How long have you been a race fan?
Stock Car Racing History
Unfortunately, I didnt enjoy racing until later in my life,I was enjoying racing VW dragsters on local dirt 1/8th mile dragstrips. I moved to Atlanta Georgia in 1986 and a good friend of mine introduced me to what was then "Winston Cup Racing". My first live race was at the old Atlanta motorspeedway, (before they messed with it). At the time I was driving a Black VW Beetle and the only black car I saw on the track was the Number 3 car, since I didnt have a favorite driver at the time I started pulling for Dale....well the rest is as they say "history" as you may or may not know Dale Earnhart Sr. pretty much owned that track, dominated all day and won! Well from then on I was a "3" fan! My friend commented to me on the way home "My Gawd I've created another Earnhardt fan! This was the era of Buicks, Oldsmobiles Pontiacs, Chevrolets and Fords and all the great drivers were still driving, the Allisons, The King,,Dave Marcis, Aj Foyt, I went back and read about these and other drivers and how they had contributed to the sport before I started watching and since. Now my wife and my daughter are vivid race fans and we attended their first race back in Talladega in 2001 and sat right down by the track so my wife could see hear and smell what Nascar Racing was about. Needless to say during lap 3 when everyone stood up and held up 3 fingers for their salute to Dale, my wife was in awe of the outpouring of support for our fallen friend and the fact that they came past her at 200 mph blowing her cap off and putting tire bits all over her, she knew she was hooked just like I was back in 1986