Forum Activity for @dave-fulton

Car and Track

General

I knew Bud's son, Dave Lindemann pretty well at one time. Bud produced a lot of industrial training films for various manufacturing companies (he was headquartered in Michigan).

Bud would often contract with a particular track such as Darlington and Daytona to produce a 30 minute film, in later years syndicated to local television stations. In turn, Bud sold sponsor slots in these productions to companies involved in stock car racing. You'd see a lot of Goodyear shots, for instance, if Goodyear had purchased a sponsor slot. Several times during the Dale Earnhardt/Wrangler years I purchased slots in the Daytona 500 films for Wrangler Jeans.

In 1997, Dave Lindemann contracted with NASCAR to produce a NASCAR 50th Anniversary film for Car & Track. As part of his reference materials, I loaned Dave all of my 8 mm and Super 8 mm film I and my late friend Jerry Jackson had shot of NASCAR Modified, Late Model Sportsman, and Grand National/Cup races on the dirt at Richmond, as well as 1960s & 1970s Richmond, Martinsville and Darlington asphalt races.

In late 1997, I received a call from Dave to tell me that his Michigan facility had burned and that all my personal film, along with other archival racing film had been lost. Dave said he was shuttering the business and moving to Florida. never heard from Dave again and don't know what became of him after the fire.

SHELBY - Can we connect with this $6.5 Million Venture?

General

SHELBY - Can we connect with this $6.5 Million Venture?

General

As we do attempt to publicize our goings-on in Shelby, I would submit that John Carter here in Charlotte would be a media member who should be cultivated and " courted ." John anchors the morning and Noon WBTV Channel 3 TV newscasts in Charlotte as well as hosting and producing the Carolina Camera TV series covering interesting and often offbeat/upbeat events and locations around North & South Carolina.

What makes John a natural for Jeff & "W" to approach is that he is a graduate of Shelby's Crest High School and former member of the NC State Senate representing Cleveland County, NC. He has featured Shelby in the past on his Carolina Camera stories and newscasts. I believe the VCS and Historic Cleveland County Speedway would have natural appeal to John. I have no idea whether he has any interest in auto racing, but he sure seems to like to feature Shelby. Here's his TV Station bio and e-mail that could be used at the appropriate time for contact. Just another thought for favorable publicity.

JOHN CARTER - WBTV - Channel 3 - Charlotte

John Carter

John Carter is the co-anchor of WBTV News This Morning and WBTV News at Noon.

Hometown: St. Charles, Missouri, just across the Missouri River from St. Louis.

Family: Mom, Shirley, is a Missouri native but his dad, Billy, is from North Carolina. They were married in Foristell, Missouri and lived in nearby St. Charles. When John was nine, his family moved to Shelb y and he's been in North Carolina ever since. John and his wife Becky currently live in Charlotte.

Education: Three years at Owen High School in Swannanoa then senior year at Crest High School in Shelby . After high school, it was off to Appalachian State University in Boone where John graduated with a degree in Communication Arts with a concentration in Broadcasting.

Career: Not long after graduating from ASU, John began working at WBTV as a news assistant. Over the course of the next few years, John had many roles at WBTV, including general assignment reporter, consumer reporter, Western Bureau Chief/reporter, news producer/consumer producer, and news producer/managing editor. He was also host of the popular Carolina Camera feature, traveling across North and South Carolina to bring back stories of interesting and unusual people, places and things.

Following his work on Carolina Camera, John left WBTV and formed his own video production business. He also opened what turned out to be a very successful comic book shop that he later turned over to his brother Allan.

During his time away from WBTV, John became very involved in politics and was elected to the North Carolina Senate, representing the 25th District which was made up of Cleveland , Gaston, Lincoln and Rutherford Counties. John chose not to run for a second term because of family and business considerations.

When he left the Senate, he began work with Mecklenburg County as a Public Information Specialist where he supervised the county's video production work and acted as a county spokesperson. Just a few years later, WBTV came calling again, and John returned to the station to anchor the WBTV News Morning Show and later, WBTV News at Noon.

Honors: Over the course of the years, John has won numerous awards and honors for his video and journalistic work. He's also a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, which is North Carolina's highest civilian award.

Personal Cause: In late 2005, John was diagnosed with prostate cancer, the number one cancer in men in the United States. He's done a series of stories on his diagnosis and continues to do updates on his treatment as well as stories on the latest in medical research and technology. Following a third biopsy, doctors were not able to find any cancer, so John is now being treated under a "watchful management" program. John works closely with the American Cancer Society to get out the message about the life saving importance of early detection. If you'd like John to speak to your group, church or association about prostate cancer, contact him at jcarter@wbtv.com .

