Tim Richmond ~ A Beautiful Memory
by: PattyKay Lilley
A few days ago, I saw one of our budding young “journalists” refer to Jeremy Mayfield as having been the “most famous drug case in NASCAR”, in one of the thousands of idle gossip columns penned regarding young A.J. Allmendinger. I have not one word to add to any conversation about either gentleman, except to say that the young journalist was mistaken and perhaps needs to do better homework.
Most famous? On what then, do we base fame? There was another young racer, back in the decade of the 1980s, who stood to soar clear to the pinnacle of stock car racing and was indeed on his way… until an almost unknown and greatly misunderstood disease claimed his body and eventually his life. Meanwhile, NASCAR, most of his friends and most of the Motorsports press went out of their collective way to strip him of his dignity as well. As you’ll see, NASCAR’s “drug policy” was invented solely for and because of this man, who never, to anyone’s knowledge, partook of any substance deemed illegal on anyone’s list.
Now, with all the talk and buzz about drugs once again the topic du jour with my brethren, just as it was 25 years ago, we approach a race at Pocono, and what better place than his favorite track to remind you, or perhaps introduce you to that young racer? What follows here is not all new, but then, history, if accurate, knows no change. It is the story of the rise and fall, and oh, what a fall it proved to be, of one of and perhaps the best racer NASCAR has ever seen. That point will be forever moot, as this racer died far too young to prove or disprove its validity. Racers and race fans, I give you, Tim Richmond…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Richmond was a NOVA: a star that burns for a short time with an intense light. When extinguished it leaves the world a darker place for it having been there.
Unlike most Winston Cup drivers, who get rich by driving a car and winning races, Tim was born into the lap of luxury, never wanting for anything and pretty much having everything his own way. Prep school, fast cars, fast bikes and fast women were his lifestyle. Movie stars and musicians were his friends.
This astonishingly good-looking young man never saw the seat of an actual racecar until he was 21 years old, and then it was not a stock car, but an open wheel Sprint car, belonging to a friend. It was love at first drive, as it were, and Tim had found his avocation.
Winner Johnny Rutherford gives Tim a ride – IMS Photo
He spent a few years racing Sprints and in 1980 raced the Indianapolis 500 where he finished ninth and was voted rookie of the race. After that year, feeling there were still worlds to conquer and dragons to be slain, he moved on to the stock cars of Winston Cup. Later, in explaining the difference between the two, he would state that one “drove” an Indy car, but “raced” a stock car, and race them he did, almost as if his life depended upon speed.
To say that Tim was different from those good ol’ southern drivers would be akin to saying that a cat is not quite a dog. Surrounded by gruff, tough characters like Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough, Tim stood out like a peacock in a flock of crows. His expensive tastes in clothing, food and drink, not to mention ladies, set him quite apart from the norm, but the lad could drive!
A Dapper Tim Richmond – From the Craig Bontrager Collection
He was not, however, an overnight success, driving one race at Pocono in 1980, for D.K. Ulrich, and spending 1981 driving a series of catch rides for several different car owners, only to face the 1982 season with no ride at all. That was cured when J.D. Stacy had a falling out with his driver, Joe Ruttman, and came looking for Tim’s services. Tim would win two races in that year, both at the old Riverside road course in California, and managed to finish 26th in points, with 7 top five and 12 top ten finishes, although he only ran 26 races.
In 1983, he accepted what would become a three- year stint with the new “Blue Max” team, owned by drag racing great, Raymond Beadle, with Barry Dodson as crew chief. Tim and Barry became the best of friends during that time, and together they shared 2 wins, 18 top five and 34 top ten finishes, along with placing 10th in the points in 1983, 12th in 1984 and 11th in 1985.
About this time, enter Rick Hendrick, who saw a world of potential in the flamboyant young driver with that proverbial fire in his belly to win races. Rick created a brand new team; ostensibly belonging to his father, “Papa Joe” (It was some silly rule about multi-car teams, which has obviously gone by the wayside.)
He built the #25 team around Tim, and especially for him, with Folgers Coffee as the sponsor, and the irascible Harry Hyde as crew chief. If you’ve ever watched “Days of Thunder”, the Harry Hogg character was patterned…loosely… after Hyde. There was a lot of Timmy in that Cole Trickle character, but one could also see a lot of Dale Earnhardt, and when it came to racing the two were not so very different.
