We lost a true stock car racing giant with the passing last week in Opp, Alabama of Stock Car RacersReunion member, Bob Hoffman .
Whereas today's up and coming NASCAR fans get their NASCAR news via Twitter, the internet, television and other sources, those of my generation had to search for in depth racing news, even in markets like my hometown of Richmond, Virginia, where both the morning and afternoon paper had dedicated motorsports writers offering better than average coverage, including local short tracks.
One afternoon in 1964, my buddy, Frank and I walked into a news stand on Cary Street in Richmond, Virginia and discovered Southern MotorSports Journal , an outstanding tabloid racing newspaper published weekly during the season and bi-weekly during the off season.
I can't begin to describe the new worlds of racing that opened before our eyes. Suddenly we got weekly reports from short tracks all over the south. We learned about the drivers at Columbia, Greenville-Pickens, Hickory, Asheville, NASCAR short tracks and outlaw tracks all over the south, in addition to our own local Virginia short track aces and races.
I could go on and on, but I'm sure those of you in my age bracket who discovered SMJ know how enlightening it was. In addition to starting SMJ, Bob was a founder of the Southern Motorsports Press Association which morphed into today's National Motorsports Press Association.
At first, Frank and I would go to the news stand weekly to see if SMJ had arrived. Soon, we both had subscriptions. My subscription followed me from Richmond to college and later to Wilson, NC.
Bob founded Southern MotorSports Journal in High Point, NC in conjunction with High Point Enterprise Sports Editor, Benny Phillips, who we lost last year. Seeing pictures of the cars at other weekly tracks was a real eye opener and when we encountered those visiting drivers at big events, we felt as though we already knew them.
Through Bob Hoffman and his Southern MotorSports Journa l , my buddy Frank and I became what I like to call "students of racing." Thank you Bob Hoffman, for opening a big world of racing to our teenaged eyes. We'll forever remember the excitement of the mailman delivering your latest edition as we delved through the photos and inside stuff.
Never could I put into words what SMJ meant to me. In my opinion, auto racing, especially southern stock car racing, has lost a true icon with the passing of Bob Hoffman .
Here's a link to Bob Hoffman's page here at Stock Car RacersReunion. I'd like to see us all leave a posthumous thanks to Bob there for his efforts to bring stock car racing to us each week from all over the south.
http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/profiles/profile/show?id=bobhoffman
Here's an informative note posted several years ago to Bob by RR member, Dargan Watts:
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 01/01/20 05:08:55PM
