The Real Deal on Bill Elliott and the 09
Current NASCAR
Well, I really don't know what to say...
Forum Activity for @cody-dinsmore
Question of the Day for March 29,2011
General
Just like Jeff said...he is one of the best out there...some say the best since Tim Richmond or Dale Earnhardt! But, Allison, Pearson and Petty didn't have the trucks or Nationwide to fall back on. Yes I am a Kyle Busch fan, but he shouldn't be counted that high.
Question of the day for March 27, 2011
General
This is very hard for me....I do like some of the new schemes, but since that is not accepted by some....my two favorite 'old' schemes were Curtis Turner's 1956 purple and white Hardtop car, and his Peach and White colored 56' convertible.I would have posted pictures...but I couldn't do it, I could only get the link up. Oh well.....-Cody
Curtis Turner
Stock Car Racing History
Very Interesting! Curtis is one of my favorite 'old' drivers.
Question of the day for March 25, 2011
General
I met lots....Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Denny Hamlin, Joey Lagono, J.J Yeley, Tony Stewart, Rex White, Jody Ridley,etc. But two times stick out in my mind the most...1. Richard Petty. In August of 2008, my father and I went to retrieve the flagstand from Lakewood Speedway for the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame from Richard at his Level Cross Shop. It was donated to Petty after he retired in 92'. And now I used to get sick when I was excited. All the way up to about Charlotte, I was just sicker than a dog. But after we stopped by the Wood Brother's shop and toured the shop and met Leonard, I instantly felt better. So I lasted the rest of the way to Level Cross. Once we pulled in, we parked our truck and trailer in front of the what looked like deserted office. As soon as we got out, a man with a forklift came around the engine shop to help us load the probably 15-foot flagman's stand. I soon excitedly asked the man and his crew if the King himself was here (we went on a day an insider told us was one of Richard's 'business' days) He turned around to see an all black Chrysler 300 pull up and he replied with "Yep, that's him". Let me tell you, I was amazed as the slick car with black paint, grill and black tinted windows pulled up right beside where I was standing. I was shaking as I walked around the other side of the car as I saw a pair of black cowboy boots kick open the drivers door and I got 'bug-eyed' as I watched a tall and lanky figure step out of the car. He was wearing a red shirt, black pants, black signature cowboy hat with shades, a 50th anniversary of Petty belt buckle that had to have been 10 times bigger than his fist. After he spit a gulp of tobacco, he said "Dang, I can't even get my own parking space no more" since we parked right in front of the office building. I guess I should be glad that we were in a Dodge truck. So after we said our hello's and snapped a few pictures...he went inside to do business and he invited me into (not his personal office, but really a type of waiting room I guess you could call it. Lots of pictures and memorabilia) So after I took some pictures of the inside, I went back out and Richard followed behind with a stack of cowboy hats (probably 6 or 7) He said he was fixing to head out to their ranch in Wyoming. He also invited us into what used to be the cup shop (approximately at this point in time, he had just moved the shop to Mooresville into the old Yates Shop). He had a small collection of custom golfcarts and two Morris Minors. But, we were fortunate enough to see his 1957 Olds convertible racecar come in on a flatbed when we came in, by the time we were in the shop building, the cool car was unloaded already. When Richard came back out, I asked him to sign two items, a photo and a diecast set of a transporter and his seven championship cars along with my autograph book. When he got to signing my book, I told him that he could have the whole page to sign on. Two pages are the ones I show the most to people. The one Richard signed on and the page next to it has all three Elliott brothers, Both Bud Moores, and Both Wood Brothers (Glen, and Leonard)Anyway....let me say that I was just very pleased!!!2. Bill Elliott. It was around June of 2008, I was at work at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame museum, just got done putting a car in there. And as the car owners went out the door, I could have swore that I saw Bill Elliott. Now being from Dawsonville and never met Bill Elliott is like not knowing who your own mayor is. I'd been wanting to meet him for ever and longtime friend, Gordon Pirkle, owner of the famed Dawsonville Pool Room, always told me accounts of when Bill came in to have a burger or I would have just missed him by a few minutes. Well at the time, Gordon also owned a small cafe inside the museum complex. And unknowingly to me, Bill was in there, just got done eating with his wife, his son and a few of his development drivers and just shooting the breeze with Gordon. And a man named Steve Holder, who used to work at the museum, was in there talking to him too. In fact, earlier in 2008, Steve went by the shop and had my car and autograph book signed. So since he knew I wanted to meet Awesome Bill so bad, he went and got me. I was standing almost behind a coke machine just trying to figure out what to say to the man. After all, this was all of a sudden. So I finally got enough courage to meet Bill right before he left. I know by now, I'm long-winded, but there, I probably didn't say but 10 words to the guy. Probably around the next week, he came in alone to get a to-go order from the Champion's Cafe (Note that cafe is no longer there) and he came through the museum entrance. As he was leaving he said Hi, and I mentioned that I was sorry that I was so shy when I first met him. He replied with "That's alright, I used to be the same way".Sorry for the very long story!-Cody
Question of the Day for March 24, 2011
General