Harry and Tim – Charlotte 1986 – Ray Lamm Collection
What a shame that the new team got off to such a slow start in 1986, because before it was over, Tim would win 7 races, including both races at his beloved Pocono Raceway, and sit on 8 poles. No other driver fared as well, but a couple of mechanical failures late in the year dropped him to third in the points, behind a winning Dale Earnhardt and 6 points behind Darrell Waltrip. True to his style, Timmy had anticipated winning that trophy so much that he’d had a special tuxedo custom tailored for the occasion, along with a black and white checkered silk shirt. Although Tim never got to wear that tux as the champion, his dear friend Barry would wear it in 1989, as crew chief for then Champion Rusty Wallace.
It seemed to the casual observer that 1986 was a banner year for Tim Richmond, with all the wins, the near championship and his announcement about mid-year that he had proposed to a young lady, and was awaiting her decision. (You could almost hear the collective sigh of a million or more brokenhearted gals at the thought of this handsome young devil being taken off the market) The casual observer was wrong! The engagement, much like the Championship, never materialized, and immediately after the end of the season, Tim presented himself, under a false name, at the Cleveland Clinic, to be diagnosed with auto-immune deficiency syndrome, better known as AIDS.
Over the fall of 1986 he had been noticeably ill, to the point of greatly concerning Harry Hyde, but Tim brushed it off as flu and indeed, seemed to recover for a while, only to be quite ill again by the last two races, and reportedly looked far from healthy at the awards banquet. He spent much of that winter in a hospital, and then recuperated at a Florida beach house, while we were being told he was suffering from double pneumonia and exhaustion.
One has to remember that at this time in our history the HIV virus and the ensuing terminal disease known as AIDS were barely beginning to be understood. It fell to Tim’s mother, Evelyn Richmond, to call Rick Hendrick and explain to him what the disease was, and what it would mean in the end. Hendrick was crushed and heartbroken as the full import was brought home to him and he knew he would lose his protégé and friend. Tim, on the other hand, was not easily done in, and continued to recover as he worked out to regain his strength for a comeback.
After an ill-fated outing at Rockingham in early spring of 1987, he retired once more to work harder on himself. When he finally returned to race a full 500 miles, it was at Pocono. Of course! In true Tim Richmond style, he won the race, and I’m very sure that Victory Lane still bears the stain of all the tears he shed that day. The next race was at Riverside, and Tim won that one too, with a sad but cheering Barry Dodson sitting on a hillside, watching his friend win his last race ever.
By the time Michigan rolled around in August, Tim had to be driven from his truck to the car. Sorry, I don’t recall the results of that race, but shortly thereafter Tim checked himself back into the Cleveland Clinic. Les Richter, then director of competition for NASCAR phoned Rick Hendrick to inform him that his driver appeared to be in no shape to take to the track. It would be in September, after an announced comeback at the Southern 500 that never materialized, that Tim resigned from Hendrick Motorsports, to free the team to hire a new driver.
Now, while all this was going on, things in the garage area did not remain quiet. Anyone who follows this sport knows about the “rumor mill”, which can help or harm, cure or kill, with equal abandon, and it was in full swing! The mention of AIDS, or the possibility thereof had gotten out, and spread like a grassfire in a drought. Along with it, speculation generated more rumors, dealing with how the disease had been contracted. Some laid it to promiscuity, which it probably was, while others hinted at other causes, but by far the most damning were the rumors of drug involvement. To my knowledge, no one, to this day, has ever claimed to have seen Tim doing drugs or even talking about it, but that is the one that persisted, perhaps because its fire was fueled and fanned by no less a personage than Richard Petty. I was never sure what his problem with Tim might have been, but on more than one occasion he launched into some quite vitriolic speech for the benefit of the press and thereby, the fans.
When the Busch Clash, the first race of 1988 rolled around, Tim was eligible and wanted to drive it. It was then that NASCAR came up with one of those “on the spot” rules, supposedly instituting a drug testing policy, but somehow it only applied to Tim. Having anticipated this, Tim had stopped taking his medication some 6 weeks before. Just prior to going to Daytona, he had his own doctor run a drug screen (which was entirely clean) and seal away the results. When he arrived at the track, he requested that the test be run immediately, which was done. It was announced a couple of days later that Richmond was suspended from racing indefinitely for testing positive for banned substances.
He immediately requested and got a meeting with Richter, where he vehemently pointed out that a mistake had been made, and demanded another test, which was done. The second test was negative, but of course, the results of the first test had been given to the world. NASCAR would later admit that the only substances found in the first test were common cold remedies that most of us have taken, Sudafed and Advil! There never had been drugs or banned substances.
It was all a mistake. Eyewash! It was a carefully conceived plan on the part of NASCAR officials from Bill France Jr. on down, to discredit this man, who dared to come down with an unpopular disease on their watch. Even back then, it was all about the corporate image. Eventually, they had to lift his suspension, but still refused to let him drive without surrendering his medical records from the Cleveland Clinic, which would have proved he had AIDS. So feared was this disease then, he refused, preferring to take the secret to his grave rather than own up to it. One thing he did do, being Tim Richmond, was hire a small plane to fly over Daytona on race day, trailing a banner that read “Fans, I Miss You-Tim Richmond” We missed him too!
Later that year, Tim filed suit against NASCAR for defamation of character relating to the drug test and the false information released. NASCAR countered by demanding reams of information: Richmond’s tax returns from 1980-87; the results of every test of his urine, blood or other bodily fluids since 1980; records of every visit to a doctor, psychologist or counselor since 1980; and his medical records from the Cleveland Clinic and his personal doctor in Florida. These boys know how to fight! By fall, the lawsuit was withdrawn, once more to avoid disclosing his medical records. Rick Hendrick probably summed up all that happened in the best way. “That’s horrible to damage someone like that – to character assassinate without the facts.”
Tim retired to seclusion in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he remained, with his mother, until his death on August 13, 1989. In all those months, there were very few visitors from the “family” of NASCAR. Rick Hendrick remained close to Tim, as did Barry Dodson, but the vast majority of drivers were conspicuous in their absence, probably due to a combination of fear of the disease and fear of retribution from NASCAR. Kyle Petty offered this statement as a summation:
“It all boils down to AIDS. I don’t care what anybody tells you. Nobody knows how to handle AIDS, especially in a sport as backward-thinking on so many things as this sport is.”
For my part, I was heartbroken. This bright star went out far too early, and the hierarchy of the sport I love reacted in a manner unacceptable in the mangiest of hounds. As I write this, I am looking at a small blue frame, decorated with a bow in one corner, containing the words of a poem someone sent to Grand National Scene after Tim’s death. It reads:
God saw you getting tired
and the cure was not to be,
So he put His arms around you
and whispered, “Come to Me.”
It broke our hearts to lose you
but you did not go alone,
For part of us went with you
the day God called you home.
We love you Tim
In front of the poem there is a 1/64 diecast of the #25 Folgers car. That’s all that remains in my life of Timmy now, except for the fact that I find it still makes the tears flow to remember all of this. In closing, let me share just one more thought, gentle reader. There is a very old country song whose lyrics I’ve always thought could have been written just for Tim Richmond.
“I want to live fast, love hard, die young, and leave a beautiful memory.”
Please click here to view the RacersReunion collection of 191 photos of the late Tim Richmond
**Author’s insertion: What was not known at the time, but came to light later, was that the first drug test performed on Tim was at the hands of Dr. Forrest Tennant, not a regular NASCAR doctor, but one in the employ of the NFL, brought in by Les Richter, member of the NFL Hall of Fame. The following tiny notation appeared on page 2 of the Los Angeles Times, February 23, 1990, six months after the death of Tim Richmond.
“Tennant No Longer NASCAR’s Drug Adviser”
“Dr. Forest Tennant is no longer working for NASCAR as its drug adviser, a spokesman for the premier stock car sanctioning body said Thursday in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Tennant is the executive director of Community Health Projects, Inc., a group of drug-treatment clinics headquartered in West Covina.
He has come under fire for his work as a consultant to the NFL, and it was reported this week by The Times and WJLA-TV in Washington that the result of a drug test he administered to Tim Richmond was falsified. Richmond, a former Winston Cup driver, died of AIDS last August.”
Anyone wanting a deeper read into Tim Richmond’s life and death might enjoy the book “Tim Richmond: The Fast Life and Remarkable Times of NASCAR’s Top Gun” by the late David Poole. It can be found at Amazon.com by clicking here.
~PattyKay
Email: nas3car@etcmail.com
Twitter: @MamaPKL
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Patty
Just a fantastic article!! Well done lady!! The sport wants to bury Tim in more ways than one. The injustice perpetrated against Tim in my mind is what started my huge mistrust with Nascar. They destroyed an individual because he would stand up to them. I’m going to link this to our NBSRacingblog facebook page. Great Job
Mike
Mike, thanks for taking the time to comment. When it comes to what was done to Tim, I find I’m still in a rage 25 years later. There is no way my mind can find to excuse it. I’m happy that you enjoyed my take on Tim and I do appreciate the link. Please, come back anytime. You never know what you’ll find, but hopefully, you’ll enjoy it.
As fast paced as Tim lived and The life style he portrayed I liked him as a person. My dad was getting worse along the time Tim came into the picture and we went many places and races together as partners and father n son. Meeting tim in the garage area was a plus for dad because he said that boy can drive and actually told me to take note on his style which was different from most but close to Dales flair.
I lost my dad in 88 and then Tim in 89. I too can feel a tug also. I dont talk of things like this very much because I have lost several very close individuals to me that were tied to racing. There are things I try to forget and accomplish doing it until something drags them out again. Now I have a few old races to relive again so they will once again not disappear but be hidden in the dust for awhile longer.—————-memories
Johnny, I think you know that I would never set myself up as a judge of the way anyone chooses to live his life. Fast lane? Sure, Tim lived there, but he was raised from an infant in that atmosphere. He wouldn’t have known how to be any other way. It wasn’t the disease that took him, as much as the rejection because of it. Even that far back, there was plenty of information on AIDS, if one only took the time to read.
Yes, the man was sick, but he never deserved the accusations, isolation and downright lies that surrounded that whole deal. Every time I open that file, I want to bite someone. I don’t enjoy tears, but sometimes, I guess they can be cleansing, or so I’m told. If so, doing this one again has my soul all shiny and new. Thanks Hon, for the comments and the emotion.
Wow! This brought tears to my eyes. He was so much fun to watch!
And there has been a reverse among some from that era. In mentioning Kyle Petty, he at least has been out front about the “backward-thinking” and the devastation it brought to Tim Richmond.
Personally, I’ve never understood why NASCAR refuses to take the point on the drug issue. They could lead the fight, set honest and open standards and become a leader instead of a questionable enabler.
I love watching the old films with that flash of the red Folder’s car. That was back when stock car racing meant something to a whole lot of hard working people.
In large part to NASCAR, it now leaves a hollow feeling in fans.
Thanks Carol! It brought tears to mine as well, several times over. I won’t even go into what it takes out of one to do a piece like that, with so much emotion involved. I told everyone I had a special one coming.
I have saluted Kyle Petty many times for being forward-thinking in pointing out that NASCAR is just the opposite. You’re right of course, they COULD take the lead, but for whatever reason, and he may be sitting in the big office now, they choose to bury almost any mention of drugs and keep their collective head in the sand on the issue.
This tells where it all began, and to date, it appears they have learned nothing. Sudafed and Advil? Oh, how evil! Someone needs to arraign CVS immediately. I think NOT!
Oh well, we won’t solve all the world’s problems here, but I feel better for telling about this one like it is.
Wow, 1989 doesn’t sound like so very long ago; but, 23 years sure does.
Yes Don, time has a way of passing when we’re not paying attention. Since Tim last raced, it’s been 25 years; an anniversary of sorts I guess. So long and yet he’s still so fresh in so many memories.
It seems like just last year he won the pole at Charlotte. If I remember correctly, he was given a car for doing so. He then complained that the car was used as I think it had been driven around the speedway a few times. What a character!
Yeah, but he was a FUN character. Know what I’ve always regretted? Never getting to see him in that spiffy tux with the silk checkered shirt. It looked classy on Barry, but oh my, it would have looked SO GOOD on Tim!
Another great article. I was a big fan, too. He would have set all kinds of win records if he had lived. You are right about the drug tests. I have been suspicious ever since.
Keep it up.
Thanks Jerry, for taking the time to comment. Yes, NASCAR can’t understand why folks don’t trust them. Well, here’s one reason… Tim Richmond. Oh, we’re sorry. Silly us, we made a teeny little mistake. Sorry about that.
That didn’t cut it with me then, and it doesn’t after all these years. How could they? Seriously, how could they???
Great read Ms.Patty !!! I know we share the same feelings for Tim Richmond..This guy always had a smile on his face even when he was sick..He was a throw back ,to when men just could flat out drive a race car. Only a Richmond fan could put down such words as this.
Thanks Ms.Patty
Thanks Max. Yep, even though I was older, like all the gals, I loved Tim, but not for his looks, though they were pretty fine. I loved him for his driving style. To see Tim and Dale going at it together was one of the greatest joys of my life. They were an even match and a thing of beauty on any racetrack they shared. God has them both now, so He gets to watch the show as often as He likes. What heaven is all about…
Well, you have done it again, Mama. My heart and soul have been touched. As I try to type through tear filled eyes, I remember being given one of those now famous “I Sleep With a Winner” sleep shirts as a gift. I was in my twenties then, and was like so many other women…in love with Tim! Heartbreak within Racing Families is so personal, it has to be that “family” aspect that causes it. A female friend of mine passed away with that horrible disease around that same time, as Tim. She was kept “under the radar” so to speak. If we care or are interested enough, we will seek out information, which is what true friends, fans and family do. I was heart broken when Tim died, but I never…never thought any less of him as a gentleman or driver. You are so right….we live what we learn, and use what we have access to. We do not know how, or what we would have turned out to be if, the circumstances of wealth, looks and so forth were on our side. Being so young…when this happened, some of this discriminating information is new to me, and it outrages me, and causes (more) doubt in my mind. Now the downfalls within the sport makes more sense to me. I love and thank you, for this article, for putting the truth out there. Thank God for historians such as yourself, for your knowledge, heart and honesty!
Thanks so much Patsy, for your honest emotions. Yes, all we “girls” loved Tim, but as I just told Max, my reasons were a bit different than the younger set. If you didn’t know some of that before, then outrage is a good reaction. All too often, when you hear some of the old-timers, including this one, griping about something, there’s an underlying reason. Now you know why I’ve had absolutely nothing to say on Allmendinger, and sympathy all the while for Mayfield. There is absolutely not one single reason to trust the veracity of anything that comes from NASCAR. I know of what they are capable, and I find it deplorable and despicable.
Oh, and to whoever is reading, the opinions stated herein are my own, no one else’s. They are not the opinions of RacersReunion, its management or its members.
Sorry to infringe on your comment Patsy; just wanted to make that very clear to NASCAR.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful darlin’. I shouldn’t do it ,but I’ll hold one high for Tim Richmond.
Phil, I”m not sure beautiful would be my choice of words, but thanks. As to holding one high for Tim, just be sure to keep the cap on it and you’ll be just fine. It’s the drinking it that’s not good for your heart.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane Patty. I remember all this all to vividly.I personally didn’t care much for Tim till he got sick. He was cocky,brash,and full of himself. But he had bushel baskets full of courage. He was one of a few that could intimidate Dale Earnhardt and could out drive him on a regular basis.When the powers to be junked his career I thought to myself he couldn’t be all that bad. So I did some research on my own and talked to people that knew him on a personal basis and understood him a little bit better and I admired his talent all along but when the big test came out of Florida I knew that his competitors and friends knew better to believe those results so I became a fan of his instantly. As time progressed as did the rumor mill and his illness when people would talk negatively about him I would quickly ask them two questions. Do you know Tim personally if they said no then are you a doctor then another no then I would tell them they didn’t know what the hell they were talking about and that I didn’t want to hear what they had to say. Sorry Boss but that’s just the way I am. His legacy will live forever no matter how hard they try to keep it out of the public eye and will always be one of the best driver to buckle into a race car.
Mike, that must be why you and I get along so well. We both like to be fair and honest. I only wish there had been more folks like you when Tim lay huddled and dying in a darkened room on Florida, with only his Mom by his side. To know it was like that for the flamboyant young man who could drive like the wind was heartbreaking. To haul out the story, rework and add to it and present it for public scrutiny in its new package has to be a labor of love in order to justify the tears shed in doing it.
I’m glad you enjoyed the trip down the Lane with me. At times, the past seems far more attractive than the present.
Tears appear when this is being read by many people like myself. You did well, Patty Kay. I liked Tim and admired him for the way he could drive. He could have been so much better if he had the chance. I think Nascar really fed the rumor mill and did him in long before aids did. And I think I began losing respect for RP when he opened his mouth wrongfully about the situation.
BTW, as I watched Senna last night, I was reminded that there was a similar show about Tim sometimes last year or before and I can’t remember if it portrayed all the truth or not, but I believe it did bring out some truths about the whole thing. Did you watch that and do you remember what Bill France, Jr had to say toward the end of that show? Seems like he admitted Nascar was wrong. As your last article stated, when things are handed down the story changes so I don’t know what was real in the show about him.
Thanks, Lady for this one.
Thanks Vivian. I knew when this one went up that tears would be the order of the day. Now I sit back hoping I’m up to it. Writing about all that again was not easy, but I think it’s good that others see it the same way… just a bleeping shame, that never should have happened.
I “think” the program you mention is one by ESPN on those “30-minutes” segments, but not sure. Ever since they made “3″, that unauthorized version of a badly put-together supposed biography on Dale, I tend to shy away from those things. If the idea is to just shove anything out there for the sake of saying you did it, I missed that memo. That’s why I love writing here. No deadlines except what I impose on myself.
Maybe I missed the one to which you refer because I sure don’t remember young Bill ever admitting he was wrong… except that he DID appoint Mike Helton as President of NASCAR, as a sort of counterpoint to the new “CEO.”
Glad you like this one Hon. Every now and then, truth needs to see the light of day.
R.I.P. Timmy
That is one of the best articles I have read in quite a while. I was a Tim Richmond fan when he drove the #25 Folgers car…he had a great personality. By the way, I am a Jeremy Mayfield fan since 1997, so I know how Na$car operates.
Gladys, thanks so much for taking the time to comment. Yes, if you followed both Tim and Jeremy, you have endured a NASCAR baptism by fire. Again, thanks for the kind words. I loved Tim and I love racing. In some circles that is two strikes against me, but I’m still in the game and still swinging.
My dad and my grandpa, who died 11 Years on this day, always told me Tim Richmond was more Jeff Gordon than Jeff Gordon, and to 2nd That, I think Rob Moroso had more of a racing dad than Joey Logano,Patty, Shane Hmiel was Kyle Busch before Kyle Busch and Kevin Grubb was Denny Hamlin before Denny Hamlin and I know there still is strong emotion with Substance Abusers and even Aaron Fike, even today. I am still in knots over the Richmond legacy and NASCAR and its fans aren’t 100% The Most Comfortable to keep vigil of its lost stars.
Tony, I am old and have not had time to delve into and follow every story. With Tim, I did, and you read what I found. As I told a previous reader, I do not sit in judgement of anyone’s life or lifestyle. If the worst thing Tim did was love the ladies, that is OK by me. What he didn’t do is drugs, with the exception of those prescribed for his illness. And of course, those evil cold meds that supposedly were banned substances… for a couple of days.
IF… and it’s a big IF, he hadn’t been made to feel so ashamed of that dang disease that he went off his meds before taking a drug test, he might still be alive today. In doing that, he let his immune system sink to 0 defense, and never recovered.
Today, many folks with AIDS are living long lives, not without worry and complications to be sure, but living. If his dignity had been left intact by NASCAR, he well might be too. And THAT is what is saddest of all.
Indeed Tim was a shining star and one of the finest natural talents to ever drive a race car. What i do not understand is how this article can berate the nascar family for its actions toward Tim while completely overlooking the harm Tim caused to unsuspecting women by continuing to have unprotected sex after he was aware of his infection. How many womens lives were ruined by his selfishness and cowardly omission. This article at best is hypocritical.
Good morning Mr. Dirttracker. I’m sorry if you found my article lacking, but there’ll be no apology here because there was nothing hypocritical whatsoever in my words. As noted, it is not my place, nor is it yours, to sit in judgment of the character or lifestyle of another, especially someone long deceased.
Simple logic would dictate that if the disease was so new that NASCAR was able to claim complete ignorance, then others, including Tim, must be accorded the same assumption.
I did not write this for the purpose of character assassination of anyone, and I will not let it descend into that. Originally, I had included a disclaimer stating that I would not approve or entertain comments in that vain. I decided to eliminate it in the name of fairness.
The column went onto the Internet at noon yesterday. (Tuesday) You are the first to express that opinion, to which you are welcome, of course. Maybe you could sway mine the first time you produce someone that was forced in any way, shape or fashion to share any manner of physical contact with Tim Richmond.
We shall just have to agree to disagree on that aspect Sir. You have a nice day now, ya hear?
PK,
I remember the stuff They pulled on Tim. I was always behind him 100%. Your article brought back memories, and some tears.
Luvs!!
So many of us remember it Harlee, yet they wonder why the same folks don’t trust them now. Tears are not a bad thing. It is said they cleanse the soul. After going back through all of that, my soul has to be immaculate. Luvs back to you Mountain Man.