Hobbies: John's favorite activity is spending time with family and friends. He's also an avid reader and regularly visits schools to talk to students of all ages about the importance of reading (contact John about coming to your school at jcarter@wbtv.com ). He loves sports as well. John is a regular runner (but he readily admits he's not fast, although he's steady) and has participated in many road races in Charlotte and across the Carolinas. He completed his first marathon (the Myrtle Beach Marathon ) in 2007. He's coach of the WBTV Softball team as well as a player. He has season tickets to the Carolina Panthers, loves skiing in the N.C. mountains and going to ASU Mountaineer football games. He plays golf as often as he can with his son Jerry, brother Allan, and good friend and co-worker Chuck Roads...he's also been to Tampa to play golf with former co-worker Chris Suchan. John is also a collector of sports cards, action figures and other memorabilia.

Email: jcarter@wbtv.com

SHELBY - Can we connect with this $6.5 Million Venture?

General

On the front page of the Local & State section of today's Charlotte paper is a big story, complete with color pictures telling of a $6.5 Million Repository of Music & Cultural History getting ready to go online in Shelby.

My immediate question after reading the story is wheter there is an opportunity for the Historic Cleveland County Speedway in Shelby to partner in the "Cultural" portion of this well-funded endeavor to gain some additional recognition?

The project aims to boost tourism for Shelby & Cleveland County, NC. One of the stated objectives of the new center, launched by the non-profit Destination Cleveland County to lure tourists to the economically depressed county, is to "focus on education and stories that explain the area's cultural history." I think all of us on this site would accept the premise that the story of auto racing in Shelby and Cleveland County, NC is an important part of the cultural fabric of the region and deserves appropriate recognition.

With the VCS getting ready to come about it seems to me that some sort of joint alliance with this multi-million dollar deal could boost our profile. In the least, a nice letter from Jeff & "W" along with appropriate news releases to the writer of this article in the Charlotte paper could point out that there is another big deal getting ready to happen in Shelby. Just a thought. Here's the story as it appears in today's Charlotte paper with original headline & photos.

In Shelby, the sweet sound of progress
Repository of music and cultural history edges to completion
By Joe DePriest
jdepriest@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Monday, Jan. 30, 2012

SHELBY - From the outside, the 105-year-old former Cleveland County Courthouse in downtown Shelby looks pretty much as it always has.

But within its walls, a major makeover is going on. If things go well, by year's end, the local landmark will become the Earl Scruggs Center: Music & Stories of the American South, a regional music education and performance center.

Restoration work that began in the spring of 2010 is almost finished; the next phase is creating interpretive exhibits.

Named for Cleveland County native Earl Scruggs, five-string banjo virtuoso and bluegrass music pioneer, the center will showcase all kinds of regional music, from gospel to jazz. It will also focus on education and stories that explain the area's cultural history.

Planning for the $6.5 million project began in 2006, and it was launched two years later by the nonprofit Destination Cleveland County as a way to lure tourists to an economically depressed county.

That same year, Destination Cleveland County opened the Don Gibson Theatre a few blocks away, in the renovated 1939 art deco State Theater. The 400-seat performing arts venue is named after Gibson, another local music legend. Now in its third season, the theater continues to book nationally known performers such as Grammy winners Shelby Lynne and Richard Marx.

Things have moved more slowly for the Scruggs center.

"We announced the fundraising campaign in 2008 - a few weeks before the bottom fell out of the economy," said project chairman J.T. Scruggs, a nephew of Earl Scruggs. "We've still got some money to raise, but with the times, we've been pretty successful."

The center has received county and federal grants along with donations from businesses and individuals.

Vision guides project

Earl Scruggs, who grew up in the Flint Hill section of rural Cleveland County and now lives in Nashville, has given his blessing to the project. He and his sons, Gary and Randy, have made several local personal appearances in support of the center.

On Jan. 6, Scruggs turned 88 and was the subject of a profile in the Jan. 17 issue of the New Yorker magazine. Entitled "The Master from Flint Hill," the piece was written by Scruggs' friend, entertainer Steve Martin.

"Some nights, he had the stars of North Carolina shooting from his fingertips," the article begins. "Before him, no one had ever played the banjo like he did. After him, everybody played banjo like he did, or at least tried.

"...A grand part of American music owes a debt to Earl Scruggs. Few players have changed the way we hear an instrument the way Earl has, putting him in a category with Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Chet Atkins, and Jimi Hendrix."

J.T. Scruggs, along with other members of Destination Cleveland County, met Martin last year after his concert in Charlotte.

"He's a neat guy," Scruggs said. "We told him he has a standing invitation to the grand opening of the Scruggs center. He said he'd be there if his schedule permitted."

Brownie Plaster, chairperson of Destination Cleveland County, said the vision of Earl Scruggs is helping guide the project.

Against the advice of his mother, Scruggs left his third-shift job at a Shelby textile mill in 1945 and headed to Knoxville, Tenn., to give a shot at a music career. He first tasted fame playing with bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe's band and went on to even greater fame with Lester Flatt.

In the late 1960s, Scruggs turned in a new musical direction, growing his hair long and joining his sons, Randy and Gary, to form the country/rock Earl Scruggs Review.

In Shelby, visitors to the center will see footage of Scruggs talking about his musical journey.

"In it, he says 'If there's a bright light shining out there, I want to go toward it,' '' Plaster said. "He also said 'You can't encore the past.' We want to take his vision of reinventing himself and help Cleveland County come out stronger than before."

The Scruggs Center will make use of 100 oral histories collected from people around the region. Snippets from these voices will be heard at several points on the first floor; on the second floor education center, computers will be available so people can listen to complete interviews. Also on the second floor will be a gallery with rotating exhibit space and a meeting room in the former courtroom.

Plaster called the renovated building "a jewel box. ... It'll glisten."

Telling 'the whole story'

Elementary school principal Tropzie McCluney got involved with Destination Cleveland County as a board member because she wanted to make sure the African-American side of the story was included. She remembers when blacks couldn't set foot on the first floor of the courthouse and "colored" restrooms were in the basement. Stores around the court square were off limits to blacks.

"All children don't know the story," McCluney said. "They just see the town. They don't know the whole story."

She thinks diversity and change will keep the project from getting stagnant.

"We want a center that will keep people coming," McCluney said. "We want them to say, 'Hey, they've got something new there. Let's go back.' "
DePriest: 704-868-7745

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/01/30/2970440/in-shelby-the-sweet-sound-of-progress.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

NASCAR's Terry Labonte & Billy Hagan Won Daytona 24 Hours Class 28 Years Ago

Stock Car Racing History

In the bottom photo that is Billy Hagan mechanic Tex Powell in the red shirt standing to the right of Gene Felton. Interesting side note is that Tex is Herschel McGriff's son-in-law, married to his daughter, Marilyn. Tex went on to have a very successful parts business and built drive trains in addition to owning a Cup car.

NASCAR's Terry Labonte & Billy Hagan Won Daytona 24 Hours Class 28 Years Ago

Stock Car Racing History

Welcome to RacersReunion Randy. Your dad was a real credit to stock car racing.

NASCAR's Terry Labonte & Billy Hagan Won Daytona 24 Hours Class 28 Years Ago

Stock Car Racing History

If you want to read a really wonderful piece that will have you splitting your sides laughing, click on the link below for the entire Sports Illustrated 1981 article about Billy Hagan taking Cale to Le Mans. It is hilarious, with Hurley Haywood and the other wine and cheesers making fun of Hagan's Camaro as a piece of junk until Cale started turning laps and shut them all up. I had never seen this piece before and I am getting ready to read it again.

It reminds me why I used to hate so much having to go to those IMSA and Trans Am races and deal with that faction that looked down their noses at NASCAR. As Joe Weatherly used to say, the basic difference between the stock car racers and the sporty car racers was that the stock car boys drank whiskey and chased women while the sports drank wine and chased each other.

For a wonderful laugh and a peek inside the condescending attitude of the sporty car racers towards NASCAR, read, read, read and enjoy the piece at the link.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1124639/1/index.htm

CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO READ THE STORY OF CALE & BILLY HAGAN AT LE MANS

NASCAR's Terry Labonte & Billy Hagan Won Daytona 24 Hours Class 28 Years Ago

Stock Car Racing History

Whenever I think of the Daytona 24 Hour event (which gets underway this afternoon) I always think of the success the late NASCAR car owner Billy Hagan had with his Camaros at Daytona. In 1984, Hagan teamed with his Winston Cup driver Terry Labonte and road race expert Gene Felton to win the IMSA GTO Class in the Daytona 24 Hour event, as well as posting a 6th place overall finish. Those folks also finished 2nd in class at LeMans.

Billy was a nice guy who you enjoyed being around.

Billy was never a self promoter and I suspect a lot of today's NASCAR fans don't realize that Jack Roush wasn't the only NASCAR related car owner to enjoy road course success with the "Pony" cars. Billy and Tex Powell were pretty awesome and Bud Moore and Roger Penske before them all..

Here's a few photos from various sites of the 1984 Daytona 24 winning GTO Class winner at Daytona that Hagan, Labonte and Felton wheeled to victory.

updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

Capella Speedway - A Short-Lived And Forgotten NC Half-Miler **UPDATE** (Aerials Found)

Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks

Here's a pretty good shot from the infield looking at the main grandstand at the paved Cumberland International posted several years ago by "Racing Girl" of Raleigh, NC on Local Race Chat. There were some memorable Late Model & Modified races there in the 70s that drew all the big stars. I was fortunate to see several shows there.

Capella Speedway - A Short-Lived And Forgotten NC Half-Miler **UPDATE** (Aerials Found)

Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks

In looking up Brian Sockwell's bio, I note he is from Brown Summit, NC. That is a rural "suburb" of Greensboro, Bill Sockwell's hometown. Maybe they are related as you speculate.