There is news this week out of Martinsville, Virginia naming Jesse Jones hotdogs as the "Official Wiener" of the Speedway. I know there are those who believe one of the Busch Brothers should hold that title and others like PattyKay Lilley who won't touch one of those Martinsville dogs with a ten foot pole!
The first time I recall seeing one of those nuclear red dyed franks was when I moved to Wilson, NC (just 45 miles from the former Garner, NC home of Jesse Jones) in 1970. Never before had I seen a hot dog turn the bun red. Seemed to be a Carolina tradition, because those Carolina Pride dogs served in the Darlington infield did the same thing. My wife grew up eating them and my daughters refuse to eat a Ball Park brand frank, only those red jesse Jones dogs for them.
Jesse Jones sausage was always my favorite product of that meat packer and I am convinced it once saved my life. On a Friday evening in March 1973 I boarded a red 1969 Chevelle SS 396 with 3 other "good ole boys" pulling a pop-up camper in Wilson, NC headed for the Rockingham race weekend.
The car was driven by A.C. Hendricks of Stantonsburg, NC, a part owner of our #11 Limited Sportsman '55 Chevy dirt car driven by Danny Lee of Bailey. Being just 24 at the time, I wasn't nearly as scared as I should have been about riding in an SS 396 pulling a camper. I also shouldn't have been intimidated into dumping my sleeping bag and heavy coat to "save weight."
By the wee hours of race day Sunday morning it felt like it was going to snow and the wind was howling, shaking our pop up camper back and forth. It was freezing. I arose around daylight with no sleeping bag and no heavy coat and started stumbling around the souvenir rigs parked outside the Rockingham frontstretch looking for a cup of coffee. We were out and I couldn't find any.
In fact, the only food or drink we had left was our stash of race day beer. We traded two six packs to another camper for a dozen eggs and a pound roll of Jesse Jones sausage. It all got mixed together in a cast iron frying pan over a Coleman stove.
Not only did that Jesse Jones sausage provide nourishment, it provided the only warmth I had that Sunday morning 39 years ago camped outside the main entrance of "The Rock". Except they had yet to start calling it by that nickname. The track was still being referred to by the lengthy title the late Herman Hickman, track publicist had hung on it when it opened in 1965 - "The Super Scenic SuperSpeedway Where The Fan Is Always First."
So today, whenever I hear the name Jesse Jones, not only do I think of hotdogs at Martinsville, I think of sausage at Rockingham.
And, never again did I ride in a 1969 Chevelle SS 396 pulling a pop-up camper or go to a Rockingham 'spring" race without a heavy coat.
I guess "Racing Now and Then" is an category for this memory brought on by the current Martinsville announcement.
Jesse Jones Becomes Official Martinsville Partner
3/28/2012
Sixty-five years after the first Jesse Jones wiener was served at Martinsville Speedway it has become an official partner with the historic Virginia track.
Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell announced today that the track and Jesse Jones, LLC had partnered to bring official status to the wiener just in time for the Goodys Fast Relief 500 weekend.
We have obviously been partners for many years, ever since my grandfather H. Clay Earles made the first Famous Martinsville Speedway Hot Dog, but this makes it official, said Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell.
Our hot dog is the most iconic concession item in all of racing, and the key reason for that is the Jesse Jones wiener. We have our special, secret way of dressing it, but the dog is at the heart of it all.
If stretched end-to-end, the hot dogs sold during this weekends events at Martinsville Speedway would wrap around the half-mile track more than nine times.
We at Jesse Jones are proud and excited to carry on the historical relationship between Jesse Jones and Martinsville Speedway, said Leigh Smithson, executive vice-president of the Fredricksburg-based company. This is a proud tradition that has been carried on for 65 years and Jesse Jones looks forward to coming back every year.
The Famous Martinsville Speedway Hot Dog has achieved rock-star status in racing over the years. Team members battle to see who can get in line first when the infield concession stands open on race Friday; hundreds of stories have been written about the hot dog over the years, and it even has its own Twitter account.
When my grandfather first started selling Jesse Jones products, he just wanted to sell the best hot dog possible, said Campbell. He accomplished that and so much more because he was working with such a great product.
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 03/12/17 03:53:45PM
