Forum Activity for @tim-leeming

May 1, 1977: Waltrip goes to Talladega victory lane with a hitchhiker

Stock Car Racing History

Not especially enjoyed as it took my guy out but it was sort of semi-enjoyable to see a big pile of bologna between two first class slices of bread!

NASCAR Hall of Fame visit for next trip

Administrative

Any and all who would like to join RacersReunion folks for a tour of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, we are setting one of for Saturday, August 16, 2014. This is advance notice so you can make plans. There are no discounts or special treatment by the HOF, but when a bunch of RR folks get together, it's usually a great time. Send me an e-mail either here on site, or to legendtim83@yahoo.com.

Hope we can get a good contingent together this time. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Tim

updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:02:57PM

HOF On Line Voting...

Stock Car Racing History

We don't know Harlow and they aren't likely to tell us but I'm voting for my five every day as many times as I can.

Doesnt look like anyone watched the show Sat. nite

Current NASCAR

Dennis, the Nationwide race was set to be shown on ESPNNews for reasons totally unknown to me. It kept raining and they kept delaying it. Finally, at 10:00 p.m. the track was dried and the race got underway. It was said, at the start of the race, that at 10:30 the broadcast would switch to ESPN2 or 3 or 88 or whatever, so ESPNNews could cover other "sports". The race was finally over about 12:40 with Kevin Harvick having dominated but Chase Elliott coming in second. It was a good race in spite of the Harvick domination. When the flag dropped, I immediately turned off the television and went to bed so I didn't see the post race interviews. The K&N race that was scheduled to be run after the Nationwide Friday night was rescheduled for 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

Doesnt look like anyone watched the show Sat. nite

Current NASCAR

I watched from lap 47 on. Had a commitment that caused me to miss the first few laps. I will address some of the issues in The Legendtorial Tuesday night, especially the tire situation as I see it. Join us and see how much trouble I can get myself into. Racing was as good as it gets, especially since the jap traps lost.

Richmond was dirt and Richard was just becoming The King

Stock Car Racing History

I've posted this story before on the site somewhere, but rather than try to search it down, I'll just give you a brief recap of the first.

I was April, 1967, and I had been serving abroad the USS Opportune, ARS-41, in the U.S. Navy since September, 1966. All of my shipmates were from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and a couple from Ohio. My only "southern" shipmate was Ray Gentry from Danville, Virginia, but he wasn't too much into racing. All the guys from the aforementioned states were either fans of hockey, baseball, or football.

Of course, as all my friends through the years, they heard story after story after story of stock car racing and especially about Richard Petty. It just so happened that our ship was in port and I had liberty the weekend of the April 30, 1967, race on the half mile dirt track in Richmond. I also had my trusty 1961 Plymouth ready to rock from Norfolk to Richmond.

Several of my "northern" shipmates heard of my plans to go to the race and suddenly I had many wanting to go with me to see what it was all about. I had been "razzed" the entire time I was on the ship about Petty, because these guys who were hockey, baseball, and football fans had never even met one of the players they idolized. All of those "Yankees" were convinced all my talk of knowing Richard Petty was just that, talk. They had heard me talk enough, and read my racing papers and magazines enough to know that Petty was a star and that only added fuel to the conversation about there was no way I could know someone like Richard Petty.

We left the ship very early that morning to travel to Richmond. We got there, paid our tickets for the infield and drove in a parked sort of behind the pit fence towards turn one. We got our of the car and started to walk toward the pits, me and five of my shipmates. As we approached the fence, Richard, saw us coming and immediately walked over to the fence, reached through, shook my hand and asked how things were in the Navy. I introduced him to five suddenly very shy sailors and Richard took time to talk with each of them about where they were from.

Richard went on to win the race that afternoon. The conversation on the way back to base was quite different than it had been on the way to Richmond. These guys were hooked on stock car racing now. As my time passed on the Opportune, I made several more races and often two or three of the guys would come with me, to Darlington, Charlotte, Daytona, Rockingham, but it was the Richmond dirt track that brought them into the sport.

For several years after I was discharged, quite a few of the guys kept in touch. Many were thrilled when I started racing myself in 1969 but it was always about King Richard. I guess the last one I heard from was Wayne, from New York, who called me the day of Richard's last race in Atlanta in 1992. I did hear from another shipmate a couple of years ago but he had not attended the Richmond race with me. He was from Martinsville and actually lived within walking distance of the track. He came on board about four months before I was discharged but the connection with Martinsville kept us in touch. Funny how we went so many years without contact and then he suddenly calls one Sunday afternoon when they are racing at Martinsville and he talks for two hours. I guess it is true that racing brings folks together that sort of hang together for a long period of time.

I suppose it is all the emotion of Richard Petty returning to the track this weekend after losing Lynda, and that track being Richmond, that brought all this to my mind today. There is not a track on the circuit where I attended a race, and that is a good many of them, that does not bring back memories of times with so much emotion. The tracks, the cars, the friends I had back then. I can't begin to imagine the pain The King is handling after losing Lynda but he will, as always, preserve. The Pettys are like that. Then, again, so are most race fans.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.

updated by @tim-leeming: 03/12/17 05:53:58AM

Butler Charged With Embezzlement

Current NASCAR

Well, at least, judging from the photo, she didn't use any of that ill-gotten gain for personal physical improvement. Apparently, not even make up.

A Petty Anniversary Remembered as King Returns to NASCAR at Richmond

Stock Car Racing History

I remember hearing that news and couldn't believe "my guy" was going home. I think he made the right decision. I know that provisional is considered "The Petty Rule" but exactly how many times did he have to use it? Seems there were others who took much more advantage of that "rule" than Richard ever did. But I don't need to defend Richard Petty. His record and his life, speak for themselves.

Nashville: a fan amongst competitors

Local and Regional Short Track Racing

Great story Chase. Isn't it wonderful to be able to be a part of such things? I would never have dreamed of the things that have happened to me over the past five or six years. You ever heard of Susan Boyle? That is a fairy tale story of a dream come true. Sort of like mine but I dared never even dream the things that I have experienced during my RacersReunion time.

Motor Week LIVE! TV Pilot

-RacersReunion® RADIO

Nicely done, but as Dennis says, I prefer the first video (the top one). Both, however, are very good and very accurately portrays Patrick's talent. Way to go guys!