Who?
General
Jay, you are indeed correct with your quick response... heck I haven't even bought the cigar I was going to give the winner. Wasn't looking for a winner THAT quick!
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
Who?
General
This Iowa born driver posted identical 12th place Cup finishes in their two Rookie starts at my hometown Richmond track. Overall this driver was the top finishing Winston Cup Rookie in five races and once ran a 500-mile race with a broken wrist.
Who?
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
My Racing "Treasure" / How About Yours?
General
By the way.... in the early 70s we had these brown turtlenecks and brown "brushed" denim jeans with a white belt anda whitenumber 11 ironed on the back. We bought the turtlenecks, jeans and belts at the Roses store in Wilson. I hated turtlenecks then and I hate them now. When Roses started sponsoring Tommy Houston's Busch car I always thought about those "uniforms" we bought at Roses.
My Racing "Treasure" / How About Yours?
General
When I went to my very first race - Spring 1964 Richmond 250 NASCAR GN - at the Richmond fairgrounds dirt track, it didn't take long to realize that the folks around me in the bleachers that really seemed to be "in the know" and acted like they knew what they were talking about all seemed to share a common trait. They were all sitting on what my buddies and I came to call "The Darlington Cushion ." It was a square, whiteseat cushion with the Southern 500 logo and Darlington Raceway on it. This was the pre-sanitized Southern 500 logo that included a Confederate / Rebel battle flag.
As I began to go to local weekly racesin Richmond at Southside Speedway I saw more Darlington cushions. Around Richmond, having a Darlington cushion was the badge that marked you as a "real" race fan. Oh how my buddy Frank and I wanted a Darlington cushion to prove that we, too, were real race fans and knew what we were talking about and had been down to South Carolina on Labor Day to see the "Granddaddy of them All" - the Southern 500 . We continued to go to Grand National races at Richmond, Rockingham and Beltsville, MD, as well as NASCAR weekly Modified racing at Southside, Langley Field, South Boston and Old Dominion Speedways. But we still didn't have a Darlington cushion, the true badge of the real race fan. That was in the days before on-line selling and to our knowledge the only way to get that one true badge of honor was to go to the Southern 500. Oh, we saw people with Charlotte cushions and Daytona cushions, but they were like an American Flyer train set compared to a Lionel set or Japanese China compared to English China or Lexington style barbecue compared to the one true barbecue style of eastern NC. Only the Darlington cushion was the real deal for the real race fan. To make matters worse, Ray Melton , the old military veteran, carnival barker and P.A. announcer was a personal friend of Richmond promoter Paul Sawyer. Melton was "Chief Announcer" for all of Paul's races, but Melton was also chief announcer at Darlington and as such spent a lot of time talking about it on the mike at the Richmond races. Our September Richmond race always followed the Labor Day Monday Southern 500 by exactly six days, so we always got a complete replay of the Southern 500 from Ray at the Capital City 300,NASCAR GN dirt track racing's biggest payday.
Finally, on Labor Day 1966 (as I have previously recounted on these pages), my buddy, Frank and I arrived in Darlington via Greyhound Bus for the 1966 Southern 500. Our first task upon entering those sacred and hallowed grounds was to purchase a Darlington cushion for each of us. From that hot 1966 Labor Day forward, Frank and I carried the badge of the true NASCAR race fan to every race we attended at every venue, large and small, NASCAR Grand National or local, weekly modified, sportsman and late model sportsman. Dirt and asphalt."Outlaw"tracks, too. Every single soul who ever saw us go through the grandstand gates at any track from that day forward knew we were the real deal. We each carried a Darlington Cushion. The badge of honor among race fans.
Somewhere in my garage in a box lies that tattered old Darlington cushion.Its coveringwas made of a slick, shinyvinyl - not like the stadium cushions you see today. It was very thin, today's stadium cushions are very thick. It was stuffed. Really stuffed. No foam block. When my Darlington cushion started wearing out the stuffing literally started coming out. Not having access to 200 mph duct tape, my Darlington cushion was repaired with colored electrical tape to go out again in the dust and grime and murky Friday and Saturday nights under inadequate lighting at tracks that long ago added to my memory banks images that can never be replaced. I sat on that old cushion as the stars and cars of NASCAR's elite Grand National Racing Division passed in review. I jumped from that cushion to cheer Curtis Turner and David Pearson and Richard Petty and JT Putney and Ray Hendrick and Sonny Hutchins and Al Grinnan and Farmer John Matthews .
