36 Years Since Tim Helped Dale at Pocono
Stock Car Racing History
Thanks, Dennis. I had forgotten every bit of those track incident descriptions.
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
Stock Car Racing History
36 Years Since Tim Helped Dale at Pocono
Stock Car Racing History
Tried looking a little closer, Dennis. The man holding the gas can is the late Red Myler, father-in-law of Maurice Petty and builder of Bud Moore's rear end gears. Standing next to Red with the catch can is Cal Madera, tire specialist and husband of longtime Dale Earnhardt scorer Dolly Madera. Cal and Dolly lived in a motor home and worked for whatever team Dale drove for. Dolly is the lady you aleways see in victory lane with Dale holding the clipboard.
The guy with the sledgehammer at the right rear of the car is shop foreman, Doug Williams.
Note that the car is only half way into the pit, not yet having stopped, yet 5 guys are already over the wall, including Bud, who is baling out of Dale's way in front of the car. Bud was a brave fellow to stand in front of Dale Earnhardt. Bud would beat that pit sign up and down on the pit box line several times, then run like heck as Dale slid into the pit.
When Ricky Rudd slid into Bill Elliott's car at Atlanta and killed his crew member, all that stopped.
36 Years Since Tim Helped Dale at Pocono
Stock Car Racing History
When Dale came out of the track hospital, that cream colored driving suit with the blue & yellow stripe was covered in oil that had dumped on Dale while he was upside down. As I mentioned earlier, he also had a broken leg that the Pocono infield hospital missed and that Dale kept secret from Bud, hobbling around at Talladega on crutches and driving anyway, then having surgery in North Carolina on Monday.
As you can imagine, Bud was not a happy camper about being kept out of that loop. Joe Whitlock made all the arrangements for Dale and was sworn to secrecy.
36 Years Since Tim Helped Dale at Pocono
Stock Car Racing History
I don't remember how the back end of Dale's car had already been damaged - maybe by Tim? Do y'all remember?
Our little Wrangler beach umbrella was sure a far cry from those humongous covered carts with all the computer equipment that forced them to tear down the roof over Daytona's pit road. When I went to 7-Eleven/CITGO in 1984, we got really high tech and sometimes had two beach umbrellas in the pits!
Those 14 ounce heavy duty denim jeans the crew wore were HOT!
36 Years Since Tim Helped Dale at Pocono
Stock Car Racing History
Dennis, that is Bud, over the wall in front of the car with the pit board.
Behind the wall, just to the right of crew member holding the gas can at the front of the car is Bud's son, Greg Moore (with the long dark hair and beard - now gray like mine). I am immediately to the right of Greg, directly behind the wall from Bud, holding the cup.
Immediately to the right of the guy in the plaid shirt next to me (with the drink pole), wearing the large cowboy hat, is my Wrangler NASCAR Assistant Program Manager, Mel Parkhurst - one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Mel had ridden motorcycles and worked for the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) and then took a job with NASCAR in the Daytona mail room. He was highly recommended to me by Dave DeSpain, Lin Kuchler and Jim Foster. What a wonderful recommendation. The racers loved him and he was a terrific assistant. He lived in a large converted Golden Eagle bus in a Greensboro campground on I-85 next to where they built the water park. Mel's Canadian girlfriend's daughter spoke no English - just French - but she and my girls conversed in their own language. We promoted Mel the following year (1983) to head up the Wrangler Willie Nelson Country Music sponsorship and he spent a couple of years on the bus with Willie. Imagine, a year with Dale Earnhardt followed by a couple with Willie Nelson! Mel was a wonderful topnotch guy.
Thank you so much for posting these photos.
I'm not familiar with the car being auctioned, I just know Bud didn't want it in the IMHOF Museum.
36 Years Since Tim Helped Dale at Pocono
Stock Car Racing History
My, my.... time does quickly pass.
Seems like just yesterday I was standing next to car owner/crew chief, Bud Moore on pit road at Pocono when Dale Earnhardt took a scary ride down in turn 1.
Actually it was 36 years ago, the second Pocono race of 1982, on July 25, when Dale got into the back of one of his favorite racing competitors, Tim Richmond and went for an upside down ride.
The blue & yellow #15 Wrangler T-bird with Earnhardt strapped aboard for the ride climbed the old boiler plate steel wall and rode for a distance on its roof before coming back down on the track. The car almost cut down the "Winston Pack" MRN radio booth with Eli Gold inside - a very scary moment for Eli.
Those were the days of racing back to the flag and very slow emergency response times. Dale was being inundated with hot oil from the oil cooler as he struggled upside down to get free. A photographer ran across the track to assist, along with Richmond, who helped Dale to the ambulance that finally arrived at the crash scene. I always remember Tim helping Dale that day.
Dale had been seriously injured at Pocono in 1979 and airlifted out by helicopter after breaking both collar bones and being knocked unconscious in a crash in his Rookie of the Year run. David Pearson subbed for the young Earnhardt at Darlington that September, winning the Southern 500 in Dale's Osterlund ride.
When the carcass of Dale's Wrangler T-bird was towed back to the Pocono garage, it was torn all to pieces. It was ready for the scrap heap behind Bud Moore's Spartanburg shop.
The late Don Naman called me in Greensboro at Wrangler headquarters on Monday morning after the crash to see if I could get Bud to donate the car to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame Museum in Talladega as a "safety" display. Bud, who had no use for wrecked cars and had lost drivers Joe Weatherly and Billy Wade in crashes, politely declined the request.
As for "One Tough Customer" Dale Earnhardt, he maintained he was ok from the crash and drove the following race at Talladega secretly nursing a broken leg and had surgery on Tuesday after that race. Dale was a tough cookie and he and Tim Richmond had the utmost racing respect for each other.
Look how Dale slams the wall directly in front of the MRN Radio turn location pained to look like a Winston pack.
updated by @dave-fulton: 10/30/18 04:44:05PM
GRANDSTAND PEOPLE
General
Johnny,
Maybe you can find an 18-34 year old to break this down into segments of 140 characters each and tweet it on down to the beach where they can hopefully repurpose it back into one coherent thought as you have written.
Penske Releases Allmendinger
Current NASCAR
Aug 1, 1:46 PM EDT
Penske dumps Allmendinger after drug test
By DAN GELSTON
AP Sports Writer
A.J. Allmendinger's failed drug test has cost him his job at Penske Racing.
Team owner Roger Penske released Allmendinger on Wednesday, three weeks after he tested positive for a banned amphetamine.
Team officials said they were disappointed with the test results that left them with no choice.
"AJ is a terrific driver, a good person and it is very unfortunate that we have to separate at this time," team owner Roger Penske said. "We have invested greatly in AJ and we were confident in his success with our team. The decision to dismiss him is consistent with how we would treat any other Penske Racing team member under similar circumstances. As AJ begins NASCAR's `Road to Recovery' program, we wish him the best and look forward to seeing him compete again in NASCAR."
Sam Hornish Jr. will drive the No. 22 Dodge at Pocono this weekend and "for the foreseeable future," the team said. Options for the 2013 season will be evaluated.
Allmendinger, who was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR last week for the positive test in late June, apologized and thanked Penske for the support during a "difficult time" the past few weeks.
"I apologize for the distraction, embarrassment and difficulties that my current suspension from NASCAR has provided," he said.
Allmendinger's only way to come back to the series is to complete NASCAR's rehabilitation program and he pledged to do so so he can compete again "in the near future."
Allmendinger was suspended July 7, just hours before the race at Daytona and forcing Penske to bring in Hornish at the last moment. His backup urine sample, tested last week, confirmed the initial positive test.
NASCAR has not said what substance Allmendinger was suspended for, but his business manager has said it was an amphetamine. Allmendinger has said he didn't knowingly take a banned substance and has hired an independent laboratory to help determine what caused the positive test.
Penske has said his employees are subject to random drug testing and he has released employees who have tested positive in the past. He also said he has told Allmendinger that other people with higher profiles have bounced back from similar career-threatening issues.
Allmendinger is the second Sprint Cup Series driver suspended under NASCAR's tightened drug policy implemented in 2009. Jeremy Mayfield was the first and he unsuccessfully sued to have the results overturned. Court documents showed that Mayfield tested positive for methamphetamine.
Allmendinger was hired in late December by Penske to fill the seat that opened when Kurt Busch split with the organization. It was the most prolific ride of Allmendinger's career, and both driver and team seemed thrilled with the pairing even as Allmendinger struggled at times in the No. 22 Dodge. He was 23rd in the Sprint Cup Series standings heading into Daytona, where he won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona race in January.
In 2009, Allmendinger pleaded no contest in North Carolina to a misdemeanor charge of driving while impaired. He was given a 60-day suspended sentence, 18 months unsupervised probation and 24 hours of community service. Allmendinger drove for Richard Petty Motorsports at the time, and the team put him on probation through 2010 and fined him $10,000.
He is 25th in the points standings and one top-five finish in his first season with Penske.
Here is the EXACT Penske Racing Statement as currently posted on the Penske Racing web site:
Penske Racing Statement on AJ Allmendinger
August 1, 2012
Penske Racing announced today that AJ Allmendinger has been released as driver of the No. 22 Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Cup Series. Allmendinger was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR last week for a positive drug test.
"Penske Racing fully supports NASCAR's substance abuse policy and we are disappointed with AJ's positive drug test results," said Roger Penske. "AJ is a terrific driver, a good person and it is very unfortunate that we have to separate at this time. We have invested greatly in AJ and we were confident in his success with our team. The decision to dismiss him is consistent with how we would treat any other Penske Racing team member under similar circumstances. As AJ begins NASCAR's Road to Recovery' program, we wish him the best and look forward to seeing him compete again in NASCAR."
Sam Hornish Jr., will drive the No. 22 Dodge at Pocono this weekend and for the foreseeable future.
Penske Racing will evaluate its options for a driver of the No. 22 car for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM