Forum Activity for @tim-leeming

My visit with the Legend

General

Yes, Ed, The Legend had an awesome day! Cody is quite the host and I can now speak from experience that his knowledge is in his head, not in a book somewhere. As Cody said, we spent about 3 and 1/2 hours in the museum and it was an incredible experience to hear Georgia Racing History from someone who loves it and lives it. It is worth anyone's time to go to the museum but IF you're fortunate enough to get Cody to walk you through it, your experienc will be all the more impressive. I have to say the Dawsonville Pool Room is so full of the magic of the area that you can't quite put a finger on why you feel so good just being in there. The cheeseburger was great too.It was impressive to see the Elliott race shop even though we couldn't get past the front desk. Just a tour through history thinking of Bill in that number 9 burning up the tracks.Cody Dinsmore is the real thing. I enjoyed every second there and it wasn't until I was dropping Cody off at his house that I realized I hadn't even looked at my watch all afternoon. Time was not important. Trying to absorb all Cody was presenting was the important thing.Thanks Cody! For everything, including my gift bag.Tim

WHAT NASCAR LEARNED AT POCONO TODAY

General

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updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

Tommy Ellis Prison Sentence

Current NASCAR

That is a sad thing to happen to Tommy Ellis. I remember watching him race many times. Guess you can make enough money racing to have tax problems. Never realized that was possible unless you are in today's Cup events.

I went on a fishing trip after the July race in Daytona and this was what I heard

Current NASCAR

Excellent Johnny! Once upon I time I used to get sea sick. Navy cured that. Now I'm just sick of what I'm seeing my NASCAR become.

When does it happen?

General

Jim Wilmore caught my attention this morning posting the link to the Smokey Yunick 1963 Chevrolet for sale. I looked at the pictures and I was suddenly back in 1963. Talk about a time machine??? It was sort of like when the Delorean was charged by the lighting bolts in "Back to the Future". Got me to thinking (no comments from you Johnny M. or Billy B.)

At what point in life to you begin to relish looking back more than looking forward? When I was growing up, it was always looking forward to the next race, the next birthday, getting a driver's licence, graduating high school, driving a race car, the next vacation, retirement. Suddenly, and I can't put my finger on a date, I became obssessed with looking back. Admittedly, Racers Reunion threw gasoline on that fire of the past as it has allowed me not only to see pictures of the past but also allowed me to connect with so many heroes of those past years.

I get mixed signals everywhere. For instance, a sermon in church not long ago stressed that we sh ould always look to the future, yet the basics of my religion all pertain to what happened in the past. I read reports on the progress of the local county government and everything is directed to the future, yet great effort and large sums of money are put into preserving the past. I hear the news coming from our nation's capitol and it's all about the future of our economy, our health care, and whatever else can be determined as a "hot button" issue to inflame the partsians on either side, yet Washington, D.C. is full of memorials to the past that made us the great nation we are.

I have to admit, I suppose, that my quickly approaching 64th birthday adds impetus to reliving the past as ,there is certainly more of my past than there will be of my future. But, even so, why is it that many of the things I am looking forward to these days are about the past? The Hillsborough, North Carolina event on August 28th? The Augusta, Georgia event on September 18th? The Memory Lane Racers Reunion Hall of Fame inductions on October 17th?

It is also sort of strange that I will go visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame Museum in Charlotte soon, although I don't know when yet, but I have no desire whatsoever to actually attend the Charlotte race there in October. I probably will watch the DVD "Thunder in Carolina" which is a Hollywood farce of a racing movie that contains many good shots from the 1959 Southern 500, but I will most likele not watch the race from Pocono on Sunday.

Guess Jim Wilmore and his post this morning just really rocked my coffee over-stimulated brain (again Johnny M. and Billy B., please no comment). If I'm living in the past, it's not such a bad place. At least there Fireball Roberts can speak his mind and Joe Weatherly and play his jokes and Smokey Yunick and make the NASCAR rule book seem like a standup comics routine. It was simplier then, for sure. But it's better now because I've got so many friends here to share all this with.

Tim

updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

Hamlin & Newman Correct / Fines Suck

Current NASCAR

Problem with that scenario, Cody, is Brian would have to bring someone in to show him how to work the dvd player to watch the video. After watching it, he would find fault with all we had to say and go about justifying his misguided judgments. I know that the past three weeks, moreso than anything else NASCAR has done, have driven me to the point of almost saying "to hell with it". If I can ever justify to myself that the heritage I so strongly believe in is no longer important whatsoever to the institution of NASCAR, then I'm finished. But as long as there is a Richard Petty, a Bobby Allison, a Rex White, a Ned Jarrett, I have to believe what they did meant something. I guess my heart can't give it up easily.I had a discussion today about the Fred Lorenzen caution flags when NASCAR was so hot on making a star out of the golden boy who had no "redneck" accent, that when Freddie needed a pit stop, debris magically appeared on the track. Back then, we sort of overlooked it because we were struggling to be recognized as a major sport. Funny how that makes the old admonition of "be careful what you wish for" mean so much more.Tim

Roush suffers minor injuries in crash

General

Oh, one other note here. Wayne Andrews, a member of Racers Reunion, was at the air show as well.

Roush suffers minor injuries in crash

General

Moral of the story: Do NOT fly with Jack. But, come to think of it, one of his drivers did send another driver flying at Atlanta in the spring. Seriously, I am thankful it came out that well after the crash.

The Hurt to Continue

Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks

Beautiful Johnny. I am assuming you wrote this because it would take a racing man to write it, feel it, have lived it. Thanks for sharing it on the radio show last night and thanks for posting it here. Seems once you drive a race car, you never really lose that "want to do it again". I've had fun racing my grandsons on the go-karts, but it just doesn't compare. Always great to "see you in turn four" buddy! Take care.

Hey Tim did Nascar fine you? They didnt fine me either ---YET

Current NASCAR

I have not yet received my "official" notifcation from Daytona Beach, but I would expect, from what I see here, that Pkl will get one before I do. But then I would be in good company. As you may remember, several weeks ago I said, on the radio show, that I was going to give NASCAR the benefit of the doubt and try to support what it is doing because NASCAR made stock car racing what it is, or was. I did not take into consideration, apparently, that things would go this far. I'm just a lost soul in this evolution of the sport that raised me and which I loved so much. I was at the dirt track in Sumter, SC Saturday night with several Racers Reunion members and it was easy for me to know that the problem is not disenchantment with racing, but disenchantment with what NASCAR has become and is becoming. There are blogs right here on RR talking about Kyle Busch getting credit for wins in ALL divisions in an effort to put him above Cale, blogs about Duck Boy Edwards and whether or not his penalty is appropriate. Blogs about empty stands at races (I even wrote one). What is going on here? I don't have the answer. I'm hurting because my sport has desserted me. Apparently, however, I am not alone.