Amid all the discussion about NASCAR’s perceived “invisible” debris cautions, or cautions for debris that wouldn’t really affect the race, one of our Frontstretch writers raised a question a couple of weeks ago. The writer asked whether the rest of us thought one particular driver might have deliberately spun out another to get a caution …
We’ve all heard stories about race cars being driven on the road. In fact, back in the early days many of them were driven to the track, headlights taped up, and then raced. But some of my favorite memories are cars that were taken for impromptu “test rides.” I think I’ve already told the one about Allan Barker …
That UPS commercial with David Ragan pulling a couple of trailers in the racecar, drove me back to the past on Sunday. We had a series in the 1970s we called the “Amateur” division at the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville. Nowadays they’d be called “Bombers” or “Slammers” or something like that. Anyway, it was what (also …
When I did a column mentioning some indoor venues I’d worked, it was all about cars – TQ midgets indoors, and even ASA late models in the Pontiac Silverdome. Back in the early 1980s, however, I got asked to help out with something that took me way off my beaten path. Big Ed Beckley, who billed himself as …
Gonna do something a little different this week. In addition to being entertaining, one of the things a columnist is supposed to do is to make you think. My compatriot Amy Henderson did that for me earlier this week with a column about the K&N Series, and why people should watch it even if NASCAR isn’t paying attention. …
Read moreDriven to the Past: What a Lot of People Are Missing…
We’re driving back more than 40 years this week. One of my favorite sayings is attributed to Harry S. Truman – “The only thing you don’t know is the history you haven’t read yet.” Whether the late President said that or not, it’s pretty profound. This was brought to mind by all the comments about Jimmie Johnson‘s “domination” …
Seems like we’ve always had rivalries in motorsports. Even drag racing had Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney. They were big rivals, but drag racers don’t rub fenders all that often. At least not on purpose. I’m not going to go back into the history of NASCAR racing and dredge up any of those old tales. Everybody’s heard most …
We’re not driving too far to the past this time, at least not at the beginning of this week’s column. Less than a week, in fact – to last Sunday afternoon.
All of the commentary about Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus’s Hendrick Motorsports team’s domination in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series reached into a corner of my alleged brain and picked out some memories from 40 years ago. The name was Jack Bowsher, and back then there was also a driver/crew chief/owner combination. Then, however, there was only one …
Read moreDriven to the Past: ARCA’s “Jimmie & Chad” Back in the Day…
On their way to Florida about three weeks back, Andy and Sandy Vertrees stopped at the Potts’s Ranch and dropped off three big boxes of photographs. Andy is one of the three promoters I’ve worked with who have received the Auto Racing Promoter of the Year award – the other two were Bob Daniels and …
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