I met a gentleman by the name of Dave Fulton from Charlotte, NC originally from Richmond, Va. He posted some messages on another site called localracechat.com and I really enjoyed reading his posts. Dave worked on a team when Dale Earnhardt drove the for Wrangler, don't know which one. If anyone knows Dave or knows how to contact him please reply, his stories were priceless.Here's a short story by Dave Fulton about some memories he had of Wilson County Speedway, Wilson, NC. It was fun to read...this is how all Dave's messages were, full of information, true, colorful, and in the first person....The following message was written after he first joined Local Race Chat and upon seeing the Wilson County Speedway forum he replied with the following...read on....Re: Wilson County Speedway Memories by Dave Fulton"Wow! Just discovered this board and this particular thread brought some some real great memories. I'm a Charlotte NC resident, raised in Richmond, VA, lived in Wilson NC from 1970 - 1980 and was Division Personnel Manager for Blue Bell / Wrangler Jeans on Highway 301 before moving to Greensboro NC to start the Wrangler NASCAR Special Events racing program with Dale Earnhardt.Growing up in Richmond, my friend, Frank and I were mostly exposed to NASCAR Modified racing at Southside Speedway, South Boston Speedway, Langley Raceway and Old Dominion Speedway featuring the likes of Ray Hendrick and Sonny Hutchins with some forays to Beltsville, MD, also. Of course, we did attend both Cup and Mod races at Richmond's dirt state fairgrounds Strawberry Hill track. It was great later to see one of our old local VA heroes, Al Grinnan, have so much dirt track success at Wilson County.Missed very few Saturday nights at Wilson County from 1970 - 1980 and for a couple of years around 1971-1974 was a minor sponsor of a Limited Sportsman Car owned and driven by Danny Lee of Mount Pleasant (the Bailey area Mt. Pleasant down the road from Edsel Beard's store). That car was maintained primarily by Danny, his cousin, Bill Lee and A.C. Hendrick and had been sponsored by Barbecue Barn then Dixie Supply Company. It was a dark metallic bronze #11 '55 Chevy, later a Nova. We raced at Raleigh's Wake County on Friday nights and a few times at Chantilly in Roanoke Rapids/Weldon and at Fayetteville when Wilson was rained out.I had the privilege later to work for Paul Sawyer at Richmond International Raceway for 10 years as his Media Relations guy. Paul, along with Joe Weatherly had promoted Wilson County in the 1950s/early 60s and staged the big Cup races there. Paul installed the Wilson County Speedway lights and was an honorary lifetime member of the American Legion Post. My favorite story was of the grandstands burning down on Easter Sunday and announcer Ray Melton safely clearing the grandstands while Paul moved the ticket selling operation right out to the side of 301 and still getting the race off as scheduled.I remember a number of the things mentioned in this thread and would have to say my favorite memories are of the heated battles between South Carolinian Mutt Powell and Virginian Al Grinnan. I was there when Larry Curry took down the light pole outside of turn 3 and never saw a car go any higher in the air at any speedway until I witnessed Phil Parsons' turn 1 barrel roll at Talladega.I was also at Wilson County that freezing 200-lap Thanksgiving weekend when the unknown Dale Earnhardt whipped all our locals in Robert Gee's Camaro. Little did I know I would later personally sign Earnhardt to his first personal services contract and have the chance along the way to put Wrangler Jeans sponsorship on the Robert Gee Pontiac that Dale drove to victory in the first ever Busch Series race at Daytona.I remember Carl Horton with his ever present cigar, Mac Mangum running up front and always blowing up, the smoothness of Farmer John Matthews driving in bib overalls, Monk Tate's battered "Monk's Junk" car, the great looking Mutt Powell cars (Mutt was a former driver for Preacher Cox) and Al Grinnan's watermelons being passed out in the infield. The tremendous power and wild driving of Plymouth's Shelton McNair in the M-1 and my sadness when I heard about the accidental carbon monoxide poisioning of Don Macon. Ditto the sadness when Slick Johnson, the son of the SC father/son Junior/Slick Johnsons, frequent Wilson County competitors, was killed at Daytona.I remember Snapper Capps on the flagstand and the local WGTM-AM radio dj, Jim Rochelle on the P.A. I remember wheels bouncing over the turn 3/4 fence, crossing 301 and winding up at the Weigh Station.The great thing about those golden years of Wilson County was the tremendous talent it drew from NC, SC and VA. Guys like Bud Elliott who could hardly make the asphalt field at Richmond's Southside Speedway became dirt track champs at Wilson. It was interesting to come across J.E. Beard in Kannapolis building Cup engines for Lake Speed after watching him win at Wilson in the "Bad Air" car. His dad served the coldest beer in NC at Edsel Beard's store.It wasn't just the Late Model racing, but great competition in Limited Sportsman between Mike Wiggins, Robert Radford's Garage entry Fuzzy Ferrell and others, right down to the annoying bumble bee sound of the 6 cylinders.Wilson County had great fans and great drivers.A really good friend of mine, deceased Cup photographer and Goldsboro racing writer, Jerry Howell even promoted Wilson for a short time.Anyway, I turn 60 in a couple of weeks and I appreciate the opportunity to reminisce.Hope I haven't been too boring. Thanks for the memories." - Dave FultonAnd after that message Dave posted a follow-on message that reads:"Wilson County Speedway MemoriesOther fond Wilson County Speedway memories involve post-race activities, usually in the early Sunday a.m. Many of us on various teams would head north on 301 toward Elm City to the Southern 500 Truck Stop or south toward Lucama to Honeycutt's Truck Stop for a wee hours breakfast. Remember, I-95 hadn't opened from Gold Rock to Kenly yet and 301 was still the main east coast North/South highway through Wilson with 24 hour traffic.Some of you may remember in 1985 when the old Bright Leaf Pet Shop moved from Highway 42 West (near the present Hunt High School) to the Parkwood Mall Annex (most recently the site of the closed Kroger grocery store). My mother-in-law, Wilma Daniel owned that pet store and I was then living in Dallas, TX running racing programs for 7-Eleven Stores with Kyle Petty / Wood Brothers Racing. I staged a big grand opening day for her calling in a lot of NASCAR favors. We had the big rigs of Richard Childress/Dale Earnhardt and Kyle Petty/Wood Brothers, as well as the big NASCAR Winston Cup Series Control Rig, along with Winston Cup flagman Harold Kinder. Also on hand were several Winston Cup showcars and the pace cars from Richmond, Charlotte, Rockingham and Martinsville. Of course, a number of local Wilson cars were also on display. That day we gave away Cup race tickets to various tracks, motorized Cup minicars and various racing souvenirs. I always considered this a payback to the race fans of Wilson.If I do this right, you'll see a picture of our first Dale Earnhardt showcar - built by Osterlund Racing, a 1981 Pontiac with my then 6 yeard old daughter, Gwyn at the wheel during a 1981 retail store appearance in Bristol, TN, as well as a 1981 photo of me interviewing Cale Yarbrough somewhere after he won a pole in the old MC Anderson car.Again, thanks for the many great Wilson County Speedway memories all you folks have helped me to recall!" - Dave FultonAgain, if you know Dave or how to contact him send me a message. Thank you and have a happy Thanksgiving.Jim WilmoreCape Fear-CARS - Long road on a short track