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Ok, Randy, check with Chocolate and let's pick a day like maybe August 15th or 22nd, if either of those work. Both are Thursdays. Then I'll get to work on this end. Thanks.
Forum Activity for @tim-leeming
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Dennis, of course you would be welcome, very welcome. Now that we have Randy's recommendation for late August I will see what we can work out and post it in the Forum for consideration
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Great Robin. Ok, Randy, that makes three of us. Weekday or weekend? Should we worry about a crowd on a Saturday visit?
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Randy, I would be up for another visit anytime we can work it out. Not sure what kind of group we can get together this time, but I'll see who may be interested.
Bobby, there is a lot to what you say and we address that every Tuesday night it seems. More on that with this week's Legendtorial probably.
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This is a sad statement of our sport. We all agree, I think, that the selection process stinks, but I reiterate my previous statements regarding the beauty of the historic displays there. I would certainly visit more often if I could afford it, just to see the cars and all the displays on the third floor. Oh, and the videos in the theater of the historic races. I really had a problem with the parking charge for the time we were there. Had it not been for Frances Flock being with us and getting her discount, I would have had to take a second mortgage to pay the parking fee.
Dave, your corporate sponsor idea is a good one. Either Coca Cola, Goodyear, or perhaps another such sponsor would be the answer both for the financial support and the support needed to promote the place.
Racing History Minute - July 13, 1962
Stock Car Racing History
Asheville, NC is a beautiful place to visit any time of year. Ann and I are up there often because her sister and brother-in-law are kind enough to invite us up four or five times a year.They have a beautiful home on the side of a mountain and sitting on their deck as the sun sets over the mountains is always a calming and pleasant sight.
Asheville is also the site of one of my most famous race fan adventures which I have relayed on this site in either a blog or Forum months ago. But, for today, we are returning to July 13, 1962, when 19 race cars showed up for the first event to be run on the New Asheville Speedway, a .4 mile paved track.
Some 5,000 fans filled the stands at the track to see Rex White put his Chevrolet on the pole with Richard Petty starting second. Jack Smith qualified third, Ned Jarrett fourth and Joe Weatherly fifth.
Rex White took the lead on the green and would lead for 118 laps before a broken shock mount sent the popular driver to the pits to be a spectator for the remainder of the event. With the speedy number 4 Chevrolet parked for the day, Jack Smith moved into the lead he would hold until the checkered flag. Jack would finish one lap ahead of second place Joe Weatherly in the caution free event.
Top five finishers were:
1. Jack Smith, Smith Pontiac, winning $1,000.00
2. Joe Weatherly, Bud Moore Pontiac, winning $600.00
3. Richard Petty, Petty Engineering Plymouth, winning $400.00
4. Buck Baker, Baker Chrysler, winning $300.00
5. Ned Jarrett, B.G. Holloway Chevrolet, winning $475.00 **
** I am assuming, hopefully correctly, that Jarrett had a bonus payout as defending Grand National Champion.
Sixth through tenth were Sherman Utsman, Tom Cox, George Green, Wendell Scott, and Earl Brooks.
The remaining nine entrants finished 11th through 19th as follows:
Jimmy Pardue, Curtis Crider, Stick Elliott, Herman Beam, Bob Welborn, Bunkie Blackburn, Rex White, Buddy Baker and Larry Thomas.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
5-Time JJ's New Hampshire Qualifying DQ'd - Cheating Again?
Current NASCAR
I didn't realize I had so many friends on FB who hate JJ. My FB is blown up with nasty comments about jj, Chad and Rick Hendrick. I'm not really taking sides in this one but isn't Chad already on probation? Also, could this be a NASCAR ploy to fine JJ a bunch of points? Does New Hampshire need the Publicity since Prince Sparkle Pony couldn't qualify in the top 30?
I heard someone say, late today, that NASCAR is a joke and every word out of the mouth of any NASCAR official is funnier than anything Johnny Carson ever had as a monologue. Well, we will have to wait and see what happens.
God save the Queen!!!!
AFTER JAMES HYLTON RETIRES THIS GUY SHOWS UP
Stock Car Racing History
My best wishes go to Morgan as well. Hope to see him do well.
Racing History Minute - July 12, 1953
Stock Car Racing History
I know there are at least some of you reading this today who thought I would be using July 12, 1958, as the History Minute because this is the date that King Richard Petty began his career in a convertible race at The Columbia Speedway. I've told the story a million times of how I met him that first race (I was 11years old) and immediately became a fan. My Uncle Bobby, who got me into racing, took me to that race because he didn't know his favorite, Lee Petty, was not racing that night. I picked Richard as my new favorite (I had been, and continued to be, a Lee Petty fan) mainly because he was young, new, and I would finally have someone of my own to pull for rather than just mirror my Uncle Bobby's preference.
My Uncle Bobby turned 80 on June 14th. I spent the afternoon with him on Tuesday of this week and while he is in poor physical health, his mental state is superb. He has the clearest memory of that race, along with hundreds of others. We were talking about that July 12th night in 1958, and he reminded me I never shut my mouth all the way home about Richard Petty and that race. You can find the facts about that race many, many places but I'll tell you he started 13th, finished 6th out of 25 starters, although he was five laps down.
RacersReunion member, and fellow racing history lover, TMC Chase, blogged about the first Richard Petty event on this date last year. You can find his blogs here on the site. Chase covers the event in detail and is a renowned Richard Petty fan and historian. Check out his blog posts.
Now, for our History Minute for today, we will travel to Atlanta, GA to a ONE mile dirt track known as Lakewood Speedway. RacersReunion member, Cody Dinsmore, can give you every historic detail you ever want to know about Lakewood, but for today, we are going to the 100 mile race held there on this date 55 years ago.
Only 17 cars showed up for the event and it was Herb Thomas putting that FABULOUS Hudson Hornet on the pole at a speed of 72.765 mph. Buck Baker would start his Griffin Motor Company Oldsmobile in second place.
At the drop of the green, it was Baker moving into the lead with Herb Thomas in hot pursuit. However, no one could do anything with the swift Olds of Baker as he led the first 84 circuits before a crowd of over 12,000 fans. On lap 85, Herb Thomas moved the Hudson into the lead as Baker encountered tire problems surely caused by the rapid pace he was setting. Thomas would lead the final 15 laps to win for the seventh time in the 22 races thus far in the 1953 season. Thomas left the event with a 284 point lead over Dick Rathmann in the National Championship race.
Hudsons would take four of the top five finishing positions with only Lee Petty's Dodge in third, breaking the Hornet lock on the race.
Top five finishers were:
1. Herb Thomas, FABULOUS Hudson Hornet, winning $1,000.00
2. Dick Rathmann, Walt Chapman Hudson, winning $700.00
3. Lee Petty, Petty Engineering Dodge, winning $450.00
4. Joe Eubanks, Oates Motor Company Hudson, winning $350.00
5. Jerry Wimbish, Hudson, winning $200.00
Remaining finishers, in order, were Gober Sosebee, Buck Baker, Neil Robert, C.H. Dingler, Gordon Brackman, Nero Steptoe, Fonty Flock, Jim Paschal, Curtis Turner, Rosceo Thompson, Max King, and Jimmy Ayers.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM