Indeed. I'm a life-long NASCAR guy, but one with a deep respect for the traditions of Indy. I was blown away by what I found at the IMS museum when I visited it for the first time last November. (As an aside, the open wheel-focused museum even had a car seemingly just for me - the King's #43 STP Pontiac!)
The challenge, however, is the available history and passion for every other Indy race - AAA, USAC, CART, IRL, Champ Car, IndyCar, etc. Steve Shunck is all about Indy car drivers - but I'm not sure if he's all in with other races of the various sanctioning bodies. Robin Miller and RR's Russ Thompson may be the two most well informed people about open wheel racing. Beyond that, though, I don't get the sense anyone really embraces the overall history of Indy car racing near to the level that NASCAR does.
I'd be glad to be proven wrong. But without the Indy 500, the track, the museum, the history, the stories, the lives lost, and the careers made, I'm not sure the rest of that type of racing even exists.
That was near the area of the track where we sat Sat and Sun. But we were up on the Veranda level - considerably higher than Gorilla Man. Of course, I suppose he could've used a rope, vine, TV cable, etc. to swing his way up there to us.
On second thought, it's possible that may well could have been one of our Schaefer crew after a Saturday bender.
Was also good meeting Paul Lewis for the first time face to face. When I spotted him, I told my racing bud about Paul - including his brief stint with the Pettys. He'd never heard of him. I intro'd both of us to Paul, and sure enough he had the #42 Plymouth postcards with him. My bud looked at me and asked "how in the world do you know all of this stuff?"
The line of the day came from one name I omitted: Billy Biscoe. I've obviously shared a bit of dialog with Billy through various posts, and we've traded emails 3-4x. But I don't recall having met him face to face before. I planned to make my intro, tell him the RR connection, and shake his hand as if we were indeed strangers. Our conversation started a bit like this:
Me: Hey Billy, Chase Whitaker from RacersReunion. How are ya man?
BB: Pretty good but a bit thirsty. Happen to have a Schaefer beer on ya by chance?
After we both had a great laugh, it was indeed clear Billy knew who I was. Had a great few moments with him as well.
Back home from race weekend in Charlotte. Great time with friends. Too much sun on my face. Wet shoes from Sunday morning rains. A fine race on Saturday. A dominating performance by Truex on Sunday - though overall a very boring race.
But the highlight of the weekend may have been my 60-90 minutes at Speedway Harley Davidson last Friday. Got a chance to re-connect with folks such as Perry Allen Wood, Tim Leeming, Greg Moore, Rex White, Bill Blair Jr, Ray Lamm, the Allisons - Bobby, Donnie & Robbie, and others whose names I sadly may have forgotten.
My bud and fellow Schaefer HOF co-founder walked around a bit. As we left to head to lunch, he said something to effect of "Dang dude, that was like old home week to you. You seemed to know EVERYBODY there." I just smiled and replied "Yep. Hang with me pal, and I'll give you a gateway to stories you've never heard." Ha.
I should also note the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor will be tailgating at CMS again this year. No motorcycles will be at our spot (to my knowledge) nor will any drivers past or present be hanging out with us. But we will have plenty of food, laughter, cornhole, beverages of all sorts, and of course Schaefer.
We'll be set up in the lower corner of the bus parking lot along Bruton Smith Blvd between gate T and the entrance to Z-Max drag strip. If you are walking about, drop by and introduce yourself. Always good to get the opportunity to connect with other RR members.
DG is based here in Goodlettsville, TN - just north of Nashville. They've had a recent CEO change. The former one was a big believer in racing. The new one, apparently not so much.
I know a couple of folks who work for DG. I tried mooching tix and passes from them a handful of times over the years but without success. Consistent message is that no one from corporate generally got freebies. The primary purpose of the marketing spend for them was to engage with their vendors vs. promoting the Dollar General brand itself. We don't shop at DG except on rare occasion, but I've seen a few comments that their stores had almost zero NASCAR branded in-store advertising.
So with this news, I tend to think it's less a concern about race attendance and ratings as it was a change in philosophy by the suits in the board room. Are the two related? Perhaps. But maybe they could still accomplish their goal of building relationships with their vendors and store operators on less visible and less costly basis.
NASCAR launched its newly acquired convertible division in 1956. On May 20, 1956, the ragtops raced in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The GN drivers had been racing at the one-mile dirt oval since 1949.
One of the expected entrants was Bob Welborn. Along with Curtis Turner, Welborn had success early and often in the new division.
Qualifying was held on Saturday. Bill France made it clear that the convertible division race was in addition to the existing Grand National events at the track vs. a substitute. Big Bill also referenced the convertible division was the 7th NASCAR division. I think these would be the seven - but someone correct me if you think there are more.
Modified
Strictly Stock / Grand National
Speedway Division
Pacific Coast Late Model
East Coast Late Model
Short Track Division
Convertible
Frank Mundy, who won the two previous convertible races at Old Bridge and Raleigh, won the pole at Langhorne in Carl Kiekhaefer's Dodge. Two more Dodges owned by Tom Harbison qualified in the next two spots - Danny Letner in second and Allen Adkins in third.
The field is lined up for the start of the race.
It didn't take long for the convertible gang to have issues with the treacherous track. Bill Tanner, Glen Wood, and Don Oldenberg got together in the fourth turn of lap one. Tanner and Wood were done for the day. Oldenberg continued but a second crash around lap 70 finished him off.
For the first 20 laps, Letner and Mundy went back and forth every few laps. Letner then settled into a groove and retained the lead for a stretch of about 60 laps.
Larry Odo - who often raced against Tiger Tom Pistone at Chicago's Soldier Field - started 20th but had a great showing for the day. He finished 4th, and Art Binkley ended the day 7th after starting deep in the field himself.
Mundy re-took the lead from Letner, and led a stretch of 17 laps. But then, he spun, popped the fence, crashed Kiekhaefer's Dodge, and was done for the day, yet still ended the day in 11th.
With Mundy out of the picture, Letner re-assumed the lead. Possum Jones made a valiant effort to catch Letner, but he too crashed out leaving Letner with little competition. Letner put it on cruise control for the final 50+ laps to take the win. The victory was the Californian's third and final career NASCAR win between the GN and convertible divisions. He won a GN race in Oakland, CA in 1954 and the GN race in Tucson in 1955.
