I have often heard the axiom that the older you get the faster time goes by. Believe me, if it gets any faster, I won't bother to make plans, I'll just let things fly by as I sit and watch. This has truly been the fastest year of my life. It seems as though it was only a week or so ago that I was planning my trip to Daytona to participate in the "Back to the Roots" event at Bill France's Main Street Gas Station. I got to hang out with Bill and Shelia Blair and Bob and Pat Hissom. I got to meet, face-to-face, our own Alex Nickerson, who proved to be even more of a treasure in person than in chat here on Tuesday nights. Jimmy Johnson, Chocolate Myers, and I, shot a video together for a good cause and that was quite an event. We hung out with Rex White, Johnny Allen, and dozens of other drivers and crew members from the founding days of NASCAR stock car racing. Talk about time flying! Those three days seemed but a minute as I was on the way back to Columbia almost before it seemed I had unpacked at the Motel.

Further proof of the quick passage of time, my oldest grandson, Andrew, graduated from high school in June. Andrew, the guy who named me "Pop" which has stuck with all the grand kids and many of their friends, and the guy who is now taller than I am, and much, much, much smarter. (No comments from you to that Gilder). I remember, as if it were yesterday, the day Andrew was born. It was a long and arduous day in the waiting room and when the nurse brought Andrew out he had a very pointed head, sort of like the Cone Heads from the old Saturday Night Live skits. Being about the first newborn I had ever seen, I didn't know that is normal, sometimes, in long labor by the mother. My biggest laugh of that night was the nurse telling me how much Andrew looked like me. You see, Andrew's mother is actually my "step" daughter, although we never really use that word. I assume then, the nurse was commenting as to all Andrew's wrinkles matching all of mine. But, whatever, Andrew is a young man in whom I take a lot of pride, as I do his brothers, Sam and Michael. I have had a Wonderful Life (get the Christmas connection here) with those three boys and continue to do so to this day. Being "Pop" far exceeds being "The Legend". Just my opinion.

As summer moved in this year, I was involved in the Augusta International Raceway Preservation Society and preparations for the induction of the 2015 class into the AIRPS Hall of Fame. For the second consecutive year, I had the honor of being the Master of Ceremonies for the Induction dinner. Always a thrill for me and I hope I get another chance this year, but that is up to the officers of the organization and after two years I won't blame them at all if they seek a new face for that honor. I will be in attendance no matter what as it is always a great thrill to see those individuals honored in such a way. The event happens in early September and is well worth the time and admission to the banquet for any fan of stock car racing.

After the Augusta event, I was set and ready to go to Hillsborough, NC for the Celebration of the Automobile, the premier event for racing history buffs. Early Friday morning before my planned departure Saturday, I received a call that one of my lifelong friends had passed away during the night. Terry Huntley, although only 52 years old, had died in his sleep. You would have to have known Terry to appreciate just how deep our friendship was. It endured through the years although there was a period of almost ten years we didn't communicate. I got into my truck one day and stuck under the windshield wiper was one of his business cards and a note asking me to call him. That was several years ago and we remained in contact until his death, visiting often. I miss him every day. I did not get to attend the Celebration of the Automobile in 2015, but I'm already looking forward to 2016.

For the fifth consecutive year, I was deeply honored to be included in The Legends Room at the Stocks for Tots event last week in Mooresville. Just being in that room with the true legends of this sport is something that touches me every time. The first time I attended, I was almost afraid to sit down fearing someone would ask me what right I had to be in that room. For the past four years, it is like a reunion with very good friends of mine. I have attended only ONE of my high school reunions, the 30th, as the 10th fell on a race weekend, as did the 20th. When Ann and I left the 30th reunion, it was an agreed consensus that we wouldn't be attending anymore such get-togethers. It's not that I didn't like those high school classmates; it was just that there was nothing in common now that there were no English Exams or Friday Night Football games. To the contrary, being included in ANY of the racing events I have mentioned thus far has become the essence of enjoyment for me. I guess I'm now accustomed to being greeted warmly by some of racing's greatest pioneers and folks involved in preservation of the history of the sport. It is an honor beyond my comprehension to sit down with true icons of the sport to greet fans and sign autographs. I actually participated in such an event in Concord, NC, just before the World 600 this year. Looking back over that event, even though it didn't hit me at the time, I was sitting with heroes of the sport from years past as well as some of the up and coming drivers who will be the future of the sport. This has truly been a year I won't soon forget.

Also, thanks to Bob Hissom, this site got involved in the Pennsboro, WV event for the speedway there. Steve Burnside, although he may deny it, as he doesn't like to accept compliments, was the driving force behind getting RacersReunion on board. This site has been credited with making that event a success although none of the folks associated here were able to attend the August event. I have heard, every time I step out in these racing get-togethers, that RacersReunion is expected to be at the event in 2016. I am anticipating this will come to pass.

Now, as for the 2015 NASCAR racing season. At times, it seemed as though it was flying by like that referenced speeding bullet. At other times, it seems as though it dragged on and on. Can't really explain that feeling, but that's the way it is for me. I do remember that Joey Logano won the Daytona 500, although, unlike early 500s which I remember almost lap-by-lap, I can't tell you one thing that happened in the race. I remember that Matt Kenseth deliberately took out Logano at Martinsville to right what was perceived as a wrong done to him a couple of races before. I remember the plethora of bogus late yellow flags dominating the season for the Sprint Cup series. I remember so many bogus calls by the sanctioning body that I still question the connection of the WWE and NASCAR.

I remember a season of Xfinity races in which I watched maybe four races total. I'm sick of the Cup guys coming down and messing up that series. As for the trucks, I watched not one of those because of a certain individual in the booth whom I cannot tolerate. His voice, his looks, his persona, you name it. Just can't handle that Kentucky idiot anymore nor the broadcasts in which he is involved.

This brings up the point of where the time has gone. It was a very warm summer night in Cayce, South Carolina in 1952 when my Uncle Bobby and my Grandfather took me to Columbia Speedway. Thanks to Uncle Bobby, most Thursday nights of my young life would be spent out there at that half-mile. Friday nights would be another racetrack and Saturday yet another. Sundays were often trips to what were then Grand National races in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. My life growing up like that was exciting. Although there are so many things that have happened in my life, it seems, as I sit here this Monday afternoon, that the 69 years I have lived have flown by just like that speeding bullet. Where has the time gone is a legitimate question and my only answer is "I have no idea".

During my lifetime, there have been so many changes in the way things are done. It was only in science fiction that men went into space. Yet I was barely a teenager when that was happening. Remember Dick Tracy and the imagined wrist communicators? Real now, and much more. I cannot even begin to get into all the advancements my lifetime has seen. When I remember the first television my Daddy brought home, almost as big as a washing machine with a screen about the size of a current day I-pad. I now sit down to turn on a 42 inch Hi-Definition to watch incredible movies and shows. My Mother had a washing machine with a wringer attached when I was a kid. Now Ann washes clothes in a machine that plays music when the cycle is done. So many advancements in everything.

I do admit to being one who mostly favors the memories of the past, although I realize I am more apt to remember only the good things and overlook the bad. Even so, there was something about the cars prior to the 80s that makes them special. There is something about being able to work on my own car that I miss these days, but I hardly ever raise the hood on any of the vehicles we have now. I would have no idea where to find the oil filter, much less change the oil. Watching Bill Blair, Jr. work on a flat head Ford is like watching Michel Angelo paint the Sistine Chapel. I miss those days. Even so, I'm glad my life has turned out the way it has.

As I write this today, I'm looking at a 2016 calendar. You want to know something? For the first time in my cognitive memory, I don't care when they run the Daytona 500. I don't care when they run any of the other races either. It appears NASCAR racing is slipping into the history banks I choose to preserve. NASCAR has become the laughing-stock of the sporting world, as I have had to endure many such comments this year. While normally I would be the first to jump to the defense of MY sport, I can't do that anymore. NASCAR has told me, in no uncertain terms, that they don't care if I watch anymore or attend races anymore. I will continue to support the events preserving the history and honoring those who build the foundation, but I can't support what NASCAR is doing in the top three series. It's not over for me, there are still the lower divisions where talent plays a part, and although the dollar is required to participate, it is not what makes the engines run.

Please join me here next week as I try to put some thoughts together for the special time of year we observe in December. See you then.