What a wonderful story about Ivan building the car for you. Unbelievable 7 day coast to coast roundtrip - with half of it towing a race car!
From Hoss Ellington in Wilmington to Ivan the Terrible in California, you have worked around some real characters in the annals of stock car racing.
We've talked on our forum about school buses used for haulers, but I just found a pretty neat little video of race drivers being introduced in driver intros stepping off a bus at the start/finish line.
The year is 1985. The place is the beautiful Shasta Speedway in northern California in the shadow of Mt. Shasta and near the gorgeous Lake Shasta.
The event is the 1985 Laura Robinson NorCal 150 NASCAR Northwest Tour Series event.
You'll see some drivers who are no longer with us. You'll see drivers such as Ivan Baldwin who came east and made great names doing other things.
For William Horrell, Bob Fox is the brother of Teenie Fox who you worked with. Mark Martin and Derrike Cope still looked very young. The incomparable Ron Eaton was as tough as they came. Bill Schmitt was one of the most gracious drivers I ever met.
I know many of our members think all the great racing took place in the southeast, but believe me, you'd pay good money to have seen this northwest field of drivers race.
Here's the complete list being introed:
Drivers in this race are:
1 - Roger Gannon
4 - Derrike Cope
4E - Dennis Shaha
4x - Ron Eaton
5 - Darrell Krentz
7 - Chris Newmeyer
9x - Ivan Baldwin
15 - Jerry Ayers
17 - Randy Olson
21 - Don Harper
23 - Vic Blanc
48 - Jim Walker
64 - Garrett Evans
66 - Mark Martin
70 - Darryl Gardner
72 - Randy Laskowsky
73 - Bill Schmitt
84 - Mike Chase
84 - Mark Baldwin
85 - Jeff Rogers
90 - Bob Fox
98 - Blair Aiken
98K - Hank Hilton
Thoughts & prayers to the family.
Folks... you can't make this up.
I am concerned about tonight's Racing Through History RR broadcast and hope the studio cam will not be turned on.
We just had a naked man here in Charlotte vandalize the SPEED/FOX television studio and he may be headed to Myrtle Beach.
Although the police report doesn't mention it, I have it from "reliable sources" that the naked guy in the SPEED/FOX TV studio was wearing a ten gallon hat with a feather and shouting, "Too many Waltrips. I'm not gonna take it anymore!"
I guess the Mecklenburg County, NC jail has a skype feed if needed.
Anyway, Ruby better beware of nekkid folks in the studio tonight not wearing their Ubatubas!
Report: Naked man broke into SPEED network
Posted: Apr 08, 2013 10:12 AM EDT Updated: Apr 08, 2013 10:18 AM EDT
CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
Police in Charlotte are investigating after a naked man reportedly broke into the SPEED network early Monday morning and ransacked the building.
According to an employee, police were called out to the building along the 1200 block of West W.T. Harris Blvd in Charlotte Monday morning.
That's where police say a man, wearing no clothes, broke into the building.
The man reportedly started tearing down papers on the wall.
He then was able to gain entry into the rest of the building where he began to ransack the office. He reportedly dumped trash cans onto the floor and knocked down trophies, breaking them.
That is when employees and police say the man ran out of the building, still naked, and ran down W.T. Harris Boulevard.
An employee told WBTV the man was later caught. A SPEED security guard offered the man a jacket to cover up.
Copyright 2013 WBTV. All rights reserved.
I can tell you this, Johnny.... first "land" trip I ever made to Dallas-Ft. Worth was driving a loaded down '77 Chevy 350 Caprice Classic station wagon with one of the two girls, following my wife - with another girl - who was following a Bekins moving van hauling all our worldly possessions from Greensboro, NC to the Lone Star state in 1984 to head up the 7-Eleven racing program.
Let it be known that early in 1984, at a rest stop around Meridian, Mississippi, I stepped into my first fire ant mound! I recollect somewhere around 1200 miles of driving.
Really interesting stuff Tim and Chase. Thanks to each of you.
Today also happens to be my baby sister's birthday. Whenever my dear departed mother would ask if I remembered what was special about this date, I'd always reply I sure did... "It's the date Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia" I'd say and watch her face turn red!
Me, too, Tim. I was fortunate to have wonderful, loving parents and a neighborhood full of boys my age.
In my neighborhood were great vacant lots, wonderful woods and neat places to ride our bikes.
We built numerous forts and clubs. My friend Larry from down the block was always "Boss" and I was always "Assistant Boss." We had numerous "worker" friends to whom we were obligated to give numerous orders!
The best thing, though, was we felt free to go in everyone else's homes, eat, spend the night, etc. without frear of the tragic events we read about today. We walked and rode bikes to places at 7 or 8 years of age that would scare the pants off me today if it were my grandsons.
Today's kids can't imagine what it was like on a July day to find an air conditioned store, or smell the popcorn, peanuts and chocolates at the neighborhood variety 5&10cent stores.
We;'d chase the milk delivery trucks and kindly drivers might give us a bit of shaved ice in a cup and pour some orangeade over it.
There is no doubt those in our age group grew up in a more innocent time.
I could go on and on, as could you. I saw a show this morning and watched a woman reach in her clothespin bag. How many kids today have seen a clothesline, much less a clothespin bag?
We were definitely lower middle class at my house, but it was a happy place and I had terrific friends.
