Rumor out of Petty having a new Partner, a country music Singer

Stock Car Racing History

It's called MONEY. Not sure about now, but the Richard Petty Driving Experience was owned by an Austrailian group and Petty had less than 25 ownership.The Richard Petty name still stands out and is very sellable to fans of all ages. There is no one who has done more for racing than the Petty's, but his name and reputation certainly have been exploited for the last several years.

Jack Starrette (Mr Dirt Racing) Passes Away

General

This is part of the speech that was presented when Starrette was inducted into the Cherokee Speedway Hall Of Fame.If you've seen a Super Late model race anywhere in the Carolinas and Georgia, you can thank our next inductee for helping to make it even better. Born October 16,1930 in Statesville, North Carolina,he got his start in racing in 1955 driving a Hudson Hornet at Hickory Speedway. His driving career lasted for 7 or 8 years before ,as he puts it, it just got too expensive .In 1989 he returned to dirt racing teaming up with veteran Jack Pennington as car owner and sponsor in a partnership that has spanned over two decades, with not only the Pennington family, but super late model racing in general.Today, if you look around the pits and in victory lane,you will still see his name etched in the careers of the who's who of Cherokee racers. Drivers with names like Mike Duvall, Jeremy Clements,Rambo Franklin, Jeff Smith, Randle Chupp, Benji Cole, Ronnie Johnson, Mike Head,Steve Phillips,HotRod Lamance,Clint Elkins,Ricky Elliott and 5 time Carolina Clash champion Ricky Weeks, who when asked about our inductee said "he's the best man in racing as far as I'm concerned."By now,you know I'm referring to Belvedere,South Carolina's Jack Starrette,owner of Starrette's trucking. Jack along with his dear wife of 53 years Carolyn (who sadly passed away last Christmas) have done and continue doing as much for the quality of racing at Cherokee and the rest of the southeast as anyone ever will or ever has. With his unselfish generosity,Jack has helped keep some of the best drivers in racing not only on the track but in victory lane as well.His roots with Cherokee go back to the early days when the track first opened 50 years ago, and now, with his induction into the Hall of Fame, his legacy will continue for the next 50 years and beyond.Ladies and gentleman, please join us as we give a little back to one who has given so much for us, one of the "GREATEST MEN IN RACING!!!!!"

Jack Starrette (Mr Dirt Racing) Passes Away

General

One of the finest ambassadors to dirt track racing is no longer with us as Jack Starrette of Belvedere, S. C, died Friday, August 20. Starrette was owner of Starrette Trucking and helped a minimum of 12 Super Late Model drivers financially each and every year. Mr Jack as he was known to many, owned several SLM cars, was a track promoter at one time as well.

He is pictured here with one of his favorite drivers, Ricky Weeks, at the 2004 Carolina Clash banquet held at the Stadium Club at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Weeks won 5 Clash titles with the Starrette Trucking logo on the side of his car and Jeff Smith took the honors last season, and was sponsored by Starrette as well.

Dargan Watts Photo
updated by @dargan-watts: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

Former Driver "Rock" Raines Passes Away

General


updated by @dargan-watts: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

WILL WE MEET YOU THERE???

General

Thanks Jeff and thank you Tim....The photoshow was a hurried up type thing and I was fairly pleased with the outcome. I didn't have time to do any captions, but every one of the images plus about 50 more are available on RR under the Billy and Barbara Scott page and all of them have captions, so if you haven't seen them, now is your chance.Barbara is about to work me to death sending me images and newspaper clippings to be re-sized, enhanced and watermarked and then re-type the titles and posting on this site, but it has been enjoyable as I try to read as much of each clipping as I can, and it surely has brought back some fond memories of not only Scott, but many others who ran back in those days. It has been a pleasure.

Retirement of The Legend

General

Are those windows on the race cars smaller now-a-days or did we get bigger? Now we know why Tiny Lund, John Sears and Buddy Baker took a little exta time getting in and out of their cars.Your come-back effort was a semi-failure, but I know you gave it an old college effort, just as you did back in the 60's.R.I. P. Tim The Driver! LOL

Jim Seay Receives Honor

General

A great honor to a person who has paid his dues in the Columbia area for many years. Thanks for accepting my invitation to join RacersReunion more than a year ago and I think you have had more fun at it than Jeff, and that's saying a lot.Here's hoping you and yours will have a very Merry Christmas.

Please Read My Book.

Stock Car Racing History

For the price of a ticket to the movies ($16) you will get hours of enjoyment that you can also share with friends and family by purchasing a copy of this book.It is well worth the read.Dargan Watts