Forum Activity for @dave-fulton

Boris & The Biff

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After today's Watkins Glen race Boris Said was asking for any viewers to text him Greg Biffle's home address so he could look him up and give him a black eye (Boris' words, not mine). I happen to like both drivers and did note Boris stating cars were too expensive to tear up and he would rather settle his differences with a fist. Interesting. I guess making such statements on live tv could be considered "telegraphing your punch."
updated by @dave-fulton: 04/06/17 08:51:53PM

Hard Hits at Watkins Glen

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Listening to Marcos with his Australian/British accent and picturing all of those walking wounded drivers leaving Watkins Glen after today's race, I was reminded of this scene:

Hard Hits at Watkins Glen

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A clip example of one of today's hits:

I'd rather have SAFER Barrier.

Hard Hits at Watkins Glen

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There were several extremely hard hits today at Watkins Glen that thankfully had all drivers walking away. Certainly we'll see additional SAFER Barriers there next year. That area coming off the final turn has always seemed too confining. The cars today were bouncing from one side to the other in that tight and narrow area like a pinball machine. Reminds me a lot of what used to happen on the old Richmond layout, with ARMCO on both sides of a narrow straight and no where for cars to go if there were a spin. Seems to me that area needs to be opened up and widened from the barrier on one side to the barrier on the other. Everyone seemed glad to have the pea gravel traps removed and those areas paved over, but the cars are carrying tremendous speed into those tire barriers and hitting the tires with devastating force.There were some very fortunate drivers today, thank goodness. It'll be interesting to see what remedies are made in those areas.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

Revenuers Too!

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Littleremembered fact: In 1963, enroute to his second NASCAR Grand National Championship,Joe Weatherly drove 5 different makes of cars for 8 different car owners, with most starts being in Bud Moore Pontiacs and late in the 1963 season in Bud Moore Mercurys. In the South Boston 400, Little Joe posted a 16th place finish after rear end problems. He was behind the wheel of none other than Worth McMillion's #83 Pontiac at South Boston that day, on his way to NASCAR's biggest prize!

Revenuers Too!

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The chorus from the George Jones country classic "White Lightning" goes like this:

Well the "G" men, "T" men, revenuers, too Searchin' for the place where he made his brew They were looking, tryin to book him, But my pappy kept a-cookin' Whshhhoooh . . . white lightnin'

We just had the Shinefest over in Madison, NC and we constantly talk about stock car racing's whiskey running past featuring a cast of characters like Junior Johnson and Curtis Turner.

But, just like Rodney Dangerfield, the "revenuers" don't get no respect.

Whenever I hear those song lyrics, I immediately think of one of the great independent drivers my Richmond, Virginia friends and I pulled for in the 1960s - Worth McMillion of Amelia Court House, Virginia. You see, Worth who had 62 Grand National starts as a driver between 1962-1969 was one of the "revenuers" not one of the shine runners. At the time he was racing, Worth's full time job was as an agent for the Virginia ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) Board. And there he was, out there racing Junior Johnson, Curtis Turner, Buddy Arrington and a host of others who had skirted the law when it came to whiskey running. Worth sometimes entered two cars, the #83 and the #80, big ole Pontiacs that looked like land yachts. His brother Allen McMillion was involved and G.T. Nolen drove his cars, along with Bunkie Blackburn and others. Between 1962-1969, Worth posted 18 top ten finishes in those big ole Pontiacs. We loved it at Richmond when he'd enter two cars on the dirt. Members on this Racers Reunion site includeWorth's son, John, daughter-in-law Susan and former driver G.T. Nolen. John has tons of great pictures posted on his page and I have borrowed three from his page to illustrate. You'll notice Cotton Owens inthe dirt trackshot and the white car shotis from the 1966 Peach Blossom 500 at Rockingham. I always remember Bud Moore telling me he "did mechanic work" for both bootleggers and revenue agents. I really miss having guys like Worth out there and the great story lines they produced. I know years ago there were stories written about him, maybe somebody can find some and post them.

Worth & Wife Gloria at Martinsville

A Dirt Track Show... Cotton Owens on Far Right

Worth at Rockingham's 1966 Peach Blossom 500
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

The Caution King

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Thanks to Laverne Zachary's 8/20/11photo post, here's an illustration of Bub (not Bud) Strickler:

The Caution King

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Did you ever watch a particular driver because you knew if you did sooner or later you'd see a spin or a crash? So it was with my buddy Frank and I beginning in 1965. The driver in question was the late Earl H. "Bub" Strickler of Timberville, Virginia, who passed away in2005. Poor Bub. If he were entered in a race, you could be sure of at least one spin and a yellow flag. In his career, Bub started 20Grand National / Winston Cup racesbeginning in 1965 - his year with the most starts - 9. Inhis 20 career starts, Bub officially retired from 8 races due to "crash." His most prolific year was his first, 1965, officially crashing out of 5 of 9 starts. When Frank and I attended the first, last and only Peach Blossom 500 at Rockingham in 1966, there was ole Bub, evey few laps spinning off turn 4. Of the 10 cautions that day, Bub must have brought out 9. NASCAR finally parked him for a while, just to get his stuff together, I guess. In his abbreviated big time career, Bub made several highlight reels, including this Modified/Sportsman crash he initiated in 1965 at Daytona:

and this slide on his top at Darlington's Rebel 300 in 1965:

If Bub was in the race you were sure to see some action.

