Miss the local food joints when traveling the racing circuit - New Hampshire offerred Fresh Fried clams & homemade ice cream

One of the things I really miss about no longer travelling the Cup circuit is missing out on all the local one of a kind food joints in the vicinity of the various tracks. It always seemed like the farther away from home I was, the more exciting the discoveries that became "must stop" places - sometimes they were fine restaurants, sometimes just joints, but they were all unique. When I first started going to New Hampshire, Dave Marcis told us abouta small local motel with no phones in the room on Lake Winnipesaukeedown the road from Weirs Beach. Enroute from the track to this scenic spot on the lake, we passed a crossroads where stood Sawyer's Dairy Bar , my favorite place to eat in New Hampshire. It was basically a roadside stand opened in 1945 that had expanded over the years with a dining room, but still had delicious homemade ice cream. The "all you can eat" fried clams I used to get at Howard Johnson couldn't hold a candle to the fresh ones, with "bellies" served at Sawyers. A really good local joint.

http://www.sawyersnh.com/

Funny how Dave Marcis is involved in recommending various good, cheap eats places. He did in fact have a legendary appetite. We used to stay in Eden, NC when we raced at Martinsville, and there was an old train depot that had been turned into a restaurant in either the old town of Leaksville, Spray or Draper. I remember they'd serve Dave all the spaghetti he could eat, which was a bunch. I believe the place was called Railroad Cafe .

The first time I went to the Phoenix track was before it had Cup races and it was being promoted by Dennis Wood. Dennis tokk me up South Mountain one night to the famous T-Bone Steak House , built in the 1920s from adobe and river rock. Outside the ranch house as you drove up, there were various outdoor pits on the mountainside where steaks were being cooked over mesquite. The old lady running the place walked around with a .45 pistol strapped to her belt. According to the current website, the place is now a non-profit foundation that has been awarded 11 New York Times awards for "Best Cowboy Steak."

http://t-bonesteakhouse.com/home/

When we used to race in Riverside, Dale Earnhardt's favorite place to take us was the Cask'n Cleaver . http://www.caskncleaver.com/

This place, in business since 1967, has won numerous awards as the best steakhouse in the Inland Empire. One night a guy tried to cut off Earnhardt getting into a parking place. Big mistake. The old Lincoln Town Car rental cars could do a lot of damage!

In Daytona, our favorite spot, along with Earnhardt's, was the original Tony & Jerri's Italian, a block off the beach and long since torn down to build parking for the "new" arena. The place had awesome veal and Jerri's husband (not Tony, he was dead) used to play Italian stuff on old 78 rpm records.

Another place Dave Marcis took us to was called the Farmhouse , on the way to the Michigan track from Ann Arbor. They'd open at 4:00 a.m. on race day and the place looked like a barn.I think it had been. Tremendous breakfast served for the racers.

At Darlington, we always had to have at least one cheeseburger steak for lunch at the Raceway Grill , across the side road from the track on 52. When you came back to the track everybody knew where you had been, because you smelled like grease, lol. There used to be a fancy place in Florence called Bonneau's . That's where Bill France, Jr. hired out the bar after hours one night to argue with Paul Sawyer and called me an instigator. I guess I was.

When we came to Charlotte, we always ate at the old Ranch House on Wilkinson Boulevard, that just closed last month. It was famous for its shrimp cocktail, with a freshly ground horseradish sauce that took your breath away. One night my assistant Wrangler Racing program manager had "Miss Pontiac" as his escort at the Ranch House - her first visit. When she ordered a shrimp cocktail we all waited for her first bite, then burst out in howls of laughter when she gagged and then got mad. She got so mad, in fact, that she got up and left, taking her Pontiac Firebird pace car with her. My guy wouldn't speak to us the rest of the night!

Most of the time on the road it was the local places that we found had the best food and if you ever needed a food guide, Dave Marcis was your guy.

You are making me want a plate of crab legs! I love them when available.

I forgot about a couple of other places. the Roma in Dover had great Italian food and waitresses that spoke the language. Another great place was Steve's in San Rafel, CA on the way to Sears Point. The owners had a small place that only seated about 30 folks. The owners wife went to their house twice a day and hand picked the vegtables. They did not allow smoking or alcohol, but when the cup boys came to town, they would allow smoking and go across the street to buy beer and wine in order to serve them. Richard Childress liked the place so much, he invited the owners to come to the track and cook for the crew. They hand-made the Alfredo sauce right there and everyone of us got stuffed. Was great!

One of the places in NH was across from the Hampton Inn, I don't remember the name, but served home-made soup in bread bowls. And of course, it didn't matter where you went for cocktails at any race track,as long as the beer was always cold!

If y'all ever get back to New Hampshire, try Momma Leone's at Hampton Beach. We always had to park the front wheels in the sand .. they don't make parking spaces up there big enough for a crew cab. We'd always stay at the Hampton Falls Motor Inn, eat at Momma's, got back to the hotel for a dip in the hot tub and pool and then I'd go up the road for sundae's at Friendly's.