AFTER LIVING IN THE PAST.........DO YOU STILL WATCH NASCAR?

RANDY GILBERT
@randy-gilbert
15 years ago
17 posts
DO YOU STILL WATCH NASCAR.....? I DONTI TURN THE TV ON WHEN NAPCAR (FORMERLY NASCAR) COMES ON AND SLEEP MOST OF THE RACE. ILL WATCH THE FIRST 25 LAPS AND THE LAST 25. NAPCAR HAS CHANGED THE POINTS SYSTEM TO SOMETHING OF A COMEDY SCENE. A LOT OF THE DRIVERS LIKE THE , OH, WOW, I CANT BELIEVE IT.4 TIME CHAMPION.JIMMY JOHNSONOH, WOW.AND A LOT OF THE OTHER DRIVERS ONLY RUN HARD ENOUGH TO MAKE THE TOP 10OH, I FORGOTTOP 12 POSITIONS FOR THE LAST 10 RACES.THEN THEY RACE HARD TO WIN THE POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP. IF I HAD GONE TO THE BIG OLE TALADEGA TRACK AND PAID UNREAL PRICES TO GET IN AND THEN WATCHED THE DRIVERS DRIVING AROUND AND AROUND LIKE THEY WERE GOING TO GO TO SLEEP.AND EVEN ONE ASKING HIS CREW TO HELP KEEP HIM AWAKE UNTIL THE LAST 20 LAPS.ID BE AS MAD AS A BULL AT A RED PAINT CONVENTION. I GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF NASCARI SAW DRIVERS THAT WERE TOO UGLY TO MAKE IT TO THE TOP NASCAR SPRINT SERIES(THEY WERE TOO UGLY, HAD A TOOTH OR TWO MISSING AND COULDNT TALK IN PUBLIC IF THEIR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT).BUT THEY DARNED WELL COULD DRIVE A RACE CARAND THE CARS.GASP, CHOKE, OH NOREALLY LOOKED LIKE THE CARS IN THE DIRT PARKING LOTSCAN YOU BELIEVE THAT JUNK..AND WOULD YOU BELIEVEAFTER THE RACE I COULD WALK INTO THE PITS AND SAY HELLO DAVID, OR COTTON, OR TINY, OR FIREBALL, OR HERB OR FONTY OR TIM OR RICHARDYEP, EVEN OLE RICHARD PETTY HIMSELF. MOST OF THE DRIVERS WOULD JUST SIT ON THE HOOD OF REAL RACE CARS AND TALK AND SIGN YOUR TICKET OR EVEN A PIECE OF PAPER THAT YOU PICKED UP OFF THE GROUNDTHE DRIVERS WOULD BE TIRED AND DIRTY FROM THE 150 LAPPER ON THE 1/2 MILE DIRT TRACK AND REALLY NEEDED TO TRAVEL THE 200 MILES TO THE TRACK UP THE ROAD THAT THEY WOULD BE RACING ON TOMORROW AFTERNOON OR TOMORROW NIGHT.BUT THEYD WAIT TILL THE DUST BOWL WAS EMPTY OF FANS AND THEN WOULD HOOK UP THEIR CARS AND THROW THE SPARE TIRES AND PARTS INSIDE THE OLE CAR..(REAL CAR REMEMBER) AND TOW ALL NIGHT TO GET TO THE NEXT RACE.THEY DIDNT HAVE TRUCK DRIVERS THEN AND MOST PULLED THEIR OWN CARS AND MAYBE IF THEY WERE LUCKY THEY WOULD HAVE A FRIEND OR SOMEONE TO RIDE WITH THEM. BACK IN THE GOOD OLE DAYS WHEN UGLY DRIVERS DROVE REAL CARS AND REALLY RACED THE WHOLE RACE I KNEW A FRIEND OF MINEI WILL TELL YOUIT WAS TIM FLOCK.TIM GOT TO THE SPARTANBURG S.C. FAIRGROUNDS LATE IN THE NIGHT AFTER PULLING A RACE CAR FROM A RACE EARLIER THAT NIGHT.HE WAS TIRED AND COULDNT REALLY AFFORD A HOTEL SO HE LAY DOWN ON THE INFIELD TO GET SOME SLEEP BEFORE THE SUN CAME UP AND HE HAD TO GET EVERYTHING READY FOR THAT DAYS RACE BACK THEN THEY RAN 50 OR SO RACES A YEAR..WELL WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING ON THE GROUND NEXT TO HIS RACE CAR A CAR CAME THROUGH THE INFIELD AND DIDNT SEE TIM AND RAN OVER HIS HEAD..DARN NEAR KILLED HIM.BUT HE WAS A RACER.IT DIDNT STOP HIMI GUESS HE DID TAKE A FEW GOODY POWDERS..I KNOW THINGS HAVE CHANGEDBUT WHEN MONEY GOT BIG THE LITTLE GUY THAT COULD DRIVE A CAR WAS OVERLOOKED FOR PRETTY BOYS THAT DRIVE GROUND EFFECT CARS AND DONT REALLY RUN UNTIL THE FINAL 10 RACES. THEY MAY REALLY RUN THEIR BUTTS OFF AND I KNOW THEY GET TIRED RACING36... RACES A YEAR, BUT WHEN A DRIVER CANT GET TO THE TOP BECAUSE HE ISNT PRETTY OR CANT TALK LIKE A TV ANNOUNCER OR ISNT RICH ENOUGH TO BUY A RIDE TO GET NOTICED..ITS OVER FOR ME. IM BACK TO THE LITTLE OLE DIRT TRACKS WATCHING GREAT DRIVERS THAT HAVE NERVES OF STEEL AND DRIVE BECAUSE THEY LOVE RACING, NOT THE MONEY..THERE ISNT TOO MUCH MONEY AT THIS LEVEL..AND BECAUSE THEY DONT FIT THE BIG CORPORATIONS MOLD OF A PRETTY DRIVER THEYLL NEVER MAKE IT ANY FURTHER IN THEIR GAMEBUT AT LEAST THEY DO RACE THE ENTIRE RACE AND YOU CAN STILL WALK INTO THE PITS AND SAY HELLO FREDDY, OR EARL OR CHUBB OR RICKY OR RAMBO..AND GET AN AUTOGRAPH AND WATCH THAT DRIVER SIT ON HIS CAR AND SIGN AUTOGRAPHS UNTIL THE LAST FAN GOES HOME.AND THEN HE HOOKS UP TO HIS CAR OR PUTS IT INTO THE TRAILERTHEYVE COME A LONG WAY.AND GOES HOME AND WITH A FEW FRIENDS STAYS UP THE REST OF THE NIGHT REPAIRING AND GETTING READY FOR THE NEXT DAY AND THEN GETS A FEW HOURS SLEEP AND THEN DRIVES TO THE NEXT TRACK FOR ANOTHER EXCITING RACE AND OVER AND OVER IT GOES.I SURE HOPE THAT MONEY DOESNT RUIN MY GOOD OLE LOCAL DIRT TRACK RACINGSEE YA NASCAR I KNOW THIS IS LONG, BUT THIS IS HOW I FEEL..........SEE YA, RANDY
