Somewhere Darlington's U.S. Congressman John Jenrette surely deserves Honorable Mention for he and wife Rita's escapades on the steps of the U.S. Capitol which she parlayed into a Playboy Magazine spread!
Rita Jenrette and husband John who represented Darlington in the Congress of the US of A.
Well, until we are booted off....
My favorite politician driving escapade remains that of Wilbur Mills, a brief 1972 Presidential candidate and Honorable Member of the United States House of Representatives representing a district in the home state of Mark Martin and Wal-Mart - Arkansas.
As chronicled on that great reference resource, Wikipedia:
Mills was involved in a traffic incident in Washington, DC at 2 a.m. on October 9, 1974. His car was stopped by U.S. Park Police late at night because the driver had not turned on the lights. Mills was intoxicated, and his face was injured from a scuffle with Annabelle Battistella, better known as Fanne Foxe , a stripper from Argentina. When police approached the car, Foxe leapt from the car and jumped into the nearby Tidal Basin in an attempt to escape.
Arkansas Congressman Wilbur Mills and the Argentine Bombshell Stripper Fanne Foxe
Couldn't resist sharing this. Is it "political" if it refers to all of 'em?!
I believe NB wouild be a likely candidate for the HL Mencken Award!
"A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker." - H.L. Mencken
He actually said it in jest (somewhat), but I figured I'd done my job... we were arguing that Richmond deserved a better date for its first race rather than in February the weekend following the Daytona 500. Bill Jr. had actually paid for the three of us to continue in the bar at Bonneau's in Florence after closing.
The term Bill France, Jr. used to describe me at Darlington during an argument between he and Paul Sawyer was "Instigator!"
Maybe Timmy's car ought to be painted up like the General Lee!
It had previously escaped me, but reading through the Phoenix entry lists, I noted the listed hometown of NASCAR diver Timmy Hill :
PORT TOBACCO, MARYLAND
Wouldn't Winston / RJ Reynolds have had fun with that if they were still around, especially at Dover race time.
Port Tobacco looks to be situated on a Potomac River port cove not far across the Potomac River Bridge from Virginia near La Plata, Maryland ( former home of many infamous gambling and slot machine casinos in the 50s & 60s ) just off U.S. Highway 301 along the route I used to drive to get to Dover from Richmond.
I hesitate to mention this, but with NASCAR and the Phoenix race track trying to be so politically correct by banning the General Lee from appearing there, they would probably be horrified to know the history of driver Timmy Hill's hometown:
That is your NASCAR driver hometown history lesson for today.
I promise not to share this information with either NASCAR or Phoenix Raceway.
Both the Phoenix Cup and Nationwide races have exactly 44 entries, one more than the maximum number of starters.
It'll be interesting to see if all 44 show up for each race and who goes home, or whether there will be a no show for either event guaranteeing everybody who shows races.
Phoenix Cup Entry List Link:
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2012/2/data/entry_list.html
Phoenix Nationwide Entry List Link:
http://www.nationwide.nascar.com/nationwide-series/races/2012/entrylist/2/