Alright...I would have more interesting one's...but since I haven't been watching long as stated yesterday...I only have tales from the last 8 years or so.1. 2003 Homestead - first race watched, Hometown hero, Bill Elliott blew tire on last lap.2. 2008 Talladega - Carl Edwards flips his car, I remember it well because I was VERY scared that one of my favorite drivers died that day...but to my amazement, not only did he climb out of the car under his own power, but he also sprinted the finish line by foot.3. 2011 Daytona 500 - I think we all know why...it was just purely awesome seeing such as nice kid and a nice team get one of the biggest wins in their 60+ year history. A fairytale story persay.-Cody
Question of the Day for March 23, 2011
General
It wasn't someONE, but both my dad and grandpa. They didn't really introduce it to me, sort of. It was November of 2003, when I was just seven years old, my family and my grandparents went to the local Cici's pizza for supper and on the big screen, they had the season finale on. I don't even remember if I watched any of it except for the last lap. And being that Hometown Hero, Bill Elliott was leading, both my grandpa and dad were happy about it until they got all disappointed when he blew the tire on the last lap. I can remember it vividly. And since that was the season finale, I couldn't watch again until February. For Christmas, I got a Nascar computer game, so I quickly learned the drivers and the tracks. And came the Daytona 500 weekend, I got a small Ricky Rudd car, so slowly, I was getting turned to the side of Stock Car Racing. And that weekend, I happened to be sick, so I had the whole weekend to sit on the couch and watch TV. At the start of the 2004 Daytona 500, my dad was quietly pulling for Tony Stewart (So eventually I did too) I remember mostly during the last 50 laps, when it was a duel against Tony and Dale Earnhardt Jr. I remember when the commentators were saying "He did it, just like his dad" so I figured that for every Jr, there had to have been a Sr. The next two weeks I witnessed Matt Kenseth and the newcomer Kasey Kahne, duel it out for some close finishes at both the last Rockingham race and in Las Vegas. And ever since then...I've been a fan for life!!-Cody
National Speed Sport News Puts Out It's Last Issue
General
Well this is just terrible I must say...
From their website...
All good things come to an end.
And so is the case for Americas Motorsports Authority, National Speed Sport News. After more than 76 years, the publication, which was first published as National Auto Racing News on Aug. 16, 1934, has printed its last issue, dated March 23, 2011.
While hundreds of other newspapers came and went during the past three-quarters of a century, NSSN continued to ride the support of its readers and advertisers in producing the most thorough weekly racing publication on the market. But economic times have been tight and the newspaper business has suffered at the hands of high production costs and modern technology, which provides information to readers instantly.
This is one of the saddest days of my life, said National Speed Sport News Publisher Corinne Economaki. The sluggish economy has made it too difficult to continue publication and no matter how I try to make the numbers work and believe me I have tried it is just not feasible to keep the business going.
For 76 years, since August 1934 when my father Chris sold copies of the first issue at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway in northern New Jersey, to today, as I oversee the very last copy printed, this paper has been an integral part of my family, Corinne Economaki said.
Through the years National Speed Sport News was the industry leader in covering motorsports, much of it thanks to Chris Economaki, 90, who sold the first issue of NSSN at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway in New Jersey, and began writing for the publication soon after that and became editor in 1950.
Economaki saw the publication through its glory days, launching a career on television and taking his newspaper into thousands of homes across America. In a time when there was no Internet and very little racing was on television or radio, National Speed Sport News thrived.
When National Speed Sport News began its run, there were no seat belts, drivers wore leather helmets and the flathead Ford V8 was one of the most common racing engines. Today, safety is the utmost concern and HANS and other safety devices are all the rage. Fuel-injected engines are everywhere.
Not only has technology changed what fans see at the race track, it changed how NSSN gathered the news. In the early years most news arrived at the NSSN office by mail or telephone. Later the telecopier and the fax machine played key roles. Both were replaced by the computer modem and later by e-mail.
NSSN was printed by linotype, but later changed to phototypesetting and finally went completely digital in 2002.
But after enduring all these changes, a familiar friend will no longer appear at the mailboxes of its loyal readers.
NationalSpeedSportNews.com, the online version of the newspaper, will continue to be updated with daily news, giving Internet savvy readers the opportunity to keep up with some of the same news they enjoyed every week.
But as far as the newspaper goes, its the end of an era
updated by @cody-dinsmore: 04/04/17 04:26:17PM
Who Won the 1959 Daytona 500?
General
Yes I know...Lee Petty. BUT...while I was just browsing on the hot rod club I belong to, under the historic stock car section, there was a picture of the famous finish and a gentleman saying this...
"Wanna know the funny thing about that pic? My Granddad swore until his dying day that Johnny won that race, and that Lee was actually a lap behind at the finish. Now, Granddad was there - he drove Bob Potter's '59 Chevy in the 100 Mile Grand National qualifier - but I always took that with a grain of salt.
About ten years ago, I was working on a historical article and I interviewed some old NASCAR racers, including Joe Lee Johnson. I told Joe Lee that my Granddad had always said that Johnny won the '59 500, and Joe said, "That's because he did. Lee was a lap down, and he and Weatherly were racing for position, not him and Johnny. If Johnny hadn't been from Iowa, he'd have won the race."
I have since talked to a couple of other old-time drivers who were there and said the same thing..."
So...I know this fella is just probably telling a story..but what is your honest opinion of it?
-Cody
updated by @cody-dinsmore: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM