Forum Activity for @dave-fulton

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/31/13 02:56:12PM
9,138 posts

Racing History Minute - October 31, 1965


Stock Car Racing History

"Little Johnny" had a pint sized car he drove around in, but before an appearance in Eugene, Oregon, enroute to a reception in Seattle, the spokesman for Philip Morris cigarettes had already emulated Tim Leeming's pre-Rockingham antics and crashed it:

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/31/13 02:41:46PM
9,138 posts

Racing History Minute - October 31, 1965


Stock Car Racing History

Johnny Roventini, 86, Bellhop Who Called for Phillip Morris
By ROBERT McG. THOMAS Jr

The New York Times
December 02, 1998

Johnny Roventini, the little Brooklyn-born bellhop with the big bell-clear voice whose ''Call for Phil-lip Mor-ris,'' delighted radio audiences in the 1930's and 40's and made the cigarette into a household name, died on Monday at a hospital in Suffern, N.Y. He was 86 and had been under lifetime contract to the company since 1933.

His family said the cause was complications from a facial infection.

From the time Mr. Roventini first went on the air for Philip Morris, on the Ferde Grofe Show on April 17, 1933, until the cigarette company began to phase him out as a radio and television spokeman in the early 1950's, Mr. Roventini's was one of the most recognizable voices in the land. And with the picture of the little man in his bright red, gold-trimmed uniform plastered in store windows and in magazine ads he was one of the nation's most recognizable figures.

Although the company liked to say it discovered him in the lobby of the New Yorker Hotel, until he became its spokesman the 22-year-old Mr. Roventini was more famous than Philip Morris.

At 4 feet tall, he was billed as ''the world's smallest bellboy,'' and even had his picture on postcards.

It was a pituitary gland disorder that halted his development before his voice changed and left him with a 12-year-old's body for the rest of his life, but it was his gregarious personality that helped make Mr. Roventini a favorite of the countless singers and other radio stars he introduced.

After his retirement in 1974, Mr. Roventini, who never married, devoted himself to his sports cars and to the cabin cruisers he kept in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

For the last few years he had lived with his brother Fred in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. His nephew, Philip Roventini, said his uncle, never more than a light social smoker, had not smoked at all in recent years but had remained a company man, indifferent to tobacco's link with health problems.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/31/13 02:36:36PM
9,138 posts

Racing History Minute - October 31, 1965


Stock Car Racing History

Referring to the pre-race meal photo above, the Rockingham infield cafeteria for many years offered the finest fare on the race circuit - home cooked veggies right out of the garden, etc. Yum. I salivate just thinking about it. That was always the meeting place when you wanted to get together with anyone at the Rockingham track.

The famous "FALSTAFF, the Winner!" billboard coming off turn 4 was matched by a similar board at Darlington.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/31/13 02:31:14PM
9,138 posts

Racing History Minute - October 31, 1965


Stock Car Racing History

Legend, this race is now significant to me for TWO reasons:

1) First time I ever pulled for a Ford Product to win

2) Now the first and only race to which a friend was about to head when he was intercepted by bank robbers. Holy cow, Tim... you are indeed a Legend!!!

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/31/13 02:22:58PM
9,138 posts

Racing History Minute - October 31, 1965


Stock Car Racing History

"Little Johnny" representing the Philip Morris cigarette brand of Richmond's Philip Morris Tobacco Co. in victory lane with "Pops" at this pre-Winston cigarette involvement Grand National event.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/30/13 05:25:04PM
9,138 posts

October 30, 1966 - Fast Freddy takes The Rock & Paul Lewis gets a shot


Stock Car Racing History

So, Tim Leeming, his Uncle Bobby and all those other rabid fans wanting to watch the race from the infield were responsible for the redesign of NCMS in 1969!

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/30/13 05:22:52PM
9,138 posts

October 30, 1966 - Fast Freddy takes The Rock & Paul Lewis gets a shot


Stock Car Racing History


Remember Rockingham's re-banking, lol?! J. Elsie Webb was also involved in that:

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/30/13 04:59:42PM
9,138 posts

October 30, 1966 - Fast Freddy takes The Rock & Paul Lewis gets a shot


Stock Car Racing History


It just occurred to me that the sizable gentleman standing with Ned Jarrett in the SouthernMotoRacing photo posted by Harvey Tollison is none other than J. Elsie Webb, attorney and one-time head honcho of North Carolina Motor Speedway at Rockingham.

TMC-Chase sometime back posted a 1965 NASCAR Newsletter that has a story featuring the Rockingham track's forthcoming Fall 1965 debut. Here is a cropped photo from that issue of Webb with Richard Petty:

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/30/13 02:54:25PM
9,138 posts

October 30, 1966 - Fast Freddy takes The Rock & Paul Lewis gets a shot


Stock Car Racing History

My buddy, Frank and I again took the special race train from Richmond down to Rockingham for this race just as we did for the March 1966 Peach Blossom 500. In fact, the brochure for this event has the same slogan that was on our ticket brochure for March - "The Superscenic Superspeedway Where The Fan Always Is First" - a mouthful of a promotional slogan that disappeared at some point from the Rockingham lexicon.

My only memory of this race is of Ned's fire extinguisher going off. Being big Chevy and Chrysler fans, we thought that was just wonderful, but in retrospect it was a lousy way for Ned to end a stellar career. I recall Stock Car Racing Magazine featuring a Ned fire extinguisher photo in its race coverage.

One other note - it's no small wonder that the car of "Big John" Sears was promoting the Rockingham track. Sears' car owner (pre-Benny Parsons) was L.G. DeWitt, a majot investor and later majority owner of NCMS.

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