Where are they today??
General
Thanks for the reply.
How about these two??
Forum Activity for @robert-turner
Where are they today??
General
Just a few along to see if anyone knows what happened to these people from races several years ago.
updated by @robert-turner: 12/16/17 12:06:12PM
is this one for real or not???
Stock Car Racing History
I don't know for sure if this is the same car or not but David did buy this one. I am pretty sure the fellow on the left was the owner. The fellow on the right is Bill ??, my mind fails me. Some you you old Ford folks will reconize him. The fellow in the middle is some one they picked up hitch hiking to the show. The bottom photo is a little bonus for you.
It Really Was Different Back Then
General
Speaking of Tiny Lund, this is his car from the '64 Atlanta 500. A lot different than driving the winning car at Daytona in '63 to a year old Ford in '64. This is when I was a 15 year old witha $2 camera. Notice it sometimes took me a while to take my film for processing.
It Really Was Different Back Then
General
When I was 14-15 years old I was large for my age so I looked a little older I guess. I would watch near the garage gate and wait for someone like Buddy Baker to come by and would fall in step with him and more times than not got into the garage area. I got ran out a few times too. Back then you could get into the pits shortly after the race and into the garage area fairly soon after that. I had my own collection of lug nuts, decals and sparkplugs found lying around the garage area. I got to speak to a lot of the drivers and mechanics. I heard my first race on the radio in '62 and saw my first race in Atlanta in '63. Seems like we had to go back to AIR (Atlanta International RAINway as it was called back then) a couple of times before the race was run due to rain. We were in the infield in near turn one and I could see the cars above as they came off pit road. For those who weren't around then, the nice flat infield at Atlanta was once rolling hills and gulleys and turned into a mess when it rained.We were sitting and looking up at the track.
My hero Fred Lorenzen won the race (he had won the year before in the rain shortened Atlanta race I had heard on the radio) and my hero became even larger in my eyes. I came back and gave him a model of his '64 car at the fall race in '64, won by Ned Jarrett in the Blue #11 Ford. Actually I gave it to Herb Nab to give to him,I didn't get to meet Fastback Freddy until the late '80s or early '90s when he came back to be the Grand Marshall and I got to have my photo made with him in the press building as I was photographing for a few of the racing papers by then. Over the years since I have been privileged to meet a lot of drivers and still remember the early ones the best.
More ramblings of an old race nut later.
WELL HE FINALLY MADE IT
Stock Car Racing History
Semi off topic.
(1) At five a year, they will never catch up with those who deserve to be in the HOF before some are forgotten, as you said folks like Raymond Parks.
(2) For all its problems, NASCAR is what it was when Big Bill was in charge, a dictatorship. Perhaps that is what is needed to keep the number of owners, drivers, crews and sponsors in line. Although, I applaud the advances in safety, I detest the direction NASCAR chose when it abandoned its' roots and went after the wine and cheese crowd. The Wall Street and boardroom crowd will only hang around as long as the bottom line says to. A good old Southern Red Neck, I can say that because I am one, will still fight you for the right to call stock car racing "Their Sport". Look at the stands at a race today, even with the economy as a factor, there should be more attending. Who can afford to pay the prices today to take their families to a big race? When you play with the money crowd it's hard to go back to the normal people and ask them to pay your bills.
Why do the teams need several semis to haul their gear to the track, a couple of planes to get the "Sunday Crew" to the track, a half dozen or more cars and bags of money to compete?? I guess it's our fault, we let them by continuing to buy over priced tickets to watch over priced cars go around an over priced track.
(3) As for DW and such, Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly and earlier the Flocks came along when racing needed folks that showed excitement and were from the same background as the fans were. Richard Petty came along when racing needed a hero that would stay for hours after a race and greet fans and sign autographs and was just a little bit larger than life. DW came along when racing needed a DW, there was a need for an outspoken person to give the crowds someone to shout at, Dale, Sr. came long when racing needed someone whos very presence in a race made it exciting. The Ford, Chevy and Mopar battles of old brought out those who drove one "Just Like" their favorite driver the divverences kept the fans shouting for their favorite car/driver. Many were like me, I thought so and so was a pretty good guy when he was in a Ford but hoped he would get out run if he was in a Chevy or Mopar. I don't know where the sport will be in the coming years with cookie cutter cars and cookie cutter drivers driving for cookie cutter mega buck owners. I don't know of anyone driving today who would make the same HOF and the drivers of old.
Enough out of this feeble mind for now, soap boxes are cheep and easy to fall
WELL HE FINALLY MADE IT
Stock Car Racing History
I must admit that I was not always a DW fan but after meeting him and having some dealings with him while Race Director at Georgia International Speedway a number of years ago i came to have a lot more respect for him.
As for some of the detractors of the HOF I wrote this on another forum to those questioning Richie Evans and DW and such going in beforeFred Lorenzen, Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly and Tim Flock and others.
Richie Evans was one of the greats of the sport of racing and deserves to be recognized for his achievements. If the NASCAR HOF is that and not the NASCAR Stock Car HOF then he deserves to be inducted. I think they should induct a certain number from each division each year. Say five each from Stocks, Sportsman (as they used to be called) and Modifieds. That would be fair. If you will remember most of the early drivers in the "strictly stock" division were old modified/coupe/sedan racers. There are many early drivers that should be inducted before the likes of Rick Hendrick, Roush and Penske are even considered. The Curtis Turners, Joe Weatherlys, the Flocks and such should not be by passed just to put in the later drivers. May be there should be something like two from each decade or era inducted. I have no problem with a Waltrip along with a Lorenzen and Tim Flock and/or a Yarborough with Turner and Bob Welborn or Frand Mundy ,Buddy Baker with a Buck Baker and Red Byron, and so on.
But then again I have about given up on NASCAR anyway. If they will go back to racing at North Wilkesboro and tracks like that I will start going again.
This is like putting the all the Swindles in the Sprint Car HOF (if there is one) and not including Jan Opperman.
Dick Hutcherson
Stock Car Racing History
I enjoyed watching your dad race and thought his '66-67 Fairlane was one of the sharpest racers of the era:
Darrel Brown
General
I just got this off the HAMB "historic stock car photos" site:
just recieved news that Southern all star// All Pro? NASCAR and other orig that Darrell Brown of the Birmingham Alabama area was killed today in a work related accident.. He was 67 years old and had driven from 63 thru the 2000s with many feature wins and several championships.
I also found this link:
http://www.myfoxal.com/story/14497074/former-nascar-driver-killed-in-industrial-accident
updated by @robert-turner: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Sweeping NASCAR Changes Announced at Martinsville
General
I'd buy season tickets for that. I remember getting to go into the pits within minutes of the race being over and getting into the garage area shortly there after. I have photos of Lorenzens car still siting in victory lane (they used the lube rack at Atlanta back then I think) that I took as a 14-15 year old with a $2 camera in 1964.