I know I've heard that song by many artist but, for the life of me, I can't think of which singer made it such a famous song. I do believe Elvis sang it on one CD I had but I must be very, very careful about mentioning Elvis around Jeff Gilder. He has this very adverse reaction when the word "Elvis" comes out of my mouth. Not sure why that is, but I think has something to do with riding in a Ford truck.
On this date, August 8th, in fact it was August 8, 1963, Richard and Lee Petty signed a Charter for The Richard Petty Fan Club of Columbia, SC, which is a one page piece of paper decorated with Petty Blue letters. It was the best thing a coupe of 17 year olds could come up with back in those days to make it "official". We had actaully started that fan club in February, 1962, but got the bright idea of having a Charter signed while Richard and Lee were in Columbia on August 8, 1963 for the Columbia Speedway race. Somewhere on my page is a picture of all of us there that day when Richard signed the document.
Every year on August 8th I like to think back on all the things that have happened since that hot day in 1963. Not only to me, but in the career of King Richard. Seems I actually "lived" every race with him, loving it when he would win, not so satisfied when he lost but still understanding that Richard was always the same guy. It was a good ride, no doubt. When we had that Charter signed in 1963, Richard had not yet won a championship, not won a Daytona 500, had not, in fact, ever won on a superspeedway. But, he was our guy and we were pulling for him regardless. We had the faith that he would bea star.
So, on this August 8th, 47 years after "the signing", I look back to see how quickly time slipped away. I'm no longer the skinny kid with the flat top hair cut, I'm the overweight man with the combover to hide the balding. Yep, it went by quickly, but how awesome it is to have those memories to look back on. How awesome it is to have this forum on Racers Reunion to share these memories and, more importantly, to hear the memories of all the other folks on here who have so much to share. Funny, I don't have a nostagic tear in my eye writing his as sometimes happens, I am smiling my biggest smile because this is wonderful.
Tim