updated by @randy-gilbert: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Jeff Gilder
@jeff-gilder
15 years ago
1,783 posts
Randy, you can unload that baggage here anytime, my friend! I think that is why we all get along so well. Have you noticed all the drama that goes along with being a fan these days. Wheeeewwww. I don't need it. I love racin, and I'm glad NASCAR is still hangin in there...cause those naps are priceless!!!


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Founder/Creator - RacersReunion®
Jim Wilmore
@jim-wilmore
15 years ago
488 posts
I enjoyed reading this, spoken from the heart. Thanks Randy
Johnny Mallonee
@johnny-mallonee
15 years ago
3,259 posts
if i didnt know better you been reading my mind--what you say here is exactly how i feel about todays racing--i guess i came up in the heart of racing and during the best time of racing there will be. --my dad raced and we pulled to those distant tracks you talk about,raced that nite then done the long haul to another then the long haul back home for monday -- then the car was up on blocks all week with someone working on it getting ready for another wonderful weekendwhen i started in the early 60's we were racing 4 to 5 times a week and i was loving it all on dirt--i tried the big tracks and tried nascars life but it wasnt the life you had outlaw racing almost every nite of the week man all you done was bring out a lot of old ----------------------------------------MEMORIES
ray lamm
@ray-lamm
15 years ago
214 posts
now days it like who came out the pits or who got the bast gas milage. that not racing i not big fan of the c.o.t. i do watch races must any more randy good story
Pete Banchoff
@pete-banchoff
15 years ago
279 posts
Today's racing is a far cry from what I used to enjoy in the 60's, 70's and early 80's. I don't watch Nascar too much anymore and if I do it's watching the start, taking a nap and missing the finish because the Food Channel is more interesting. It just doesn't hold my interest. Even if Nascar got it right and made a perfect show of it, it wouldn't hold up to the strong memories of the past for me. The great tracks, announcers, cars, drivers and owners are gone. I blame the media, too, for the HOURS and HOURS of meaningless talk to hype up a race. A little Larry Mac goes a long way for me. I grew up listening to Barney, Eli, Chris, Ned and Benny. They didn't have to talk for 20 minutes to get their point across. Waayyy too much information. I appreciate you putting this up, Randy. Unfortunately the days you speak of are gone forever.Pete
Jamie Jay Starks
@jamie-jay-starks
15 years ago
7 posts
Amen Randy! I've raced short tracks over the past 4 years and there's nothing better than having REAL RACE FANS come up and look at your car, ask some questions and want to chew the fat. And, If I'm lucky, some little one will ask for my autograph, at which point I get choked up because that child, who's the life blood and future of our sport, actually cares about what I do. Nope, I'm definitely no Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., or a Kasey Kane, but to them, for that moment, I'm as close as it gets. That's part of what makes doing what I love to do worth it all. Of course, winning is the other part. lolHope to see y'all at East Lincoln Speedway this year....oh, and by the way, I'd be glad to sit on the hood of my dirty ole car and talk racing until the lights go out and last trailer before me pulls out of the pits.Jamie Starks#14 Renegade Division