Forum Activity for @dave-fulton

wickersham to return ?

General

If memory serves correctly, he was involved in the fatal wreck with Buren Skeen at Darlington in 1965.

Being wrong is my new tradition

General

Didn't make my first Darlington Southern 500 until Labor Day 1966 - the year Earl Balmer in the K&K Insurance Dodge knocked down the turn one guard rail and almost wound up in the press box. The late Darel Dierenger took that event in Bud Moore's Comet when the King blew a tire in the waning laps and the late JT Putney driving his #19 Southeastern Aviation Chevy caught most of it on film shooting for one of those ridiculous Hollywood racing epics. My buddy, Frank and I actually caught a Greyhound bus in Richmond, VA and took it to Darlington, then walked to the track. One of the highlights of the trip was passing the old Southern 500 truck stop on U.S. 301 in Wilson, NC before sunup on Labor Day (we still ran it on Monday in those days). For many years thereafter I stood on pit road at Darlington with the sweat running down my back - probably from too many cheeseburger steaks smothered in onions and gravy at the Raceway Grille! Anyway - ditto to all the comments. I'm sure Jim Utter is a perfectly fine fellow, but NASCAR belongs in Darlington on Labor Day weekend, not California, not Atlanta. And remember when the "Nation's Largest Independence Day Celebration" - the Firecracker 400 at Daytona - actually took place on Independence Day?! If memory serves correctly, the 1-mile Raleigh track lost it's July 4 night race when DIS came online. Anyhow, my wife says I live in the past, but ten Rick Hendricks and Jack Roushs wouldn't equal 1 Bud Moore, Paul Sawyer or Leonard Wood.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST, an owner driver that is

Stock Car Racing History

A small correction - Shelmerdine was also crew chief for Earnhardt for the last 10 races of the 1981 season beginning at Michigan in August when we took Earnhardt and our Wrangler sponsorship from the Jim Stacy operation (after his purchase of Rod Osterlund's team) to Richard Childress. Earnhardt and Wrangler then went to Bud Moore for 1982-1983, reuniting with Shelmerdine and Childress in 1984.

If you banned the drivers motohome from the infield would this help racing/??

Current NASCAR

ditto....and, drivers were accessible when they hung out in the garage at their car or later at the team hauler instead of disappearing off to their motorhome to avoid press and fans.

Tommy Ellis Prison Sentence

Current NASCAR

From today's Richmond ,VA paper regarding former NASCAR Late Model Sportsman, Cup and Busch Series driver, Tommy Ellis being sentenced to 18 moth prison term for tax evasion. Interesting to note that a former Ellis car owner, Eric Freedlander also once received a stiff prison sentence:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2010/jul/31/sent31-ar-356298/

updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM

Hamlin & Newman Correct / Fines Suck

Current NASCAR

Aha, some things never change. Ryan Newman & Denny Hamlin are fined by NASCAR for telling it exactly the way it was/is. By golly, if Bill France, Sr. had been as thinskinned as his son and grandkids, poor Bobby Allison would have gone broke from fines for his comments. I happened to be in an ISC suite during an ARCA race at Talladega in the 80s with Gary Ballough leading. This was during the time that a lot of suspicion about drug dealing was going on. Bill France, Jr., sitting directly behind me, screamed, "Throw the GD yellow" into his walkieshortly after Ballough took the lead. Sure enough, that yellow for phantom debris created the scenario for a different race winner than the driver under scrutiny.What a shamed that NASCAR is trying to silencetwo of the most intelligent drivers in the sport. What happened to "Have it boys?" I guess it's ok to deliberately crash other competitors and put them and the fans in the grandstands at risk, so long as you don't pubicly question NASCAR's judgement. No wonder the stands are empty and the tv ratings have dropped down to the level of telecasting tiddlywink competitions.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM

Crowd at Indy

General

All of the above.... and it typically is the worst race of the year, along with Homestead, New Hampshire and Auto Club Speedway.

Remembering Lee Roy Yarbrough

General

From a 2009 Tom Higgins column:During a stock car racing career covering almost five decades, Junior Johnson competed against, and fielded cars against, thousands of drivers.So who was the bravest of them all?No doubt about it, says Johnson. It was LeeRoy Yarbrough.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame

General

And while we're at it, there oughta be a place for Richard Howard, the man who saved both the Charlotte and Atlanta tracks, then saved NASCAR by having Junior Johnson build the Charlie Glotzbach Chevy... oh, and he arranged Dale Earnhardt's first Cup ride with Ed Negre. I'd argue nobody ever did more for NASCAR's fans. If it hadn't been for the efforts of Howard, the Charlotte and Atlanta venues would have been long gone by the time Bruton Smith decided to reappear.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame

General

Frankly my dear.... any hall of fame that doesn't include Ray Hendrick and the Tant/Mitchell "Flying 11" Modified coupe couldn't possibly be a real NASCAR Hall of Fame anyway.