When we think of Fort Worth, Texas, we think of the big NASCAR races at today's Texas Motor Speedway.
Before the first Cup race at TMS, most folks thought of cow town, stockyards and Billy Bob's night club when they thought of Fort Worth.
Back in 1985, however, I attended a racing meeting in Fort Worth hosted by the famed newsman, Walter Cronkite .
At the time I was Motorsports Coordinator for Southland Corporation in Dallas and I handled our sponsorships in NASCAR, IMSA, TransAm, & NHRA. Sometimes I also got an assignment nobody else wanted. The 1985 meeting in Fort Worth was one of them.
The then Thompson family that owned Southland (7-Eleven Stores, CITGO, Chief Auto Parts) was good friends with the head of the TransUnion Credit Bureau in Dallas. This gentleman was into big-time yacht racing and was a member of the Fort Worth Boat Club - a yacht club of note, headed by a Commodore, etc.
If you didn't know Fort Worth, Texas had a yacht club, you are not alone. Neither did I. Anyway, my wife and I were picked up by the gentleman and his wife at my Dallas office and driven in their new British Racing Green Jaguar to Fort Worth.
The purpose of the presentation by Walter Cronkite was to raise money for Captain Dennis Connor to mount a challenge in 1987 to regain the famed America's Cup , piloting the new yacht Stars & Stripes . I'd always been a Walter Cronkite fan and my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed rubbing elbows and shoulders for one evening at the yacht club with a bunch of mostly millionaire oil men and cattlemen.
On the ride back to Dallas, our host's wife wanted to demonstrate their new car phone and she called Miami to check on the weather. They were flying there the next morning to board their own yacht for some sailing in the Atlantic.
As for me, I was headed back to stock cars after my brief flirtation with yacht racing.
But, I am here to tell you, they were racing boats in Fort Worth before they raced cars!
The Fort Worth Boat Club (FWBC) is located on the shores of beautiful Eagle Mountain Lake, a 9,200-acre recreational lake in North Texas. Boasting a large harbor with sailboat slips, covered boathouses and full harbor services, the FWBC features 14 acres of amenities including a full-service restaurant and bar, plus a pool and tennis court.
One of the oldest yacht clubs in Texas, the FWBC was established in 1929 by a group of businessmen who simply wanted to sail. Today the club is still dedicated to the promotion of sailing and recreational boating. Many members participate in national and international regattas annually.
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
