Whoo hoo! Atlanta bound!
Current NASCAR
Way to go, Chase!!!
Have ya got time to scratch a lottery ticket for me??!!
You'll have a ball for sure. We'll be watching for you.
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
Current NASCAR
Black Lung, Cancer & Crash Injuries Can't Keep 56 Year Old Roger Neece from 200th Win!
Local and Regional Short Track Racing
A pretty inspiring tale from the weekly tracks beat about a guy who couldn't afford a burnout after his 200th win:
MOTORSPORTS NOTEBOOK: Roger Neece crafts more history at LPR
Credit: PHOTO COURTESY OF RANDALL PERRY
Roger Neece plans to run three more races this season.
By: Allen Gregory
Bristol Herald Courier
August 21, 2012
COEBURN, Va . --
Fireworks lit up the sky as Roger Neece pulled into Victory Lane late Saturday night at Lonesome Pine Raceway.
After a season of bad luck and physical pain, the beloved Trammel,Va., resident stormed to his 200th career win in the 30-lap Street Stock class.
I didnt know if we were going to get this or not, but Im happy, said Neece who has been slowed by health issues in recent weeks. It feels just as good as my first win.
For competitors, officials and fans in the Mountain Empire, Neece is a genuine hometown hero who has earned every victory the hard way. The 56-year-old former mine foreman has battled black lung and cancer, but somehow he keeps beating drivers half his age.
I hope the fans have enjoyed all this as much as I have, Neece said.
Emotions run high and rivalries linger in weekly short track racing. Yet the scene at LPR Saturday harkened back to the timeless day in 1998 when the late Dale Earnhardt was swarmed by admirers on pit road after finally winning the Daytona 500.
Neece, who did not begin racing until he was around 36, has won seven track titles while bouncing between LPR and Kingsport Speedway with his familiar black No. 22.
The latest conquest offered another textbook performance. Neece started from the pole and held off all challengers with flawless laps around the high-banked track.
My car tightened up a little more than what I wanted after the second caution, but we were able to hold on, Neece said.
As fans stood to salute and fellow racers rushed over to shake hands, Neece explained his key to success while being serenaded by the 1980s rock and roll standard Back in Black over the track public address system.
Theres been a lot of luck and a lot of hard work along the way, Neece said. I appreciate all the drivers who raced me clean and I thank all the fans who paid their hard-earned money every week to watch us race and put on a show.
The 2012 season began in nightmarish fashion for Neece with a vicious crash at LPR. Neece now ambles slowly around the pits, but he races as hard as ever.
Its hard to accomplish something like this, but each win feels special, Neece said. This night is something Ill never forget.
Neece said he plans to run three more races this season, including one at Kingsport.
Thats why I didnt do a burnout for the fans, Neece said.
Saturdays program at LPR also featured a pair of 35-lap Limited races won by Keith Stiltner (Buchanan County) and first-time victor Ronnie McCarty of Kingsport.
Seconds after his victory, the colorful Stiltner sprinted through the pits to compete in the Renegades division where he went from last to first with a fearless charge on the opening lap. Stiltner punctuated his Renegades victory with a wild circular burnout which left the track blanketed in smoke.
NASCAR legend Jack Ingram, a three-time national Late Model Sportsman champion from Asheville,N.C., drove his iconic brown No. 11 in both the Limited features.
Saturdays other winners included John Ketron (Pure 4), Rannie Breeding (Iron Warriors) and Kirby Gobble in Mod 4.
agregory@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Greg_BHCSports | (276) 645-2544
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:09:31PM
Lowe's Sponsorship in Racing
Current NASCAR
Long before we ever heard of Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson and long before Junior Johnson, Richard Childress or Rick Hendrick fielded a car sponsored by Lowe's, take a look at the late Wayne Patterson's car at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway at the February 25, 1984 Wrangler 150 Busch Series race as captured and posted at RR by member, Woody Delbridge:
Wayne Patterson finished 4th in his Lowe's sponsored Pontiac that day, behind winner, Sam Ard, 2nd place Dale Jarrett and third place, Dale Earnhardt. Not too shabby!
Lowe's Sponsorship in Racing
Current NASCAR
This is an interesting current Lowe's story from today's Charlotte Observer business section:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/08/25/3475723/everyday-low-pricing-poses-risks.html
Lowe's Sponsorship in Racing
Current NASCAR
Tommie... wasn't trying at all to contradict you. I sure hope that Lowe's technology investment helps. I am very well aware of what they're doing and hope it does get customers back. I still own some Lowe's stock. However, it is sad when I go in my local Lowe's and see nobody staffing the departments, yet get immediate help at my local HD.
That is the opposite of what it was during the Lowe's glory days of earnings.
Not a matter of what turns me on. I hope they do improve. I'm sure the car sponsorship must be very difficult to justify to the Board while the ship is sinking.
My original point was that Lowe's has been on a steady decline since the elevation of a fellow who has no store or operations experience and I'd rather see some employees in the store to help me rather than some electronic gizmo. But, that is just me, Tommie.
Lowe's Sponsorship in Racing
Current NASCAR
I worked as Credit Manager for one of Lowe's Top-5 performing stores in the US for five years. In fact, my store was ranked number 1 in the country in both consumer credit and commercial contractor credit. I was there from 2001-2005, following the purchase of both Heckingers and Home Quarters - a time in which Lowe's completely kicked HD in the rear. I'll tell you in a nutshell what has happened to Lowe's and why their business has gone to heck in a hand basket.
Former Lowe's Chairman Bob Tillman retired in January 2005 and was replaced with Robert Niblock.
Pretty simple. Along with that, the top management who'd been at Lowe's for a number of years and orchestrated a successful store operations philosophy has also left during the past several years.
Former Chairman, Tillman was hired as an entry level store employee in Wilmington, NC in 1962 and worked his way up to store manager, etc. learning every single phase of the business. New Lowe's Chairman since 2005, Niblock was hired directly out of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte as an accountant and has never spent one single day working in a Lowe's store.
The lack of knowledge of the current Lowe's management team with store operations is now telling a disastrous tale with performance and earnings. As Lowe's has cut back on store personnel and Home Depot has restaffed, shoppers and contractors who'd moved from HD to Lowe's have moved back due to the now low levels of customer service at Lowe's. All the electronic gizmos and smartphones in the world will not replace the former Lowe's staffers dealing one on one with contractors and consumers.
Also, Lowe's closing down it's in-house Commercial Credit department in Wilkesboro and selling its assets to GE Credit back around 2004 alienated the bejesus out of a tremendous number of contractors who suddenly found GE Credit not nearly as lenient and forgiving to the Lowe's contractor customers as the former in-house credit department had been. My own store lost a ton of business at that point not to Home Depot, but to 84 Lumber. At the time I was one of several individuals within driving radius of Lowe's new Mooresville, NC headquarters appointed to the " Store Business Process Improvement Team " to attempt to address the huge resentment and negative backlash feedback from contractors.
As much as I wanted to tout the benefits of sponsorship when I worked in racing, I'm not at all convinced that the two big home improvement company sponsorships are driving sales for either. In most of the marketing studies with which I am familiar, what we found was that race fans would be highly supportive of a single sponsor in a particular category such as our Wrangler Jeans sponsorship. However, when multiple sponsors ( i.e. motor oils ) were there, the results were difficult to differentiate. NASCAR consumers gravitated heavily to a single sponsor product such as Tide, Crisco, and Folger's Coffee, but it became a negligible thing when there were lots of sponsors in the same category.
Start mixing the big three - Home Depot, Menards and Lowe's all on race cars and then results of a sponsorship is severely diluted. But, I don't think Lowe's current economic problems have anything to do with their performance on the race track. Personally, I think that all the Lowe's dollars that were poured into Charlotte Motor Speedway would have been better spent on promotions, but that is one fellow's opinion.
RJ Reynolds contrived a very successful formula for sports sponsorship spending. They reasoned that for every dollar spent on direct sports sponsorship, and additional three dollrs should be spent on the advertising and promotion of that sponsorship. It was a formula thta has worked well when applied correctly.
If you've got $8 million committed to the sponsorship of a race car, then you'd better have another $24 million available to design advertising and promotions around that sponsorship if you hope to be successful. This is where so many sponsors meet their downfall. They spend big bucks to paint their name on a car then don't properly advertise and promote it. They may as well have thrown the $8 million car sponsorship in the ocean. The 3 to 1 Rule should always be followed.
1968 Grand Touring Trivia
Stock Car Racing History
I have to agree with you, Dennis - Tiny had a pretty stout reverse gear!
1968 Grand Touring Trivia
Stock Car Racing History
Yes, the scheduled October 1968 Charlotte Tarheel 250 was rained out the 2nd time and then cancelled by Richard Howard.
Here's a story link:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h3ZJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SAsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2478,5671066&dq=tarheel+250+nascar+charlotte+cancelled&hl=en
1968 Grand Touring Trivia
Stock Car Racing History
October 12, 1968 scheduled 250 miles at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Squinting to read a news archive I'm guessing a rainout cancelled the event.
From what I can read, the entire weekend was rained out and the Tarheel 250 rescheduled for the following weekend with more rain predicted. Paul Goldsmith in a Smokey Yunick Camaro had qualified on the pole, but cars were to requalify.