May 12, 1984: NASCAR's Nashville Nuttiness
Stock Car Racing History
Jerry, I was introduced to my first Po Folks in Nashville in 1982. I had never before heard of the place, but then I'd also never heard of a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, sponsor of the Saturday night, May 8, 1982 Nashville Cup race I was working.
My Wrangler Racing assistant program manager, Mel Parkhurst and I had driven the Wrangler Racing van from Greensboro, NC to Nashville for the weekend. We slept in late Sunday following the late night activities at the track and needed to grab some lunch before driving back to Greensboro.
It had not dawned on us that Sunday, May 9, 1982 was Mother's Day - in Nashville and everywhere else that sells greeting cards.
Evey restaurant we came to had lines out the door. We hadn't eaten breakfast and were starved.
We finally came across a Po Folks and decided to go in. It, too, was crowded, but we had to eat. Had a pretty good meal. Not long after that one of the Bill Anderson joints opened in Greensboro near Four Seasons Mall. For some reason, however, it was many years before Cracker Barrel made it to our neck of the woods.
