Some tips for tagging photos on RacersReunion
General
Thanks for the tips, Chase... especially using lower case letters when tagging.
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
General
A STEP BACK IN TIME WITH --SOUTHERN NITES--
Stock Car Racing History
Priceless photos, Bopper. Thanks so much for posting. I see a clothes line, also. Today's kids probably never heard of one. We had duel parallel lines in our backyard. Dad strung them and made the clothesline props, too. I loved taking those clothesline prop poles and seeing how high in the air I could make the clothes Mom had hung out go!
Between Johnny's imagination and yours, a lot of laps were completed out in the yard!
A STEP BACK IN TIME WITH --SOUTHERN NITES--
Stock Car Racing History
Mike, I remember the day a year or two later that a City of Richmond crew "tar & graveled" our street. When Mom & Dad were getting up there in age in the 1990s, the city added real concrete curbs, though we always had a sidewalk. Some kind of cold asphalt pavement replaced the tar and gravel. Mom & Dad moved in the "new" house in September 1948, a month before I was born in October 1948. The downpayment was made with poker earnings Dad sent home to Mom from the South Pacific in WWII, specifically from Guadalcanal where Dad spent three years. Dad passed in 2001 and Mom in 2002. In July 2002, my sister and I sold the house to the older daughter of UNOCAL's Dick Dolan. Small world! By the way, Mom & Dad's monthly house payment on their 20 year mortgage was $60/month.
A STEP BACK IN TIME WITH --SOUTHERN NITES--
Stock Car Racing History
Love your stories, Johnny. We had a couple of window fans back in the 50s, but the really big deal was a whole house fan my dad had constructed at the cigarette factory. The blades had been turned in the cigarette factory machine shop from scrap aluminum "making trays" and the old washing machine motor that powered it dad got at a Richmond salvage yard and rewound. Dad had it wired so we could flip a switch downstairs and that baby would crank and pull air through every window in the house! We thought we were big time!
We had no money, but I thought my Dad could do anything. He built his own woodworking tools from scrap parts... jig saw, band saw, drill press, joiner/planer, table saw, etc. The local paper even did a Sunday story in 1954 about the tools he built from junk. I was just as proud of Dad as if he were a millionaire! Dad passed in 2001, but the cedar chest at the foot of our bed in our master bedroom contains several yellowed copies of the newspaper story with a photo of Dad showing me some bookends he'd made with his homemade tools.
You are so right about the family bonds back then, Johnny.
And I haven't heard it called a "Trike" in years. That's what I called mine, too!
That's me below in 1950 with my trike.
Thanks, Johnny, for the wonderful memories.
R.I.P. Charlotte Race Fan
General
I noted in this morning's Charlotte obituaries the death Monday of a 62 year old race fan who was transported to the hospital Sunday while attending the Coca-Cola 600 with his daughter.
According to the obituary, Mr. Ingram was a 20 year veteran of the U.S. Navy. Thoughts and prayers to this family.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/charlotte/obituary.aspx?n=james-ingram&pid=165042446&fhid=10177#fbLoggedOut
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Petty's #43 Sponsor Sells to Chinese Outfit
Current NASCAR
Just when you thought it couldn't get any more American than stock car racing, Petty, #43 and pork, comes word that the primary sponsor of the #43, Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, has just sold its operation, the world's largest pork processor, to an outfit based in China.
The global economy continues to gobble away at landmark American industries.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/business/article_5e8ea6a8-c853-11e2-bf9b-001a4bcf6878.html
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
Racing History Minute - May 29, 1955
Stock Car Racing History
Thanks, Tim and for your additions, Chase.
New Dominion Speedway Approved , Thornburg VA
Local and Regional Short Track Racing
Wally, I just saw one of the websites run by opponents of the project:
http://stoptheraceway.com/STR/Home.html
That is a really, really nasty site.... "racing causes deaths," etc. They went all out with their nastiness to try to stop the project, didn't they?
I did note on the opponents' site that the Po River runs near the new Dominion Raceway site. The Po & the Ni join in Caroline County to form the Poni River and the Mat and the Ta join in Spotsylvania to form the Matta River. The Matta and the Poni then join to form the Mattaponi river and that reminds me of my late father.
Dad was born in Danville, Virginia in 1915 and soon moved to Columbia and Lake City, SC. At the age of 5, he and his sister were sent to stay until age 17 in King & Queen County, Virginia where he often swam in the Mattaponi River. The area was also home to the Mattaponi Indian Tribe as well as the Pamunkey Indian Tribe. The Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers join at West Point, Virginia - home of the infamous West Point Light - to form the York River.
Anyway, as a boy, Dad always told me about the Indian who fell asleep on his mat beside the river. When he awakened, he'd rolled over and the mat was on top of the Indian. He was then said to have uttered the words, " Mat Upon I ." Thus did the Mattaponi River and Mattaponi Indian Tribe get their names.
Reading the opponents' propaganda at least reminded me of Dad, who passed in May 2001, 12 years ago. He accompanied me to Old Dominion Speedway from Richmond in 1971 to see Ray Hendrick win the third running of the Bill Bogley Gold Trophy race over the best Late Model Sportsman drivers in the country. I never saw Dad enjoy anything more. He grew up on the river that is fed by The Po and he'd heartily endorse the new track if he were here to speak for it.
New Dominion Speedway Approved , Thornburg VA
Local and Regional Short Track Racing
Hope it goes and is highly successful. Northern Virginia race fans deserve a first rate facility after the loss of Old Dominion. Some of the best racing I ever witnessed was at Old Dominion in the late 60s.
New Dominion Speedway Approved , Thornburg VA
Local and Regional Short Track Racing
An interesting side note that family members of local supervisors may have "job opportunities" with the new venture. Business as usual for a governmental body. Billions of dollars were made in the 1950s/1960s by supervisors who bought property in the same vicinity that became exits for the eventual I-95. Wonder how they knew the route? Anyway, let's hope the proposed Speedway can jump the next hurdle with the Virginia Department of Transportation.
May 29th, 2013, 12:07 am
Raceway gets countys OK
BY JEFF BRANSCOME / THE FREE LANCESTAR
Dominion Raceway is closing in on the finish line in Spotsylvania County.
The Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission on Tuesday night voted to approve the raceways rezoning application and request for a special-use permit after two joint public hearings, one on each request. Planning Commission member Richard Sorrell, who expressed concerns about traffic and noise, cast the only dissenting vote. Sorrell represents the Berkeley District, where the raceway would be located.
About 50 people spoke at the public hearing on the rezoning request, with 70 percent of them in support of the raceway. Supporters hailed the project as an economic boon for the county and criticsmany of whom live near the proposed raceway sitereiterated concerns about noise and traffic at the already congested Interstate 95 interchange at Thornburg.
Far fewer people spoke at the hearing on the permit.
Before the public hearings, Supervisor Gary Skinner disclosed that the raceway may hire his brother to manage its go-kart operations. And Supervisor Paul Trampe said his wife works as an unpaid CEO for a public access TV station that may televise some of the raceways events. Skinner and Trampe said they could remain impartial.
Several Planning Commission members, who make recommendations, explained their votes.
Commissioner Cristine Lynch said nobody can deny the raceways economic impact on Spotsylvania.
My feeling is that the good of the county economically outweighs the concerns of the noise, she said, noting she thought the applicant had fairly addressed the noise issue.
But Lynch was critical of the supervisors decision to hold joint public hearings with the Planning Commission. I understand this is only the second time that this has been done, and I think the message it sends is, weve already decided, she said. This raceways going through.
Opponents of the raceway have called the countys support for the project a foregone conclusion.
Planning Commission Chairman Robert Stuber disagreed with Lynch, saying he thinks the county should have more joint hearings.
Typically, supervisors and the Planning Commission hold separate public hearings. They agreed to the joint meeting at the request of raceway officials, who hope to open the facility in time for next springs racing season. The approximately $10 million to $13 million facility, which would be built on 160 acres just off the interstate in Thornburg, would include an oval track for stock-car racing, a drag strip and a road course.
Tuesday nights vote changed the propertys zoning designation from agricultural to commercial. The special-use permit allows the raceway to hold events such as concerts.
Still, raceway officials havent passed the finish line just yet. They must receive approval from the Virginia Department of Transportation for the facilitys entrance on Mudd Tavern Road. The entrance would be closer to I95 ramps than state guidelines allow.
Earlier this year, a VDOT official issued a memo saying she could not approve it until raceway officials addressed a host of questions and concerns. The state agency will likely make a decision in the coming months now that the county has signed off on the raceways rezoning request.
Dominion has promised to pay for several transportation upgrades. That includes a traffic light at the I95 northbound ramps, right and left turn lanes into the raceway entrance, and turn-lane improvements at the southbound I95 ramp.
The raceway also has agreed to pay sheriffs deputies to direct traffic at events drawing at least 2,000 people in the facilitys first year of operation.
And raceway officials will provide emergency personnel at events and hire a safety coordinator to work with Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center and Spotsylvanias Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management.
Many of the opponents say they dont think the developer has promised nearly enough to address noise and traffic issues. We dont believe the fairy-tale forecast about noise coming from the raceway, said Matt Williamson, who said he thinks the track will result in lawsuits from residents upset by the noise.
Raceway officials dont plan to build a sound wall at the site, but say I95 will be a natural sound barrier. They also say a 50-foot building at the raceway site and grandstands with closed risers would be noise barriers.
Asked what he would do if the noise was louder than anticipated, raceway owner Steve Britt said he thinks he has done everything possible to mitigate sound.
Britt previously owned Old Dominion Speedway in Prince William County, which closed last year after 60 years of operation.
Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402
jbranscome@freelancestar.com