Forum Activity for @dave-fulton

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/29/12 03:47:09PM
9,138 posts

The Greatest Finish in History


Stock Car Racing History


This past week in a couple of pieces posted about Martinsville Speedway, I mentioned the finish at Martinsville in 1981 in the NASCAR Modified portion of the Dogwood 500 Classic - the twin 250-lap spring races for NASCAR Modifieds and NASCAR Late Model Sportsman divisions. It would be the final spring event for those two series in that format before NASCAR made sweeping changes for 1982 creating traveling national tours and effectively killing the two series that provided spectacular races at weekly tracks around the country.

It was one of those "you had to be there" moments in NASCAR racing history.

Talk about an electric press box after a race! Richie Evans was at one end and Geoff Bodine at the other, each ready to each commit bodily harm upon the other.

Thanks to one of our great motorsports writers of the past several decades, Thomas Pope of The Fayetteville (NC) Observer , we can share the memories of the late H.Clay Earles and Dick Thompson of Martinsville Speedway, as well as participants Geoff(rey) Bodine and Jerry Cook. 17 years after the fact, those folks recalled the race for Pope during NASCAR's 50th Anniversary year of 1998.

The greatest finish in history

By Thomas Pope
Motorsports editor

The Fayetteville Observer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- NASCARs first half-century overflows with spine-tingling finishes.

Most commonly rated among the best are: the 1976 Daytona 500, where David Pearson and Richard Petty crashed in the final turn, with Pearson limping to victory; the 1959 Daytona 500, with Lee Petty declared the victor three days later on the basis of film footage; and the 1991 DeVilbiss 400 at Michigan, when Dale Jarrett scored his first Winston Cup win by less than 6 inches over Davey Allison.

In the opinion of some, the best finish ever didnt occur in the Winston Cup ranks, but in a lower division ... right here at tiny Martinsville Speedway.

What is now called the Winston Cup Series is not NASCARs oldest form of racing. NASCAR first put its stamp on the Modified class in 1948, a year before it launched the Strictly Stock division that is now Winston Cup.

Thrilling finish

In 1981, the Modified half of the Dogwood 500 Classic produced an ending that still gives Martinsville Speedway officials goosebumps the size of manhole covers.

You can talk Pearson-Petty at Daytona all you want, said Dick Thompson , Martinsvilles publicist since 1966, but theres no better finish than that one in 81 involving Richie Evans and Geoff Bodine .

Bodine had won the 250-lap Late Model Sportsman half of the Dogwood Classic, and was the polesitter for the Modified portion of the show. He had his sights set on joining Ray Hendrick and Paul Radford as the only drivers to sweep the Classic, and had a car strong enough to lead 231 of the 250 laps of the Modified finale.

I remember it just like it was last weekend, said Bodine, the only driver to win at Martinsville in the Modified, Late Model Sportsman, and Winston Cup divisions. That was a wild race, not just a wild finish.

Evans and Bodine, a pair of New Yorkers, put on a show that kept the predominately Southern crowd on its feet most of the afternoon. At that time, teams were allowed to mate any engine with any body style, and both drivers were piloting Ford Pintos powered by Chevrolet engines of about 480 cubic inches.

Evans grabbed the lead once after spinning Bodine, only to have Bodine take it back. Bodine was in front with only two laps to go when car co-owner Billy Taylor radioed him with a simple message: Dont let Richie underneath you.

That proved easier said than done in the heat of battle. Bodine remembers driving as deep into Turn Three as he could, but Evans dove deeper, and a well-placed nudge pushed Bodine aside. Evans charged out of Turn Four to see the white flag waving, signifying that the final lap was all that remained.

He was quite a ways ahead of me -- an impossible distance to make up in one lap, but I wasnt thinking that. I wasnt thinking, really -- I was seeing red, Bodine said. I really wanted to win both races in one day and was in position to do that. I was pretty mad.

Bodine catches him

Bodine flattened the throttle to the floorboard coming off the second turn, and somehow reeled Evans in between the third and fourth corners. Bodine repaid the earlier shove with one of his own, and Evans Pinto clawed for traction as his car slid sideways.

Unfortunately for me, I was thinking again then, Bodine said. I didnt want to wreck him, just get him sideways and pass him. That was the wrong thought. I should have spun him out, but I let him go because I just knew I had him.

