That's always been the story-line, Dave. There was no linear connection to Dale Jr's. late model career, and his career in the Busch series. It was like two different drivers. Don't know if that's a statement of equipment, support, talent, or the level of competition that was at the Beach back in those days.
Ironically, when Jr. was at Myrtle Beach,(older brother) Kerry was a star with the oldGoody's Dashseries. The Dash cars used to run once a season at Myrtle Beach, and on "Dash" night, when Jr. was still driving the old Lumina, a big 18-wheelGoodwrench-emblazoned hauler impressively rolled into the pit area. It was Kerry's team, a Dash-clone of Big-E's car....he didn't set the woods on fire either. It's strange how their fortunes completely reversed. Kerry's now simply known as Jeffry Earnhardt's father. And Jr.'s bigger than the Beatles.
I used to go to Myrtle Beach back in the '90's just to watch Dale, Jr. Honestly, he was nothing spectacular at the 'beach, 'bout a 5th place car, unless some cars fell out in front of him. At first, he ran an old Lumina bodied late model, just a plain white #3. The Lumina was eventually painted bright green and sponsored bySun Drop. But the results stayed the same. Seems like Gary Hargett was his crew chief, as he was Dale, Sr.'s, but even so, they didn't set the woods on fire. Results notwithstanding, I felt Jr. was gonna be big one day, and I wanted to witness the early days of his career. Maybe Big E wanted to make Jr. 'hungry' and did not provide him with the best of equipment. Somewhat surprisingly, when Jr. left the late models he won championships at the Bush level, and has never looked back....except maybe now.
My dad was a private pilot, and was fatally injured when his plane crashed as he was flying home from the 1976 American 500 at Rockingham...similar to the Hendrick crash. Been there, and done that. Not too good. What I remember about the Hendrick incident was it was an IFR flight (weather) and the pilot chose to land at Martinsville, which was not an IFR controlled airport. Switching over to VFR, they were physically looking for the airport, at low altitude, through the clouds/fog, and crashed into Bull mountain. Had the flight remained instrument controlled, that would have never happened, but as you point out, they would have had to drive from Danville etc. Pilots tend to gain an extra dose of confidence, good, but sometimes a double-edged sword.
At 21%, Tim Flock has the highest winning percentage in all of NASCAR . If theres was ever deserving candidate, Tim is it. Congratulations to the Flock family!
Thanks Johnny, I like the way you think! Seriously, Mr. Smith, and others are continually opening the door for a "new" (Bell & Bell) concept of racing. The "old" economic model is very stressed, especially in today's market. Mr. Smith (himself) acknowledges this Las Vegas-ness is all about ..."money, money, and moremoney". He can move dates if he chooses, it's his deal, a'int nothing we can do about it...this maneuver is not unlike his recent threat to "move" Charlotte motor speedway...from Charlotte!
Wilkesboro may be crumbling, but if the race was so located, it'd (instantly) be the toughest-ticket-to-get NASCAR.
Probably more to the story......could be a case of collateral.
