The Sprint Cup is turning 66 today.
Stock Car Racing History
Good post Eric. Proud of you.
Forum Activity for @tim-leeming
Tough week gets tougher - Jim Vandiver has passed
-RacersReunion® OUTREACH
Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends. Jim was really a great man.
More sad news
-RacersReunion® OUTREACH
Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends. God bless all.
Michigan who will it be --do you know or not
Current NASCAR
I had the race on in the background as I was working on other projects. About the only part I really saw was when Kyle Busch hit the wall, blaming it on the wet track while 42 other cars made the turn. Can't quite understand that. I kept hearing about the red flag coming out and wondered how long NASCAR was going to play the game of getting to half way so they could rip the fans who paid to get in. Well, they made it to where they wanted to, cheating the paying fans out of 62 laps of racing. If you count the yellow flag laps, fans got to see about 65 laps of racing. Guess it really didn't matter though. The stands were about as empty as the heads of at least two of the on-air idiots with FOX Sports 1. This may be one that actually gets negative figures in the television ratings.
Whatever happened to Jocko Flocko
Stock Car Racing History
Dennis, thanks for such a great addition to this post. Yes, Frances Flock has repeated the story of how Jocko was "fired" because he couldn't sign autographs. Just a little caveat to that statement is that you can hear those words directly from the mouth of Tim Flock in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in a recording on the History Floor of the HOF.
Recovering from NASCAnceR?
Current NASCAR
Actually, the Pirelli series looks like it is well worth watching. I may really check that out when I can find one being streamed on line. However, I must comment on the new form of racing I have discovered in the past six months,unlike any I have witnessed before. Beginning with my trip to Daytona in February and continuing through my past weekend trip to Myrtle Beach, I have participated in some of the best road racing ever staged in this country. Driving on I-95 is like racing Daytona. Pack racing, inches off the car in front and beside you. Speeds in excess of 85 mph are the norm with many instances of speeds in excess of 100 mph. Absolute truth. The only real purpose I have observed for the State Troopers is the occasional "debris caution" as folks slow down when those belighted cars appear through the windshield. As for "the big one", I witnessed a five car crash coming back from the beach Saturday afternoon and came through while pieces of cars were still flying in the air and sliding down the asphalt. Getting wild out there for sure.
While the NASCAR boys use spotters, I use mirrors and turn signals. Guess maybe I should lose the "blinkers" when changing lanes because no one else seems to use them. Got to hand it to the drivers from Georgia in that they can change lanes with so little clearance it makes me instinctively go for the brakes. Their instinct for exact measurements exceed any other state drivers I've ever observed.
There are other observations about the highway racing that are pertinent to this discussion but because of the huge issues this country is having with political correctness, I will have to reserve those comments rather than draw the ire of the Politically Correctness Police to the site.
Wasnt this tried back in the 60s ?
Stock Car Racing History
Reading between the lines, it seems NASCAR is willing to acknowledge and accept the establishment of the RTA and the Drivers' Council as a move to make itself seem more attentive to fans. All I can say to that is "ha, ha, ha". "it was up to NASCAR to figure out how to blend all the feedback together to reach a decision everyone could live with" is NASCAR speak for "we'll listen to what you have to say, but if in any way impedes our money making schemes, then you play by our rules". Always has been that way, always will be that way. Good press, but meaningless.
Worth McMillion
Stock Car Racing History
Thoughts and prayers to the friends and family. I remember Worth racing but I'm not sure I ever really met him. I did end up running his number 83 when I raced. God bless!
Stockcar Racing was not looked upon very well in Eastern North Carolinin the 1950s.
Stock Car Racing History
Great read Jim! Thanks for posting this.
I've often told the story of how my Mother would tell me, every Sunday morning in the 50s when we were getting ready for church, "Don't tell people that you go to stock car races". It was her brother taking me to Columbia Speedway every Thursday and often to races on Friday and Saturday Nights. Then Darlington started for me in 1957. Oh, my poor Mother, a Southern Belle if ever there were one!! When she met Richard Petty in 1963, he charmed her into coming to the Columbia Speedway race that night. He won and she was hooked, as was my Dad, for the rest of their lives. Our family made many wonderful memories at tracks around the South.
Thanks, again, Jim. Awesome to have this added to the site.