I didn't always make it to Darlington on Labor Day weekend. 38 years ago, in 1973, I took my wife-to-be to her first dirt track race and got engaged on the same weekend. We were married two months later in November. I remember that particular Labor Day racing weekend for several reasons. We were running our 1955 Chevy "302" Sportsman (Limited Sportsman in NASCAR) with Danny Lee driving on Friday nights at Wake County Speedway in Raleigh and Saturday nights at Wilson County Speedway in Wilson, NC. One Saturday night when we got rained out in Wilson we towed up to Weldon, NC, down the road from Roanoke Rapids and ran the 1/4-mile dirt Chantilly Speedway. We had to run with the Late Model class there, but Danny could get around that little quarter mile banked dirt track really good. Anyway, Chantilly had a really big Labor Day race scheduled on Monday night and we decided to go. I remember Deacon Jones and Joe Huss being big dogs there at the time. Joe was racing a hemi powered Plymouth #33, the only one I ever remember seeing at a dirt track. Anyway, we qualified on the second row that night, behind Joe Huss on the pole. During practice after qualifying, we broke an axle and while we were repairing it, Joe came over to have a word with Danny before the race. Joe was a high school teacher away from the race track and nobody's dummy. He was very friendly and well spoken. What he had to say, basically, was this...."I've been having a problem with that guy starting outside of me and I'm gonna put him in the wall when they drop the flag. You oughta lay back a little on the start so you don't tear up your car." Well, that was a first for us. This well known racer was giving us some advice. Anyhow, when the green flag dropped, the car outside of Joe Huss headed straight into the first turn wall. It was kinda like Babe Ruth calling his homerun shot. We fell out with some problem or another, but I've always remembered the honesty and sharing of Joe Huss on that long ago Labor Day night at the dirt track. We could use some honesty like that today. Tell 'em what you're gonna do and go do it. Case closed.
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM