Forum Activity for @dave-fulton

Tony Stewart's 1st Time

Stock Car Racing History

With all the talk this past week about Tony Stewart and the wonderful Truck race at Eldora, I thought back to the first time I ever saw Tony Stewart.

In June 1995, the late Richmond promoter, Paul Sawyer brought the USAC Silver Crown (and Midgets) to his 3/4-mile NASCAR Richmond International Raceway on the Cup Michigan weekend.

This was approximately 50 years after the great Ted Horn had won the first race on the same Richmond site in his Offy powered AAA "Big Car" roadster on the dirt.

ESPN televised the race live as a "Saturday Night Thunder" event.

Dave DeSpain put together a great opening sequence for the broadcast showing the champ cars on the Richmond dirt in 1946 as well as Richard Petty winning on the dirt in 1968, along with Richard on a bulldozer tearing up the old half-mile Richmond track and a few infamous Richmond stock car wrecks.

In the June 1995 field was a very young (and very slim) Tony Stewart , who is interviewed in his car on the starting line by Dave DeSpain during pre-race. This was Stewart's first time on the Richmond oval and it was 4 years before his Winston Cup debut and a year before his Busch Series debut.

Tony always says Richmond is his favorite track. He won 3 of the first 7 Cup races he ran at Richmond and I wonder if he got a leg up there with his open wheel experience.

Also in the field was Mike Bliss , who had just secured a NASCAR SuperTruck ride. You'll see many names open wheel fans will recognize, such as an aged George Snider and a young Brad Noffsinger .

This is just the first clip of 5 from YouTube of the 1995 USAC Silver Crown at Richmond telecast. You can easily find the rest if you want to see the whole show, won by Jack Hewitt.

In the opening sequence, you'll see Tony Stewart fall back for some reason on the start, then start a charge back through the field, captured by his "cage cam" bolted in the open wheel Silver Crown car.

Dave DeSpain had my dear friend and former employer, Paul Sawyer give the command to start engines and you'll note Paul references his old buddy, Darlington announcer Ray Melton when he does.

Enjoy:

updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

Racing History Minute - July 29, 1955

Stock Car Racing History

Different trophy, but the Plymouth dealer had a big presence at Fonda, as evidenced in this clip:

July 29th - Paschal and Petty Victories

Stock Car Racing History

Thanks, Chase. I really enjoyed reading about the Petty Pocono USAC win.

I always thought very highly of the late Dr. Mattiolli, but after reading your post documenting his confrontation with USAC officials over not having Richard in the garage area because he was an outsider, I think even more highly of the late Pocono founder.

The mentality of some USAC officials was amazing. In the early to mid-90s we ran some USAC Silver Crown and Midget races on the Richmond 3/4-mile track. The dumbo USAC guys went over to the backstretch concrete wall separating the track from the infield where the wreckers entered the backstretch when the first green flag fell and stood on the concrete wall adjacent to the backstretch. When we pointed it out to USAC officials, they said it was ok. Richmond promoter Paul Sawyer quickly "explained" to the USAC officials that it was not ok. Really made you wonder.

You can see the inside backstretch wall I'm talking about in this clip from the 1996 USAC Midget race at Richmond. And you can also see why nobody should be standing on it during a race.

YOU HAVE SEEN THE BEST THAT INDIANA HAS THIS WEEK

Stock Car Racing History

Yes, Andy Rooney was an outstanding reporter, highly respected by the troops in the European Theater where he flew on bombing missions out of England with B-17 crews while on assignment for Stars & Stripes newspaper during WWII. But, Andy's greatest acclaim came from his syndicated newspaper column where he lampooned virtually any topic (as a critic). Those columns were collected and printed in several texts which I read again every now and then. Many are familiar with Andy only in his later days on CBS' 60 Minutes. Reporter - yes, but much better known as a critic and a much loved one at that.

YOU HAVE SEEN THE BEST THAT INDIANA HAS THIS WEEK

Stock Car Racing History

Regarding statues and critics... my 2nd most favorite critic, the late Andy Rooney, had a word or two to say about public art!

YOU HAVE SEEN THE BEST THAT INDIANA HAS THIS WEEK

Stock Car Racing History

Wally, I checked on-line to see if I could find a statue of my all-time favorite critic, the late H.L. Mencken of Baltimore.

Alas, all I could find was a an 18'' "half-sized" bust for sale on one of those "mint" sites. However, they are all sold out!

" H L MENCKEN " (18" BUST OF THE LEGENDARY CURMUDGEON) ... EDITION SOLD OUT

YOU HAVE SEEN THE BEST THAT INDIANA HAS THIS WEEK

Stock Car Racing History

If they do add lights, I guess the new NBC deal will get the Peacock network a prime time pig in a poke.

YOU HAVE SEEN THE BEST THAT INDIANA HAS THIS WEEK

Stock Car Racing History

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Anyone who thinks the best interest of the race fan was served by moving the Nationwide Series from IRP (Lucas Oil) to the IMS is on a totally different planet than the one on which I reside. Again, we traded stupendous racing with boring, follow the leader stuff with that one. Perhaps NASCAR just didn't like the NHRA connection?

YOU HAVE SEEN THE BEST THAT INDIANA HAS THIS WEEK

Stock Car Racing History

That is an easy question to answer for most of us, I suspect. However, I was very happy for Ryan Newman to win the boring, follow the leader race I'd just as soon see NASCAR drop.

Here's what they need to give every fan attending a stock car race at The Brickyard:

If they're still running stock cars at Indy when their Crown Royal sponsorship ends, maybe the NoDoz makers would be interested.

Racing History Minute - July 28, 1966

Stock Car Racing History

Wonder if pole sitter Buddy Baker's #00 carried the H00KER for Governor sponsorship?