I Was Fonty Flock in 1966

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Funny story Dave and you used a good character for your show, Fonty was way ahead of his time, he was a modern day Jack Black, wild and crazy.

Nicknames

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Pilots have always nicknamed their planes, usually with some reference to the leader of the country they bombed or more importantly after some "dame" they held in high regards like "Red Hot Ticket", "Liberty Belle", "Round Trip Ticket", "Heavenly Lamb Chop" Slightly Dangerous", and "Updraft", so it's not surprising that the tradition is still carried on by those that push the limits. I have some original nose-art photos of B-24 Liberators that my Dad took in WWII and would post them here but they may not be appropriate for younger viewers.

Nicknames

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There was an article about car nicknames, I will post it here. I remembered Rusty only named a car after it won a race and when I searched the internet I found the rest of the story...

Name that car: Nicknames or numbers?

Tradition and connection are reasons racers give names to the stock cars they drive.

The number stenciled on the dashboard of Ryan Newman's car means one thing: That car has yet to win.

In fact, the garage at Penske Racing South is full of numbered cars. That means they haven't won, either.

Car owner Roger Penske started a tradition years ago of giving cars nicknames, but only after they win. A car with a name has character. It has history. It has a proven track record.

When they come off the assembly line, they're given numbers. Jimmie Johnson's car in last Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 was 48- 363. That means it was the 363rd car produced at Hendrick Motorsports since that racing organization opened its doors in 1984. But unlike Newman, Johnson's car always will be 48-363. No matter how many times it may take Johnson to Victory Lane, the Hendrick team doesn't want to get too personal with their cars.

Others feel a nickname creates a deeper connection between man and machine.

"Usually the driver has the input on the naming of it," Newman said. "When Matt (Borland) was crew chief, he named a couple of them. It's all about the situation. We actually had a car that hadn't won, but it ran so good and it should have won so many times, we called it 'Patches' because it had been patched up so many times. It hauled the mail whenever we took it to the track.

"It's a Penske tradition."

The first car Newman named was "Olive Oyl," because that was his wife's nickname. The team stuck with the Popeye theme by naming another car "Poopdeck Pappy" after Popeye's father, as well as "Popeye" himself.

"Another one of my favorites was 'Thumper.' That was the Busch car I won my first Busch race with," Newman said. "It was 'Thumper' because it put the hammer down."

Some of Newman's other cars were named "Goldie Locks," "Silver Locks," "Faith" and "Patience."

Rusty Wallace's favorite cars at Penske were "Captain," "The Predator" and "Midnight." Darrell Waltrip's favorite car was called "Big Bertha." It wasn't easy, but Davey Allison learned to love "Fido." Allison didn't like "Fido" at first and his team played on that. Allison called it "Fido" because it drove like a dog, and his team had fun by putting a dog collar and dog tag in it after making repairs.

Allison won with it, and it became one of his favorites in the Robert Yates Racing stables.

Allison's favorite cars, however, had a spectacular demise. "James Bond 007" was destroyed at the finish line in a crash with Kyle Petty in the 1992 Nextel All-Star Challenge. "James Bond 007" finished on its roof; Allison celebrated in the emergency room of Carolinas Medical Center.

Not all nicknames are nice. Johnny Sauter said he's used a lot of names for his car, and most of them included profane names of is cars with "Son of a ..."

"I've had a lot of cars that have won races, but I've never named one," Sauter said. "I've called race cars names, but I've never named one. I don't know what makes a good car other than it will drive like you want it to. Then there's cars no matter what you do to it, they don't run any good."

One of the most famous nicknames was "Grover" for a Pontiac driven by Kyle Petty. Car owner Felix Sabates taped a $1,000 bill featuring president Grover Cleveland to the dashboard to entice Petty to drive hard.

Dale Jarrett once called a car "Lawnmower" because he could run so close to the grass along the track apron.

Jeff Green hasn't given a car a name since he won the Busch Series championship in 2000. After thinking about it, he's now considering about doing it again since he hasn't won since moving up to the Nextel Cup Series in 2002.

"I got so many cars, it's hard to keep up with them," Green said of his current ride at Haas CNC Racing. "We had a car in Busch, back in the Nesquik days, we called 'Bonus.' The guys got a bonus because every time we run it, it seemed like we were in the top five. We ran that car to death. Now, they're all by number. I've got 20-something cars so it's hard to come up with names.

"But thinking about it, maybe we should start thinking about it. We had a lot of success when we did."

Lakewood Speedway

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Anymore stories?

Lakewood Speedway

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Thanks Robert, your answers are pretty good and being the races were considered "big event" races I'd imagine the car count was pretty good, especially with the caliber of drivers that raced there. Being the races were 100 laps or so on a one-mile track speaks for it's self (100 miles). Again, this is good stuff.

Lakewood Speedway

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I really enjoythe stories and photos you guys have posted. I've never been there but it sure looks like it would take 45 seconds to get around the entire track.

A a few questions:

What was the average car count in the late model class?

Were there any lights or was it all daylight racing?

How many laps in the LM class?

What is that big white building in turn 4?

This is the biggest track I've seen in the modern era that was still clay, I can't imagine the speeds you could get up to before the turns! I could see it being intimdating to a rookie.

Great discussion, keep em' coming!

Oh say can we stand for 2 minutes to honor our nation and those that fought for it?

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You are welcome Jeff, it was an honor, and I also honor all the family members of those that served, and all others that honor those that served.

Oh say can we stand for 2 minutes to honor our nation and those that fought for it?

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Last night at Carolina Speedway, Lake View, S.C. USA under the lights I paused for approximately one minute and fifteen seconds (1:15) to stand up straight, with my right hand over my heart, faced our American Flag and listened quietly as the Star Spangled Banner played our National Anthem. The gentlemen to my front also stood up and assumed the same posture and I immediately admired how quick he was to pay the same respect to our flag and our anthem and I wondered if he or someone close to him ever served in the military.

As the Anthem played I gazed at other groups of people to see their response to our anthem, some of them were paying the same respect, others were attempting all the while still talking to their company, while yet a few seemed completely oblivious to the music and the fact the majority of us were all facing the flag.

The music ended and most resumed thier activities except for the few that never paused to render respect to our flag. That is when I turned to gentleman in front of me and asked "Did you or someone you know ever serve in the military?" when he replied "I did, Vietnam." I was not surprised, the way he immediately stopped all activity and rendered respect to our nation's flag. And then I said, "I don't think [name] doesn't understand the reason why we pause for 2 minutes to render respect, and this gentlemen said "No, I don't suppose he does."

If you read all four versus of "The Star Spangled Banner" you will see that it is not written just about war and how a flag shown bright, but of courage, life, death, liberty and our nation's motto "in God is our trust", it is not just about a flag, it's about why we are here, the sacrifice made to get here, and how we got to be our United States.

Whether you or, somebody you know or, just the fact that you give notice to all those that have served our nation in times of war and peace doesn't matter yet, the fact that you stop for one minute and fifteen seconds to pay respect to our flag and what it stands for, one nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all, and for all those men, woman AND children that fought to protect their freedoms, your freedoms, our freedoms.

Please take a few minutes to read "The Star Spangled Banner" in it's entirety, what will you read between lines, the red and white lines of our nations flag under a banner of stars on blue?

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

Oh Say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave?
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Verse 2

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
"Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Verse 3

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out of their four footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave'
From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Verse 4

Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "in God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
updated by @jim-wilmore: 04/11/17 05:43:31PM

Gilder Replaced At BJR

Vintage Oval and Road Course Racing

If you see Gilder tell him I brought the fire-proof long johns just in case.

Grandsons Simplify Favorite Driver Pick

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Eureka!!! There had to be some logic in there somewhere.