Bub only raced 3 times in 1966, and once in 1970, 1971 and 1979, before staging a 5 race comeback in 1980. Bub's last race was the 1980 Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro where he started 29th and finished 23rd in his #61 Jim Norris Duro-Bond Chevy, exiting with ignition issues. Bub was another of those sporadic and occassional journeymen drivers that made it interesting over a 16 year on/off big time career. Those field fillers are long gone, priced out of big time NASCAR racing.

updated by @dave-fulton: 04/06/17 05:31:32PM

How ESPN Covers Watkins Glen

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Every race week I like to take a peek at the local papers in the event market to see what angles they may have that we don't see from the AP wire or the national correspondents. The Corning (NY) Leader has this interesting story about what it takes for ESPN to cover the Watkins Glen race:

ESPN ready to rock its NASCAR coverage at Watkins Glen International

By Shawn Vargo Corning Leader Posted Aug 10, 2011

Watkins Glen, N.Y. In this high-speed, high-tech world we live in, ESPN is doing its part to keep racing fans entertained at a high-definition level. Over the next few days, roughly 225 ESPN workers will be prepping at Watkins Glen International to bring its viewers coverage of Saturdays Zippo 200, as well as Sundays Heluva Good Sour Cream Dips at The Glen two of the 51 NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup races being telecast by the sports giant in 2011. How high-tech are we talking? How about 10-12 tractor trailers worth of equipment, production facilities, and mobile studios, as well as 60-75 HD cameras being put to use including 24 HD in-car cameras. To put it in perspective, ESPN will use about 17 cameras in its coverage of a college football game. All to entertain race fans from the die-hards, to the novices. We cant wait to get there. A lot of our colleagues are already there setting up. It was actually a short trip for our team from Pocono to Watkins Glen, as opposed to Phoenix to Homestead (Miami), said Rich Feinberg, vice president of motorsports production at ESPN. Were excited to be in that beautiful area of the country and tell the story of NASCAR at Watkins Glen this weekend. ESPN provides coverage of the full 34-race Nationwide Series, as well as the final 17 Sprint Cup events, following FOX and TNT, who broadcast the first 19 races of the season. ESPN began its 2011 Sprint Cup coverage at the Brickyard 400 on July 31. According to Feinberg, ESPNs approach to its coverage is a simple one. We have our style and philosophy of how we broadcast a race, he said. The focus of everything we do is about the drivers and the competition, and not about us. People are tuning in to see the NASCAR stars, the drivers, the racing. and thats where we try to keep our eye on the ball. ESPN will utilize four mobile production units specifically designed for its racing coverage. Not only is there the NASCAR Countdown studio, which is set up near pit road, but ESPN also uses its Craftsman Tech Garage, where cutaway cars, engines, transmission and shock absorber displays help viewers get a better understanding of many of the technical aspects of racing. Allen Bestwick is scheduled to provide lap-by-lap coverage and be joined by analysts Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Tim Brewer will report from the Craftsman Tech Garage, while Dave Burns, Dr. Jerry Punch, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch will provide color commentary as pit reporters. Nicole Briscoe will be joined by Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty during NASCAR Countdown broadcasts. With the amount of analysts, cameras and new technology like Sportvision, which uses satellite technology to create on-screen pointers to designate specific cars and provide telemetry (speed, time behind leader), Feinberg says ESPNs goal is to provide the best television product it can week after week. We have to make sure our technology doesnt get in the way of documenting and telling the story of the race, Feinberg said. (Technology) can enhance it, make it more entertaining, provide insight into whats happening and perhaps help us foreshadow whats going to happen. But its important for us to remain balanced in our usage of everything we have at our disposal. Whether its the technology, the number of announcers we use, whatever makes up the entire picture to balance out the use of all those elements to ensure that our overall broadcast remains focused on whats happening on the track. In the end, ESPN has a broad audience to think about. ESPN is in close to 100 million homes throughout this country, Feinberg said. Our job is to serve those fans. We try to make the most compelling, entertaining coverage of a NASCAR race, on a weekly basis. The tricky line we try to walk is offering general basic storytelling to new viewers, while not alienating hard-core fans who really want the nitty-gritty and the strategy of whats happening on the racetrack and we try to serve both with everything we do. At the end of the day, they all want to be entertained. Then following Sundays race, its on to the next destination. Its a Super Bowl-size production, and we do it every week, Feinberg said. Its like a traveling rock tour. We get to a track, we set it all up, do our shows, pack it all up and we head to the next race. Copyright 2011 The Corning Leader. Some rights reserved

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

Thanks and Apolgies

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Congrats on the 1:24 scale.