I was driving around him and thought I was going to get to the finish line first. Theres a close-up picture that shows him getting a handful of steering wheel and turning it all the way to the right. His right front tire hit my left front tire and put me into the wall.

Evans didnt get away clean -- his car catapulted over the hood of Bodines and slammed into the wall, too. Parts from both cars rained in every direction, but Evans car, riding the wall on its left-side tires and minus its right-front wheel, somehow limped across the finish line first. Bodines car spun to the left, crossed the stripe, and smashed into the inside wall.

Jerry Cook , a six-time Modified national champion, was about 100 yards behind as Evans and Bodine collided. His crew screamed over the radio to warn of a crash, but Cook couldnt see anything until he rounded the final turn.

I could see where they had stopped, and all I could think was, Darn it, they both made it over the finish line, said Cook, now NASCARs National Competition Administrator. Richies car was junk and Geoffs wasnt a whole lot better.

Both drivers furious

Furious, Bodine and Evans leaped out of their cars, and their crews raced to the scene. Martinsville Speedway founder Clay Earles jumped, too, but his reaction was the first step taken to avoid a battle royale in front of the main grandstand.

I got every police officer I could find and took them to the pits, said Earles, who built the track in 1947. Everyone was so excited and some of them mad, I just knew we were going to have a riot.

Earles and his squad of lawmen reacted in time to short-circuit a brawl. They took both drivers to the pressbox for post-race winners interviews, Bodine for the Late Model Sportsman half, Evans for the Modified, and placed them at opposite ends of the room.

A year later, Bodine would move to Winston Cup competition full-time. In 1985, Evans was killed at Martinsville when his car hit the wall head-on during a Modified practice run. Today, Earles retains near-photographic memories of that Sunday afternoon.

I dont care what anyone says, Earles said. That Modified race between Richie and Geoff was the greatest finish of any race ever held, anywhere.

The late Richie Evans wins the 1981 Dogwood 500 on two wheels over trailing Geoff Bodine. Martinsville Speedway photo


updated by @dave-fulton: 10/30/22 10:49:52PM
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/29/12 02:12:59PM
9,138 posts

Indycar CEO resigns


Current NASCAR

I hope somehow U.S. open wheel can get its act together. When done right, it is spectacular racing.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/28/12 09:22:40PM
9,138 posts

Indycar CEO resigns


Current NASCAR

Full Associated Press story:

Oct 28, 7:21 PM EDT

Randy Bernard steps down as IndyCar CEO

By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer

Randy Bernard stepped down as CEO of IndyCar on Sunday, bringing an end to a three-year reign that was disrupted this season by several attempts by team owners to have him ousted as head of the series.

The decision was announced following an executive session conducted by teleconference Sunday by the 11-member Indianapolis Motor Speedway board of directors.

Jeff Belskus, the president of IMS and president and CEO of Hulman & Co., will step in as interim CEO of the IndyCar Series.

Bernard, who has two years remaining on the contract he signed when he joined IndyCar in 2010, will stay on in an advisory position.

Both the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are owned by the Hulman-George family, which holds four spots on the 11-member IMS board and four spots on the 10-member Hulman & Co. board.

The decision for Bernard to step down was made by the IMS board, which felt a "mutual separation" was the only way to stop speculation over his job security.

Belskus, in a telephone interview Sunday night with The Associated Press during the final portion of the board meeting, gave few details about the split.

"Both parties agree that it's time to move forward separately, it's an amicable separation and Randy is going to stay on in an advisory capacity," Belskus said.

But IndyCar is coming off arguably its best season in series history. Bernard introduced the first new car in nine years this season, and the on-track product was perhaps the best in auto racing.

IndyCar had eight different winners, its first American champion since 2006 in Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Chevrolet won the engine manufacturer title in its return to the series after a six-year absence. Pressed how it was in IndyCar's "best interest" to part with a CEO who brought such positive to the series and was popular with fans, Belskus gave no answer.

"I'm not going to comment," he said.

It's been that kind of a month for IndyCar, which has been plagued by rumors of owner-led coups against Bernard all season. It reached a fevered pitch in the last month as series founder Tony George attempted to reclaim control with an offer to purchase the series from Hulman & Co.

It's long been believed that George, who was stripped of power in 2009 by his mother and three sisters, has been leading the charge to oust Bernard, who was hired in 2010 to re-energize the series.

Hulman & Co. has insisted George's offer was never entertained and IndyCar is not for sale. But George stepped down from the board nine days ago, citing a conflict of interest in holding a seat while trying to purchase the series.

