in that suite with Ned Beaty, Burt Reynolds, Jim Nabors and Loni Anderson. When Phil Parsons took that huge barrel roll down in Talladega's turn 1, it was right under our nose.
I have to say that what I most remember about Maryville, TN and Smoky Mountain Raceway was the race Richard won there in 1968 by a lap over Pete Hamilton. I wasn't there, but Paul Sawyer and Kenny Campbell, the co-promoters at Richmond in 1968 tell hilarious stories of that race.
Richmond and Maryville were both paved in 1968 so Paul went out to check the asphalt job. Kenny was asked to drive the pace car as he did for many NASCAR races at the time.
Seems that a lot of skimping was done on the base preparation for paving Maryville for that first asphalt race in 1968. Paul and Kenny would double over in laughter telling what happened after the race started. Because of the improper base, the new Smoky Mountain Raceway asphalt started moving.
Kenny described driving the pace car on caution laps. The turns were actually sliding on top of the old dirt. He said it was the darnedest thing he ever saw at a racetrack. Everybody laughed about Maryville's 1968 paving job for years.
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