Never again will I want a racing related item so badly as I wanted that Darlington cushion.
How many of you good RR members had an "original" Darlington cushion? Were you as proud of your cushion as I was of mine? How about any other treasured racing artifact?
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Gordon Tapped for Penske's #22 Cup Car
General
Nah.... not those Gordons.... still need a driver.
Dec 14, 5:03 PM EST
Penske promotes Todd Gordon to No. 22 crew chief
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- Penske Racing has promoted Todd Gordon to crew chief of its No. 22 Dodge.
The team does not have a driver yet since Kurt Busch left the organization last week after six seasons.
Gordon led Penske's No. 22 team in the Nationwide Series to six wins and six poles last season.
Penske Racing was successful at promoting within with Paul Wolfe as crew chief for Brad Keselowski. Wolfe helped Keselowski to three wins and a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Before leaving Penske, Busch said he had hoped the team would promote from within when it filled his crew chief position.
Steve Addington left his role as crew chief at the end of the season to take the same job with reigning champion Tony Stewart.
2011 The Associated Press
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
NASCAR HOF Attendance Continues Downward Spiral - Time for Management Shake-up?
General
From today's Charlotte Observer Editorial Page - 12/16/2011
NASCAR HOF Attendance Continues Downward Spiral - Time for Management Shake-up?
General
I've waited a year to say it PK, but there's not one single person that was hired at the NASCAR Hall of Fame that knows one damned thing about promoting a crowd of people to attend an attraction.
NASCAR HOF Attendance Continues Downward Spiral - Time for Management Shake-up?
General
I don't think Humpy would take on the project and I don't advocate hiring him. My reference was strictly a comparison that a promoter can draw a crowd to anything and the HOF doesn't have a promoter. They need a Humpy/Paul Sawyer/Bob Colvin/PT Barnum type who could draw a crowd to anything by making it sound exciting. The HOF doesn't sound exciting. It doesn't sound anything.
NASCAR HOF Attendance Continues Downward Spiral - Time for Management Shake-up?
General
Personally, I think it's well past time that some marketing and pr folks who know what they're doing are hired to try to save this NASCAR Hall of Fame fiasco, if it's not already too late. The current personnel crop obviously doesn't have a clue. There are many ways to promote, but Winston Kelley, Buzz McKim (who are fine folks) and crew don't seem to understand any. I see no ads or promotions for this venue and I live in Charlotte. A good publicist plants newspaper pieces and creates reasons for tv to come out and do stories. The only NASCAR HOF stories we have in Charlotte are those that describe it as a black money hole pit for Charlotte tax dollars. But then again, I don't see anybody on board Charlotte's white elephant that ever promoted or publicized anything in NASCAR racing anyway. Broadcasters and historians are not real well versed in how to create traffic and interest. Randy & Tim tell us this is a great attraction and I don't doubt their assessment. It's time to get some leadership there that knows what it's doing. This whole deal is an embarassment. How can you have a major NASCAR race weekend in town during October and only draw 19,000 people? It's past time to put a management crew at the NASCARHall of Fame that knows and understands how to publicize and promote. Heck, Humpy Wheeler could draw 20,000 folks to a snake race in downtown Charlotte any day of the week. These guys, with a multi-million dollar attraction don't know what to do with it.
NASCAR hall visits fall in October
By Steve Harrison
The Charlotte Observer
Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011
Attendance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame fell in October by 30 percent compared with the same month in 2010.
Attendance in October was 19,340. A year ago it was 27,555.
Attractions like the NASCAR hall often see second-year attendance drops.
Due to cost-cutting measures, the hall made a small surplus for the month of $43,089. The hall also receives money from the city of Charlotte for some maintenance items on the hall, which raised its surplus for the month to $89,657.
For the first four months of the fiscal year, hall attendance is 71,007 compared with 100,991 through the first four months of last fiscal year.
For the first four months of the fiscal year, the hall lost $406,659. But the city's reimbursement for maintenance items closed that deficit to $202,495.
Copyright 2011 The Charlotte Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/14/2850169/nascar-hall-visits-fall-in-october.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz1gc1IrNQr
updated by @dave-fulton: 03/14/17 04:22:30AM