It did nothing to quiet the uncertainty surrounding Bernard, who has worked for more than a year amid uncertain job security because he could never secure any sort of public support from the board of directors or the Hulman-George family.

The speculation was suffocating last week, and Bernard and an IMS spokesman both denied a report Friday that Bernard had been fired. It led driver Graham Rahal, one of the most recognizable names in the series, to plead for some sanity Friday afternoon.

"Come on people either keep Randy or fire him but this is foolish and embarrassing for this sport," he posted on Twitter.

After two days of silence and Bernard in apparent limbo, the IMS board called an emergency teleconference Sunday to figure out a solution.

In a statement, Bernard specifically thanked Josie George, who brought him to IndyCar and said the series is "better poised for success than it has been in many years.

"I have developed a passion for the sport of IndyCar," he said in the statement. "As IndyCar fans, we need to unify behind the sport in order to move it to the next level, and I look forward to providing input and being part of that unified voice along the way."

It's not clear what's next for the troubled series.

"Well, I have been named interim CEO," Belskus told AP. "We're going to conduct a search. We haven't established a specific timeline for a permanent replacement. It's all part of a planning process that we'll address."

It didn't sound very promising to Zak Brown, founder and CEO of the motorsports marketing agency Just Marketing International, and the man many believed would run IndyCar under George's offer to buy the series. Brown has said he has no interest in running IndyCar.

"It all appears a bit strange and kneejerk to me," Brown said Sunday night. "I don't understand why Jeff Belskus hasn't communicated a longer-term plan. Unless there isn't one, which as CEO, I hope he has. The industry needs to know the plan."

So do the weary fans, who seemed overwhelmingly in support of Bernard and had been threatening for weeks via social media to turn their backs on the series for good if George regained control or Bernard was let go.

Belskus said he's unsure what reaction will be to Bernard's departure.

"It is change and we recognize that different people deal with change differently, and with people differently," he said.

Engaging and energetic, Bernard had bold ideas in his attempt to revitalize a racing series clinging for relevancy outside of the Indianapolis 500.

But Bernard was stymied by a combination of his own missteps, the same old drama and dysfunction that weakened open-wheel racing and allowed NASCAR to surpass it as the top racing series in America, and the massive mess left behind by George.

And even if Bernard had been flawless at his job, it likely still wouldn't have been enough.

George wanted his series back and wanted Bernard gone, and even if he couldn't make it happen, Bernard couldn't find enough allies in a paddock that ran through CEO's at a comical rate before George formed IndyCar.

Plus, it's been a rough 13 months for Bernard, whose tenure was rocked by the death of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon in the 2011 season finale.

Wheldon was only in the race as part of a $5 million promotion Bernard had devised as a means to close the season with a bang and build momentum for what was expected to be a breakthrough 2012 for IndyCar. Wheldon's death paralyzed IndyCar for months, and took a heavy emotional toll on Bernard, who after 15 years with The Professional Bull Riders was unaccustomed to the inherent dangers of auto racing.

And Bernard, who maybe was naive to just how political the IndyCar paddock can be, found himself putting out fire after fire every time he turned around this year. Team owners appeared to begin turning on him following a meeting at Long Beach in April in which they complained about the cost of replacement parts and a series ruling in the "Turbogate" scandal that allowed Honda to make a change to its engine.

Rumors swirled during the entire buildup to the Indianapolis 500 of an owner-led attempt to have him fired. Bernard confirmed the plot in an ill-timed tweet two days after the race, removing all focus from what many believed had been one of the most exciting 500s in years.

Although talk of Bernard losing his job quieted after the tweet, the board of directors - which failed to offer him any support during the attacks following Wheldon's death - still remained silent about his job security.

By August, there was talk of the George-led effort to buy the series.

That his job status was even in question was puzzling to outsiders, who point to years of instability and dysfunction in American open-wheel racing. Bernard had been brought in specifically tasked with cleaning up 14 years of disaster left behind after George had hemorrhaged family money for years on IndyCar.

Bernard was supposed to stop the bleeding, and immediately slashed the budget. He worked toward dramatically cutting losses that reportedly averaged high eight figures under George's watch to mid-to-low seven figures for Bernard.

More important, he dramatically improved the product.

Bernard this year introduced the new car and brought in multiple engine manufacturers. He cleaned up the grid last year with harsh league scrutiny on Milka Duno, who had sponsorship to get a ride but was not skilled enough to be on the track, and that in part contributed to parity this season throughout the field.

Bernard also removed Brian Barnhart from his longtime role as head of race control following a controversial 2011 season in which it was clear Barnhart had lost the trust of the paddock. He also developed the "Road to Indy" ladder system, a development program meant to keep young drivers in IndyCar.

This season, Bernard was able to save Milwaukee from dropping off the IndyCar schedule - albeit in a sweetheart deal for first-time promoter Michael Andretti - but Bernard also got Andretti to step in and rescue the endangered Labor Day weekend event at Baltimore. He also brought IndyCar back to Fontana, Calif., this season for the first time since 2005, and announced last month that IndyCar will race in 2013 at Pocono after a 23-year absence.

Bernard announced the return of the "The Triple Crown" promotion, an IndyCar tradition last done in 1989, the last time the series visited Pocono. He's also been in talks with Phoenix and Michigan, two other traditional IndyCar tracks, about returning to the series for the 2014 season.

Although he received mixed reviews for his 2013 schedule announced earlier this month, few understood his reasoning for creating doubleheaders or a long summer-stretch of racing. Saddled with a tough television package he inherited from George, Bernard strung together six consecutive weeks of racing through the summer to get five dates on ABC, including a prime-time Saturday night event at Texas Motor Speedway.

And because IndyCar has so little shoulder programming and cable partner NBC Sports does not often air qualifying live, Bernard viewed doubleheaders as a way to get the series on television more often.

Alas, none of his gains were ever lauded the way his missteps were jeered.

The cancellation of an August race in China was a reported $7 million hit to his budget - one of the reasons speculated he fell out of favor with the board. And Bernard's desire for engine competititon led him to ignore all red flags and welcome Lotus into to the series. The manufacturer was an embarrassing disaster from start to finish.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/28/12 08:58:05PM
9,138 posts

Indycar CEO resigns


Current NASCAR

As you point out, Andy, this is the latest bad news for open wheel racing. Tony George, of course, has tried to buy the series recently.

Open wheel racing has suffered forever in AAA days, USAC days, CART, IRL and IndyCar days from being an owners controlled venue with no firm hand at the tiller. In that regard, Big Bill France operated NASCAR with an iron fist. Much as we complain, it was NASCAR through the years that grew and prospered while the in-fighting within open wheel racing has kept it in constant turmoil without a unified front. The original Mr. France's refusal to allow owners to dictate stood the stock car series in good stead.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/26/12 03:16:01PM
9,138 posts

Lest We Forget, 8 Years Ago this Week Tragedy Preceded the Martinsville Race


Stock Car Racing History

It hardly seems possible eight years could have passed since that cloudy, rainy Martinsville race day morning when Hendrick Motorsports lost family, crew, friends and employees. This past Wednesday, October 24th was the eighth anniversary of that sad day.

NASCAR on NBC ran this tribute 8 years ago.


updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/26/12 01:49:38PM
9,138 posts

Franklin Co., Va. H.S. Grad to Make 775th NASCAR Start @M'ville; Many Consider Him a NY Yankee


Stock Car Racing History

Back in 1981, there was a young rookie motorsports writer named Randy King assigned to cover the full Cup circuit for his newspaper, The Roanoke (Virginia) Times and World News . Randy had taken over the beat from Steve Waid, who was moving on to a new motorsports publication named Grand National Scene . Owner, Rob Griggs and his friend, Gary McCredie had moved to Charlotte from Alabama to open that fledging publication.

Randy was a heck of a nice guy who good naturedly took much hazing from figures like Waid, Tom Higgins, Joe Whitlock and other veterans of motorsports journalism.

In the early 80s, Landmark Publications, which owned the Roanoke, Greensboro and Norfolk papers, decided to hire one individual, Bob Zeller, to cover motorsports for all three of its papers, displacing both Randy King and award winning Frank Vehorn.

I hadn't heard Randy King's name in years and was very pleasantly surprised today to read a really nice story he wrote for the Roanoke paper about Todd Bodine.

Unbeknownst to Randy, or many others in the racing community, Todd moved with his family to Virginia after his father sold off their Chemung, New York area race track and was hired by Virginia Modified standout, Satch Worley to help him construct Log Cabin Raceway, an awesome Virginia dirt track near Rocky Mount that once hosted $100,000 to win races on Martinsville Cup weekends. Todd's father was hired because Satch and Todd's older brother, Geoff(rey) were friends.

