Ever so often, while working as an announcer at the local short track and listening to the radio chatter between officials, I think about the difference they’ve made in communications during race events. When I first got involved as an official, in 1961, such convenience was unheard of. At the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville, we …
I’ve mentioned before about how much I’ve enjoyed being able to meet so many people in my years bouncing around motorsports. One of the best of those experiences came at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1989, when we had a celebrity road race intended to discourage drinking and driving. This was a week-long affair, and Dodge was one …
Maybe I’m stepping too far afield this week, but it does have something to do with racing history, and that’s what we’re usually about here. Nearly every day, I visit a forum on the Internet which has to do with NASCAR modeling. I’ve always been interested in models, and I admit to doing quite a …
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten as many comments, or as much email in addition to comments, as I got last week after this column talked about Richie Bisig. One old fan who emailed me asked why Richie’s car had “Yo Yo” painted on the left-front fender. Ah, therein lies another tale… The way this …
One of the three best Figure 8 drivers I ever saw was Richie Bisig, and he won the Figure 8 championship at the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville in 1964 and 1969. (For the record, the other two were Andy Vertrees and Kenny St. John.) We had a rule that from the spindles forward, …
Funny how some topics come to mind…. I had been going through some notes, trying to decide what to write about this week, when I took a break and went web-surfing. There’s a thread I started some time back called “Historic Stock Car Photos” on the H.A.M.B. section of jalopyjournal.com. I wanted to post some of my …
I was happy to hear that JEGS is stepping up to do some NASCAR sponsorship. Although they’re primarily known for drag racing, going back to the days of Jeg Coughlin Sr. and his top fuel cars, into the present with Jeg Jr., a Pro Stock Champion, the huge mail order parts firm from Columbus, Ohio …
I suppose it’s a measure of your age when everything you see reminds you of something that happened years ago. A few weeks back, during the Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte, Brent Raymer‘s truck suddenly suffered a serious problem. The entire front end of the truck was on fire, and it was even …
Somebody saw a photo of me flagging a figure-8 race from the track at the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway last week, and wanted to know if I was in my right mind back in those days – the ’60s and ’70s. Maybe the biggest thrill in flagging was getting to emulate my idol, Bill Vanderwater, …
The segment that TNT did last Sunday on Davey Allison brought some memories flooding back. I met Davey’s dad while flagging for ARCA and then ASA and, just like everybody else, I really liked Bobby. I recall his description of the high-banked half-mile at Winchester, Ind. the first time he ran there. He had run …
One of the best comments of the day at Michigan came from Mike Ford, Denny Hamlin’s crew chief, when NASCAR threw that last debris caution as he was running away with less than 20 laps left. As one of our staff members who was at the track and listening to a scanner reported, Ford said, “That’s what a nine-second lead will get you.”
Back in 1972, after I became editor of The Scott County Journal and The Chronicle in Scottsburg, Ind., my reputation as a race official apparently preceded me. During the annual county fair, a demolition derby was the biggest attraction of the week, narrowly edging out the queen contest. It was always held on Wednesday evening, …