I returned home this afternoon from only my second race at Darlington Raceway. This year's visit was infinitely more enjoyable and memorable than my first visit in NOVEMBER 2004. At the time, that race was branded as the last Southern 500. It didn't feel like the Darlington I'd heard and read about - at all. It was cool and dreary, and we made a quick day trip from High Point NC to the track.
This year was far different. One, the race was back for the second year on Labor Day weekend. No, it wasn't on Labor Day. No, it wasn't run in the heat of the day. But at the risk of stating the obvious to all those who watched it, the race had more of a feel of a by-gone era.
In no certain order, here are a few of my memories. My photos haven't fully uploaded yet. I may return and add those later.
- Meeting Leonard, Len, Eddie and Delano Wood - AND Richard Petty all at the same place. All were gathered at the Woods' transporter. I told Delano I was a Petty Lifer but with so much respect for his family, the 21 team, their drivers, etc. He smiled, put his hand on my shoulder, and said softly "Wanna know the truth? We love the Pettys too."
- Meeting Dale Inman again - and again avoiding a painful arm twist.
- Recognizing Waddell Wilson as he stood alone taking in some of the sights. We talked Buddy Baker, Lennie Pond, Jake Elder, Herb Nab, Harry Ranier, working weekends and holidays, operating a team with 4 full-time employees, etc. My buddy didn't recognize Waddell. I did from having attended a couple of RacersReunion related events.
- I spotted a guy wearing a great shirt - Marion Cox 50 Racing "Never On Sunday". I had just mentioned Joe Frasson's awful wreck in Cox's 50 in the 1979 Daytona LMS race the day before. As we talked some more, things clicked a bit more. I asked him if he was Mike Cox from RacersReunion. Though I missed his first name, he said he was Mike's younger brother - the "baby of the bunch". He proudly shared several pics of his dad's 50 he had saved on his phone.
- We met a woman wearing an original Burt & Hal's Skoal Bandit satin jacket (though the temps were starting to climb). After a couple of pics and comments, she introduced us to Harry Gant's grandson. He and Harry were at the track for the weekend. Though Harry was elsewhere, his grandson said Harry was still doing well and as strong as ever.
- We spotted two guys wearing Hawaiian Tropic 1 crew uniforms. I couldn't match them with a team. We chatted them up a bit and learned they were just fans. They'd scored the old Hoss Ellington uniforms and planned to surprise Donnie Allison with them.
- We attended the 2nd annual legends breakfast. The panel included Junior Johnson, Ned and Dale Jarrett, Dale Inman, Leonard Wood, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough (who was seated between Allison and Jaws - which we found funny), Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Jerry Cook, Rex White, Jack Ingram, and Terry Labonte.
- After meeting Kyle Petty at the RPM transporter, we started to walk elsewhere. I then spotted a couple of fellas wearing Hill Racing 47 shirts - an obvious nod to Bruce Hill. I asked if the shirts were original. One of them said "No way. I HAVE an original, but I wouldn't wear it out like this." He was grateful to the 47 team of A.J. Allmendinger for providing the shirts and hosting several of Hill's former crewmen at the track. A class act I thought. One of the guys was pushing someone in a wheelchair. Without knowing the details, it appeared the guy may have suffered a stroke. He could point and nod his head, but he couldn't form many words. His assistant with the 47 shirt then told me the guy in the chair was Raymond Kelly - who had crew chief'd for Hill. I was blown away. I remembered Raymond's name, but I hadn't thought of it in years. I spent an extra few minutes kneeling by his wheelchair as they told a few stories about Raymond's racing career. His hot pass had been signed by Dale Inman, and they were looking for the King. One thing I'd forgotten until looking it up later was that Raymond had been the crew chief for Kyle Petty in his first five Cup starts in 1979. I started to part ways, and Raymond tapped me on the hand to stay an extra moment. He went through his phone contacts showing me names that frankly I didn't recognize. But his bud with him told me they were various names of crewmen he'd worked with over the years that were still around. A very cool encounter - among my faves of Sunday.
- The security folks did a nice job of monitoring the garage bays. You could get close the stalls to take pics - but don't cross the yellow line! They were polite but direct about keeping folks away. I was hanging out behind the 43 stall snapping a few pics of the team replacing the vinyl wrap on the right rear after a good slap during Saturday's practice sessions. I've gotten to know one of the crew guys a little bit. He spotted me and waved me into the garage. I smirked as I walked by the rent-a-cop & hung out about 10 minutes at the front of the car as the crew continued the adjustments for the race. For those of you here who have worked and/or driven cars or were otherwise part of the racing business, that may not seem like a big deal. But as a 50+ year-old, I felt like a 10 year-old kid & beamed at the invitation to get that close to "my car".
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
