Forum Activity for @dave-fulton

Question of the Day for March 24, 2011

General

My most memorable race was a June 15, 1966 NASCAR Grand National race at the beautiful 1/2-mile asphalt Beltsville (MD) Speedway won by Tiny Lund over James Hylton. The factory Fords were boycotting and David Pearson in the Cotton Owens Dodge and Richard Petty in his Plymouth were on the front row. When the green flag dropped Pearson dropped his drive shaft at the starting line. Petty took a tremendous lead, then blew up. This race markedthe first appearance ever of a tiny maroon and white J.D. Bracken Chevelle driven by Bobby Allison with an adhesive tape #2 on the doors. Although the competitive light weight Chevelleblew up that night, it would soon be a winner on the "Northern Tour". With the big stars out, Lund and Hylton put on a side by side driving exhibition that had fans on their feet. Hylton was on the inside with Lund dirt tracking on the outsideuntil the checkers, with Lund barely prevailing. It was an awesome race and a delight to see the "independents" slug it out.

Question of the Day for March 23, 2011

General

Had been following Indy 500 and some NASCAR events on the radio and in spring 1964, at age 15,had my father drop me off early on Sunday at the Richmond, VA fairgrounds 1/2-mile dirt track for the Richmond 250 NASCAR Grand National race, all alone with $5 in my pocket. Well, it took the entire $5 to buy a bleacher seat in turn 4 and I was hooked for life the first time Tiny Lund came through that turn in practice in his #55 orange '64 Ford kicking up a roostertail of dirt. When famed announcer Ray Melton gave his pace lap spiel about clapping hands and stomping feet to send the drivers on their way, he warned those of us in the turn 4 bleachers that we better not stomp our feet. This may be the only NASCAR race in history that started on Sunday afternoon and finished under the lights on TUESDAY night after a monsoon. Before the rain, Richard Petty fresh off his first Daytona 500 winin his 426 hemi Plymouth and Billy Wade drivingBud Moore's Mercuryfollowing Richmond hero and frequent winner (as well as track promoter Paul Sawyer's partner) Joe Weatherly's untimely Riverside death, ran side by side for lap after lap. After the rain delay I walked a mile to find an open drug store that let me use their phone to call my dad to come pick me up. I looked like a wet hamster, but I was back Tuesday night to see David Pearson take the checkers in Cotton Owens' white and red Dodge #6. That began a lifetime love of racing that later included part ownership of a dirt '55 Chevy and a later career in motorsports, including working at that same Richmond track as Director of Media Relations for ten years and having signed Dale Earnhardt to his first personal services contract. Along the way, I attended many races with my good friend, Frank and never missed a Friday night show at Richmond's Southside Speedway or later a Saturday night event at Wilson County (NC) Speedway.

National Speed Sport News Puts Out It's Last Issue

General

Terrible news. For years, Chris Economaki's Publisher's Corner column was the gospel of auto racing.

Spousal Aggravation / Racing Related

Vintage Oval and Road Course Racing

Has your spouse or significant other ever done anything regarding racing to really aggravate you?!

Mine has. Being from Richmond, VA, I pulled hard for local driver Lennie Pond to win the 1973 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award. Just to spite me, my wife to be (in Nov. 1973) intentionally pulled for Darrell Waltrip to win that 1973 title, without knowing anything at all about DW. I thought DW had a big mouth, but my wife to be pronounced him the "sexiest driver alive!" Well, Lennie was selected over DW by a NASCAR "panel" as 1973 Rookie of the Year and in 1988 my wife pronounced DW no longer the sexiest driver alive after she met Hershel McGriff for the first time! Aint wives aggravating?!

updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:07:53PM

Question of the day for March 20, 2011. Subjective.

General

Alex,

It is admirable that you are a student of the history of the sport so many of us love.

I think, though, that you should look at Section 2 of this site's Rules of Engagement before making any more of the sorts of statements I've read above. Here's a link:

http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/page/rules-of-engagement

We've all got opinions and that's what we enjoy when we banter back and forth, but if multiple marriages are your criteria for determining character, then I'm afraid our Goat Rodeo broadcast will go completely silent. I, myself, have been married twice, but in my case both times to the same wonderful woman.

By the way, you left out Kelley. Dale had 4 children.

One of the drivers (a non-winner) you cite in your opening statement was/is a woman beater. I know this personally because he once beat my former female business partner. You might want to drop him as a source. His character is certainly questionable.

Another multiple-time Cup winner is a known wife beater. I hope he isn't on your list of drivers you admire. I once had to write press releases for him and was witness to a shameful thing he did.

There is another Cup winner who beat his son in his race shop, damaging the boy's brain. I hope he isn't on your list of admirable drivers.... though he is on the list of many folk, including a lot on this site.

If we throw out every driver who didn't resist temptation, the NASCAR Hall of Fame would be near empty.

I'm not naming any names, but if I told every thing I know, you might not have any driver left to admire. I think you need to be very careful with your personal statements.

Question of the day for March 20, 2011. Subjective.

General

Kid, you've got a lot to learn. And by the way, as much as I've dissed DW, he has been very helpful to many.

Question of the day for March 20, 2011. Subjective.

General

And where in the world did you come up with the idea that Dale was lauded as a hero only after his death? Nothing could be farther from the truth, as evidenced by souvenir sales alone. There was a reason both Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty (7&7) joined forces with Dale in the souvenir business. As Dale would have said, "I'm gonna have to send you back to school, boy."

Question of the day for March 20, 2011. Subjective.

General

Lots of provoking statements here. Having worked directly with Dale Earnhardt from 1980-1983 as his sponsor, I can certainly attest to his attitude, something I battled constantly. HOWEVER, I guess I am in the dark regarding his 1980s "Off-track exploits." Did these occur post-1983? I'm curious about what they were. Based on Alex's statement above, I guess my character is suspect. I've often been called a character, but never accused of lacking it.

Question of the day for March 20, 2011. Subjective.

General

It's been 4 years today since Tim Leeming raised this interesting question. There ought to be plenty more opinions out there now.

Question of the day for March 20, 2011. Subjective.

General

I'm going out in left field for my pick.. Mr. Hershel McGriff of Bridal Veil, Oregon, though he could also be a viable pick for the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and the 21st century! Hershel won the first Pan American Road Race and so impressed Big Bill France that France persuaded him to come south and race at Daytona on the beach, at the first Southern 500 at Darlington, at Raleigh and at Detroit. McGriff won 4 Cup races in 1954. He had 17 top 10 finishes that year in 24 starts and had a higher average finish position than GN points champ, Lee Petty. Carl Kiekhaefer offerred Hershel a 1955 ride in his Chrysler 300, but McGriff turned it down to manage his west coast timber business and race closer to home. Tim Flock, of course, went on a tear in that ride, turned down by Hershel. When we think of left coast stock car racing, it's Hershel who usually comes to mind. If there is a nicer man in stock car racing, I haven't met him. By the way, Hershel had 14 career wins at the Riverside road course and was chosen Grand Marshal for its final race in 1988. In 1989 Hershel became the oldest driver, at age 61, to win a NASCAR feature and last July, at age 82, Hershel raced at Portland International Raceway. Did I mention Hershel also raced 3 times at LeMans! Anyhow, this is my offbeat, subjective pick.Hershel's charisma is a match for Richard Petty's and in fact, when NASCAR used to pay Richard to go out and run some Winston West races, it was usually in one of Hershel's cars.