Thanks so much, Chase for finding the newspaper accounts of Ray Melton's passing. Interesting to see that both Ray and his longtime Richmond announcing partner, Sammy Bland were both natives of Rocky Mount, NC. They sure knew how to grow announcng talent in that former railroad hamlet.
Dennis, I also have tried to find a Ray Melton obituary from February 1986 without any luck. I would guess one ran in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot if anyone can access their archives.
RR member LaVerne Zachary forwarded me the recent obituary of Thomas Cox, NASCAR 1962 Grand National Rookie of the Year: http://main.pughfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/10769/Thomas-C-Peahead-Cox/obituary.html#tribute-start
Below is a photo taken at the 2010 Occoneechee Celebration of the Automobile and Racers Reunion with Thomas Cox 2nd from left:
Thanks to research by member Russ Thompson and as posted by Chase Whitaker some time back, most of the documentary Cup movie Stockcar! produced in 1976 by Kenneth Campbell is now available for viewing.
http://racersreunion.com/tmc-chase/youtube/510/stockcar
The Miller High Life 400 at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway on February 23, 1986 is historic for a number of reasons:
* Kyle Petty's 1st Winston Cup Win
* 1st and only time in NASCAR history a Cup driver won at a track where both his father & grandfather won
* 1st Wood Brothers win since the 1983 season
* 1st use of a new NASCAR lineup system for a qualifying rainout
* 5 cars left out of the lineup including future Cup Champion Alan Kulwicki
* Richard Petty's terrific charge through the field with a dislocated shoulder suffered during the previous week's Daytona 500
* The 13 car pileup on lap 19
* Dale Earnhardt leans out of car to clean windshield while driving
* And, of course, the "Shot Heard Round the World" - Dale Earnhardt's intentional hook of Darrell Waltrip with 3 laps to go
With all the historic moments and firsts that day, there was also a historic LAST .
For years, famed racing P.A. announcer, RAY MELTON (the chief announcer at Darlington Raceway) - a close personal friend of Richmond promoter, Paul Sawyer had teamed with fellow announcer, Sammy Bland to form the Richmond public address announcer team.
Ray Melton passed away the week of Richmond's February 1986 Winston Cup race. Sammy Bland delivered the eulogy at Melton's Tidewater, Virginia funeral then headed to Richmond to announce without his longtime companion.
Harlan Hoover, the owner of Carolina Sound in Concord, North Carolina brought with him an old, worn tape of Ray Melton " Giving the Command" to start engines. Often imitated by other announcers and parodied by the media as "Jelllllllymennnnn, Start Your Engines," only the former Marine and carnival barker Ray Melton could do it his way.
To honor their old announcing buddy, Paul Sawyer and Sammy Bland that day dispensed with the new "tradition" of having a Grand Marshal give the command.
At the appropriate time on that frigid Richmond afternoon, soundman Harlan Hoover inserted his tape of Ray Melton who had just passed as race fans were treated one final time to the "Most Famous Words in Sports" as only Ray Melton could announce them.
I count myself blessed to have stood in victory lane that cold and bitter Winston Cup afternoon as the winning car sponsor. I also count myself blessed to have been one of a select group to hear Ray Melton intone his famed command over an ancient racetrack public address system using the huge old fairgrounds carnival speakers for the final time.
TV race analyst, Benny Parsons told of Ray Melton's thoughtfulness to him at Richmond just after the engines were fired.
If you never heard Ray Melton or if you heard him hundreds of times like me, start the video below and around the 3:48 mark crank your volume up till the room shakes. Then you'll have heard Ray Melton's final command.
I understand the Toyota relcutance Bobby. Just last night I saw an ad for the Great American somethng presented by Mtsubishi. My first thought was those were the folks who built the Jap Zeroes that attacked Pearl Harbor. But I must admit that I flew to the first New York NASCAR banquet in 1981 from Greensboro in one of Wrangler's two Mitsubishi aircraft that we called the rice rockets. The loss of the coupes was devastating to the southern NASCAR modifed scene. Soon every southern NASCAR track except Bowman Gray dumped the modifieds. That really killed me since my Richmond hometown was such a hotbed of modified racing with 2-time National Modified Champion, Eddie Crouse, the 4-H Boys, Bill Dennis, Al Grinnan, Lennie Pond and numerous other modified stars who all switched to Late Model Sportsman as rammed down their throats by NASCAR.
Just his week I heard Kyle Petty say he drove a Prius. A far cry from his old Plymouth Road Runner. I'd rather see the Flying 11 on Hamlin's Toyota than not see it at all. Rick Hendrick coulda/shoulda done it on a Chevy long ago.
The commentary posted with the video is NOT mine.
BUT, these ARE my thoughts:
For some reason I have been thinking about the 2018 October Charlotte road course race for the Cuppers, wishing it was this year, 2017, as originally announced. Do you remember when Daytona Speedway ran the NASCAR Modifieds on its road course? The mods had gotten simply way too fast and un-aerodynamic for the pure tri-oval, so in 1974, 1975 and 1976 NASCAR tried them on the Daytona road course for the Permatex 200.
There is Bud Lindeman / Car & Track film of that initial 1974 race for the NASCAR Modifieds on the Daytona road course/oval course and it might be a preview of things to come in 2018 at Charlotte.One big difference is that 98% of the 1974 Daytona Modified road course field were weekly competitors used to 1/4-mile, 1/3-mile, 1/2-mile, 3/8-mile and 4/10-mile dirt and asphalt ovals.
There were a couple of 1974 ringers, just like our current Truck and Xfinity series. Perhaps the most interesting was Hollywood actor, Paul Newman , a big winner in SCCA road course racing, who'd make his first, last and only NASCAR start. He quickly found that he was no match for NASCAR's gritty Modified contingent.Starting on the front row that long past Daytona day 43 years ago were Spencerport, New York's Maynard Troyer and Richmond, Virginia's Ray Hendrick . They'd battle stars like Richie Evans, Paul Radford in his Gremlin, former NASCAR Grand American drivers Charlie Blanton and Ernie Shaw , as well as chassis builder-to-be, Dick Tobias (Troyer also became a noted chassis builder), Bugsie Stevens , Jerry Cook and even Wilson County Speedway dirt outlaw track regular, Carl Horton and his big cigar. To show how the years have passed, the late Dale Earnhardt driver Steve Parks' father, Bob Parks was also in the field that day.
When the checkers finally fell, it was two well funded Cup regulars who took home the two top positions. That has a familiar ring doesn't it.
Exactly 5 years later - on August 18, 1968, Ray Hendrick would lead Richmond, Virginia's Southside Speedway contingent to 5 of the top-6 positions at Trenton as he charged from 19th position in the 60-car field to beat Alabama's Red Farmer .
On this date, August 18, in 1963, Mario "Fats" Caruso won the huge Trenton 200 NASCAR Modified-Sportsman race over Ray "Mr. Modified" Hendrick . A stellar "Who's Who" of driving talent from up and down the eastern seaboard contested the race of the year for the NASCAR Modified-Sportsman drivers. Haven't found a write-up, but results below are from Ultimate Racing History. If anyone finds a news clip(s), please post.
