Twinkle, twinkle Charlotte lights, the racing cars come out tonight
General
Very poor attempt at poetry and stealing another poet's line to boot! Bad Legend!!!! I am sentenced to The Lair until I finish that book Dave Fulton sent me last night. Seriously, every time a race comes up at Charlotte Motor Speedway (never could call it Lowe's Motor Speedway although it's always Lowe's I go to and shop) I think back to that very first race there in June, 1960 and the way I pressed against the fence in turn four in the infield to watch the cars fly by. Charlotte was my second "super speedway" as I had been going to Darlington since 1957, but Charlotte was different. It was faster and bigger. When we rolled into that infield that Sunday morning it was already hot, there was not a spot of shade or grass anywhere. I seem to remember even a footstep would send up a little puff of dust from the infield. The place looked like a desert with a strip of asphalt running through it with a minimal grandstand overlooking the odd shaped front stretch.
I remember being up against that fence and looking behind me was a huge hole with an almost Mount Everest looking cliff facing me. But I was there for the race and I was hanging on that fence to see those Petty Blue Plymouths come rolling by. There were like four of them (maybe 3) in the race that day and it was exciting for me to be there. By the time the race started, it was hot and I realized in the first few laps that it seemed the cars were much louder here than at Darlington, but it sounded good to me. It was odd seeing cars with chicken wire screens across the windshield andfrontends not tomention some had"mudflaps" behind the rear wheels. Wonder what that did for aero push?
I remember when the track started comingapart and all kinds of things seemed to be happening on the track. I had been going to races long enough to have thought I had seen everything by that point (little did I know about the 21st century racing to come and little could I imagine what was in store for the future) but all the action going on out there was almost too much to digest in my then 13 year old mind. This past May, I took my three grandsons to the 600 and we sat in the grandstands in turn four almost directly across from that infield fence of 51 years ago. Many times during that race I have "flashbacks" of 1960 and that race Joe Lee Johnson won. I have thought, many times, how far Charlotte Motor Speedway has come and how far NASCAR has come since that June day half a century ago.
Tonight, when I tune in to the Nationwide Race I will see the sparkling lights of a premier racing facility with cars (at least the Mustangs and Challengers) that look like their counterparts in the showrooms around the country. That is a very good thing for an old timer like me. It is also a very good thing for an old timer like me to be able to so vividly remember the early days of racing and the first days of Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was from that dust and melting asphalt, and the dust of so many long lost ghost tracks, that the sport grew to the status it has reached today. It is from that grassless infield at Charlotte that the sport, like it or not, has spread across the country, and, on occassion, outside the country. We have come a long way since Joe Lee Johnson climbed from that Chevy with all that dirt and grime on his clothes (no uniforms then)and his face, with the only white remaining where his goggles had been. We walked up to the Victory Lane, although I don't remember it as a very special place then, and even though Joe Lee was excited and happy, I seem to recall he looked very tired. I understand that now but as a 13 year old full of energy all the time (I think they call that ADD now) it seemed odd to me that you could win a race and be so exhausted.
So tonight the lights of Charlotte will sparkle in the crisp fall air of North Carolina and the cars will line up to run 300 miles. Tomorrow night, 500 miles. Television cameras will be positioned in any place the network feels will give the fan at home a different or unique view of the action. The cars will all be shiny, fast, and driven by drivers of varying talents and varying budgets which most times override the talent requirement. I'll be kicked back in my recliner enjoying more the memories of long ago than the actual race tonight. You see, it's the races from the tracks I grew up with I make time to watch. Charlotte, Daytona, Darlington, Atlanta, well you get the idea. Kentucky, Kansas, Chicagoland, Texas, all those new cookie cutter tracks have no appeal to me. I'm usually doing something else when those races are on. Would I like to be in Charlotte tonight? Yes, probably, but the thought occurs to me that if I were there, Bruton should escort me to the best seat in the best corporate box in the place and feed me royalty throughout the evening. You see, I am special. Without me, and thousands of others like me, many of whom are members here, there would be no sparkling lights on in Charlotte tonight other than in all those bank buildings downtown. I'm not saying "you owe me Bruton" but, in reality YOU DO. Call me and let me tell you about all my trips to races over the years and tell you about why I now watch, sometimes, from the comfort of my den. You may learn alot.
Shine on, shine on Charlotte lights! I hope a hundred years from now, someone will recall that June of 1960 was, perhaps, Charlotte Motor Speedway's finest hour. Think about it and you'll probably agree. After all, if you're reading this, you do have an interest in the days when racing was real.
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
