I entitled this Legendtorial "Maybe It Only Matters to Me", but that was sort of a tongue-in-cheek comment to attract attention.  If it didn't matter to you as well, you wouldn't be listening tonight or reading this later.  You would not be a member of this site, or at least hang out here from time to time to know what's going on.  There are, in fact, hundreds of thousands of folks out there to whom the subject of this Legendtorial matters, matters a great deal.

Baseball has, among others, Babe Ruth as the well-known name.  Larry Byrd holds almost ever record in Basketball in spite of what you may hear to the contrary from today's radicalized sports folks.  Football has several legendary players over the years whose names are honored in the households of fans of the teams for whom they played.  I think what makes stock car racing different here is that the name of the driver, and sometimes the crew chief, are the focal point, rather than the Boston Red Sox, the Miami Heat, or the Denver Broncos.  To be sure, stock car racing is a TEAM sport and let if never be forgotten that many of the drivers became famous because of the teams for which they drove.  It sort of defies logic that most all the credit goes to the driver, but from almost every team member with whom I've ever had a conversation, it is always about the TEAM doing what it takes to get the DRIVER into victory lane.  In my opinion, no other sport has such dedication by so many to the one single purpose of winning a race.

I don't want to mention present day NASCAR tonight other than to say without Elmo Langley, Earl Brooks, Bill Blair, Sr., Jim Paschal, Jabe Thomas, Frank Warren and so many others of lesser fame than say, Richard Petty, Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, Ned Jarrett or Rex White, there would be no Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Chase Elliott, Ryan Newman, or any of the current "stars" of the sport.

Without the foresight of Harold Brasington, it is doubtful Big Bill would ever have thought of the 2.5 mile Daytona Speedway.  What racing there would be, if even there would be any, would be mostly on the quarter mile and half mile dirt tracks, with a few asphalt short tracks thrown in. Many local short tracks of today are thriving while many more are dying off-season by season.  I'll not address those reasons here tonight but I have personally witnessed the total dedication of certain individuals to the short tracks, only to end in a desolate field of weeds and scrub pines in some now unknown location.  I remember Ms. Carol Bodie and how she put her heart and soul into running the New Columbia Speedway after the Historic Columbia Speedway had closed after many years.  I actually worked as the track announcer at Carol's track for a couple of years and I've never witnessed someone so dedicated to an effort.  I only actually saw her on race days although we would often talk by phone during the week.  She was totally dedicated.  It was her money in the track and she had to know she would never get rich, and although I had no personal access to her financial records, I would bet most seasons ended in the "red" for her.  Nevertheless, at the end of each season she would have an awards banquet for all the teams.  I had the honor of serving as her Master-of-Ceremonies one year and while it was a different scene with all these guys and girls actually clean (from track dust and dirt) and dressed in something other than jeans and t-shirts or drivers' uniforms.  It was also a different animal to witness the camaraderie between some drivers who had fought it out on the track (and sometimes behind the haulers) as they all came together for that event.

As with all local short track drivers and their volunteer crews, it was total dedication to the sport.  As I would wander through the pits before the race gathering stories to use during the race announcing, it could only be described as the same dedication of those drivers at the Historic Columbia Speedway in the 50s and 60s.  Yet, there these guys were, in 1994 and 1995, with the same desires and purposes of those drivers aforementioned.  The drivers who raced there Friday nights had those day jobs as mechanics, truck drivers, auto parts salesman, car salesmen and some even real estate agents as I remember.  For several years after I left the press box, I would run into competitors or fans from that New Columbia Speedway and the conversations were always about the track, the competitors, and the memories.  Memories!  So many stories I wish I had recorded to put in a book about the true spirit of the sport.  Most drivers I talked with would get around to stating they never made money racing and, in fact, most all lost money just racing.  Even so, they wouldn't change even the slightest of the memories except that most wish they had won every week, which, in fact, many of them never won at all.

When I would run into the fans who occupied the stands every week, the conversation would always be about the speedway.  For several years after my involvement in the press box, I was recognized at restaurants or in the mall, and the conversation naturally turned to racing, the local racing, which, by then, existed in only a few select locations in South Carolina.  I remember a conversation with one lady at a restaurant in Lexington who was really incensed what a friend of hers had criticized the "hobby" of the lady's husband as he "wasted all that money" on racing.  The lady with whom I was having the conversation said the other lady's husband played golf every weekend, sometimes both Saturday and Sunday, and pointed out to her friend that golf clubs, green fees, cart rentals and such cost a great deal of money.  Of course the "golf widow" wouldn't buy any of that.  I asked the woman why she remained friends to which she replied, quoting now "so I can torment that snotty bitch".  Loved it.

I guess all my nostalgia this weekend is partly due to the fact they are racing in Martinsville, one of the oldest tracks in NASCAR.  They are short tracking it although it is much different from racing on such a track back in the day.  The Wood Brothers team will be there for the first time since 2008 as they have returned to a full season, even without the Charter.  Few may remember that Glen Wood actually won a race there in the 50s as a driver, but I remember.  When they take the green flag today, I'll get to watch maybe the first 50 laps before leaving from my grandson's soccer game.  There remains something inside me that won't let racing go, even when I am disappointed week after week with the contrived rule bending allowed by the sanctioned body to certain teams.  I won't even mention what happened there last fall as I still think that action brought the wrong type of attention to the sport yet the perpetrator was only gently slapped on the wrist.  I just watched that replay the other day and why that one idiot was not banned from the sport for life still mystifies me.  But, that is just my opinion.

Another part of my nostalgia trip this morning (Sunday, early) is the continuing effort of a small group of dedicated men in Augusta, Georgia, who devote themselves to keeping the contributions for the sport made by those in Augusta present in the minds of race fans.  Sometimes it seems their efforts are for naught although the ARIPS Hall of Fame includes such members as Richard Petty, David Pearson, Little Bud Moore, Buddy Baker, Tiny Lund and so many, many more.  Not listing the full list of members is not an oversight today.  I intend to post a Forum post on the site at some later date to include all the members of that Hall of Fame.  Some names the younger folks may not recognize but I've met most all of the members at some point in my life and once more I can say "it was total commitment to the sport".

There was, once upon a time, a 3-mile road course there in Augusta.  In November of 1963, what was supposed to have been a 510 mile race was held but the miles were reduced due to the impossibility of getting 510 miles under the belt within the daylight time of November days.   I was at that race with friends of mine and remember how I loved it.  That was, to my knowledge, the only road course with banked turns, some really banked.  Every month, when I make the right turn off the main road onto Diamond Lakes Way, I look to the left to see the outside of the bank that led to the main straight and the pit area.  As I made that turn yesterday, my CD was playing Elvis' recording of "Memories". You know the song, "Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind, memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine".  I would have sung that for you but Jeff has a very strong aversion to anything involving Elvis and me.  But, that was to set the mood for the day.  Memories of that November day in 1963 when Fireball Roberts would wheel a lavender Ford into Victory Lane for the final victory of his career.  A career that would end in the 1964 World 600.

Many sites and folks are out there claiming to be the ONLY experts in the field of racing history.  Many are doing a good job of presenting accurate records and memories.  Too bad many are so enraptured by their own point of view that cooperation between all is simply not possible.  I hope the day will come when we all work together to honor the past.