Thus, Todd, whose other brother Brett has also been a NASCAR driver, spent his final two years at Franklin County, Virginia High School where he graduated.

Randy King stumbled upon this fact in Roanoke this past week while interviewing Todd, who is scheduled to make his 775th NASCAR start this weekend at Martinsville.

I hope you enjoy Randy's story. It was enjoyable to see his by-line on a motorsports story again after a 30-some year absence.

Franklin County grad has family's lead foot
Todd Bodine, who spent his junior and senior years at Franklin County High, looks to equal his brothers' success with a victory at Martinsville Speedway.

By Randy King

Roanoke Times & World News

Todd Bodine, nicknamed Onion, will makes his 775th career NASCAR start Saturday. Martinsville is his familys second home track.

Associated Press

For all you gearheads out there, here's today's auto racing trivia question of the day: Name the Timesland high school graduate who has been driving for most of the past 26 years on one of NASCAR's three major touring series?

Say what? Talk about a little-known fact.

All right, here's a helper clue: He will be making his 775th career NASCAR start in Saturday's Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway.

Tick, tock, tick, tock ... the buzzer sounds.

"Not many people around here probably know it, but I actually spent my junior and senior years at Franklin County High and graduated in 1982,'' 48-year-old Todd Bodine revealed to a stunned writer Wednesday at a media luncheon held at Roanoke's Corned Beef & Co.

"So, yeah, I'm a Franklin County graduate. I haven't been back, no. Being there for two years you don't really make a lot of close friends. But every once in a while at the races, I will see some friends that went there with me and they'll say, 'hey.'

"It was a good place to be. It would have been a nice place to grow up. It was a neat experience. I love Virginia, I love the countryside, the people are always nice. So every time I cross the border into Virginia, I always feel like I'm back at my second home.''

Strong words coming from a Yankee. Sure, there's plenty of retired northern transplants nowadays in the county's Smith Mountain Lake retreat area, but there can't be but a handful of New York natives who moved south and eventually received their high school diploma in Rocky Mount.

Of course, Bodine and the Franklin County folks each have one strong bond in common. They both love their racing.

"That's how I ended up in Franklin County,'' Bodine said. "[Donald] 'Satch'' Worley, the longtime modified driver from down there, was good friends with my brother, Geoff. And when he and his father started building Log Cabin Raceway [in 1981], they knew that my dad [Eli] had sold our family racetrack back home in Chemung [N.Y.]. So they hired my father to help them build it and help them run it. And my dad and I lived right there in that little barn near the track.''

The dirt track never lived up to its long-term promise, however, and eventually was shut down due to financials that were colored the same shade as its red clay base.

"It's a shame because it was a beautiful racetrack,'' Bodine said. "It's all grown up there now. I actually never saw a race on it.''

He's seen a bunch of races since, though, from the driver's seat. After graduating from Franklin County, Bodine moved back to the New England area to start his driving career in the Modified division.

The rest is history. Following his older brothers, Geoff and Brett, Bodine has made a nice living with some $5.5 million in NASCAR earnings. Geoff, 63, won 24 races - 18 Cup series, including the 1986 Daytona 500, and six Nationwide races. Brett, 53, won six races (one Cup, five Nationwide).

Meanwhile, little brother is still going strong. Todd has never won a Cup race in 241 starts, but his 37 NASCAR victories (22 Truck, 15 Nationwide) leads the family of leadfoots.

Now comes Martinsville. Geoff won 13 times - four Cup, seven Modified, two Nationwide - on the .525-mile bull ring. Brett owns four wins - two Nationwide, two Modified - on NASCAR's oldest track. Little brother, nicknamed "Onion" for his bald head, remains 0-for-forever at the Henry County short track.

"I hope this is my year,'' said Bodine, whose two titles in the Truck Series (2006 and '10) are two more NASCAR crowns than his brothers won combined. "I've come close ... I've had a lot of seconds and thirds, and a lot of top-fives."Man, I really want to get one there. I've been going to Martinsville since I was 8 years old, watching Geoff and Brett, and I've changed tires on pit road there. For our family, it's our second home track. Watkins Glen is our home track, that's where we were born and raised. Our parents loved coming to Martinsville. There's a lot of history for us there.''

Bodine, who is the second-oldest driver behind 52-year-old Ron Hornaday in the truck ranks, would like nothing more than to fill out the Bodine family victory tree at Martinsville before he's done behind the wheel. He posted his last win at Dover in June for his Red Horse Racing Toyota team, which is owned by retired Mobil Oil executive Tom DeLoach and by NASCAR television commentator Jeff Hammond.

"As long as you still have the passion and drive, and still have reflexes and everything to go with it, you can still do it for a long time,'' said Bodine, who is the only driver in history to start more than 200 races in all three major touring series.

"I'm 48 and I would like to go for another 10 to 12 years. I can go to 60, yeah! It's all about having fun and enjoying it. When it gets not to be fun, it's a different story.''

Until then, there's one script that Todd Bodine desperately wants to be cast in the lead role.

"Win at Martinsville ... now that would be a great story, for sure,'' a grinning Bodine said. "Yeah, I would love to have you guys writing that one come Saturday.''


updated by @dave-fulton: 12/16/16 07:54:05AM
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/26/12 02:03:47PM
9,138 posts

LEGEND HEALTH UPDATE


Administrative

Jimmy, good luck with your event Saturday.

24th Annual NASCAR Days
Starts: 10/27/2012 Ends: 10/27/2012

City: Randleman, NC
Produced by: Nascar Days

Phone: 336-495-1100
Email: chamber43@northstate.net
Website: http://www.randlemanchamber.com/nascar.htm

On Saturday, October 27, 2012 from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., NASCAR excitement will once again invade Randleman, NC. If you can imagine 40,000 people coming together to celebrate racing, you will get the picture. An enormous amount of fun happens in Randleman during NASCAR Days.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/26/12 01:20:17PM
9,138 posts

LEGEND HEALTH UPDATE


Administrative

Hang in there and thanks for sharing the good news that you feel better.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/26/12 12:38:11PM
9,138 posts

Where's Waldo? (Hint: Check Around Martinsville Speedway)


Current NASCAR

NASCAR driver Ragan rewards young readers

Patrick Henry Elementary School Principal Zebedee Talley Jr. (left) gives NASCAR driver David Ragan a school shirt during his visit Thursday, when he handed out Wheres Waldo books to students. (Contributed photo)

Friday, October 26, 2012

By BEN R. WILLIAMS - Martinsville Bulletin Staff Writer

NASCAR Sprint Cup driver David Ragan helped Patrick Henry Elementary School students determine Wheres Waldo on Thursday.

Ragan visited 76 students at Patrick Henry who all completed the Read Your Way to the Race program that many area schools do in conjunction with Martinsville Speedway. More than 2,500 students in the city and Henry County took part in the program.

Students at Patrick Henry read the most books of any city school, and they were rewarded with a visit from Ragan, autographed copies of Wheres Waldo? books and free tickets to Sundays race.

This weekend, Ragan will be running a Wheres Waldo? paint scheme on his Ford in the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at the Martinsville Speedway to celebrate the book series 25th anniversary.

Patrick Henry Principal Zebedee Talley Jr. introduced Ragan to the excited students on Thursday, offering him a school T-shirt and telling him that he was an official Panther now.

Ragan, 26, spoke to the students about the importance of reading to him.

When I was your age, I was just getting into racing, he said, explaining that he began racing when he was 10.

However, his parents stressed to him the need to study hard and do his schoolwork. If he wanted to be rewarded with time behind the wheel, I couldnt have teachers calling my parents, he said.

Talley was not surprised by the Patrick Henry students reading skills.

Were not really shocked that they read the most, he said. Our staff is very heavy on reading ... reading is just essential.

He was grateful for Martinsville Speedways support in the contest.

We appreciate Martinsville Speedway for always participating, he said. (Martinsville Speedway President) Mr. Clay Campbell is always an outstanding supporter of education.

After the presentation and the students returned to class, Ragan spoke briefly about Sundays race.

Martinsville is one of my favorite tracks. The grandstands are always packed here, he said. Mentally, its a track where you have to be aggressive at times but conservative at times.

Ragan was asked the question that was on everyones minds: where, exactly, is Waldo?

Hes on the car somewhere, Ragan said. Youve got to find him.


updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10/27/12 01:04:35PM
9,138 posts

Time to Hunker Down!


General

Stay safe and know that our RR community has all of you in our thoughts and prayers who may be in the path of peril.
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