New Member - Any NASCAR Fans? I have a few questions

[Will Garner]

Tim,

Welcome Aboard.

I've been a NASCAR fan since the late 1950's - that's before satellites! I've been at Charlotte when the City was still filling the infield with garbage. At college Martinsville was a short drive up the road. Friend of mine got snagged to crew for Jerry Cook's modified as we were walking across turn four into the infield. Watched Bobby Isaac lap the field four times the fall after he set land speed records at Salt Lake - 1977 K&K Insurance Charger. Saw Richard Petty at Beltsville Maryland when the car was simply Petty blue with NO sponsor stickers - 1966 Plymouth. Oh yeah, Bobby Allison was there with a white 1965 Chevelle - also without stickers. I've got photo proof of that. NASCAR ran over 50 races a year back then and made a "northern tour" of local short tracks. Saw the last big block race at Daytona - man those 426 Hemi's made the stands rock and roll under your feet. Saw the first small block qualifying and race at Charlotte. Just not the same when you can keep the pedal to the metal through the turns. You could not do that with the big blocks.

From February 1990 until February 2004 I was responsible for assisting the NCSHP with traffic control in and out of the track area. Man was there some real racing at that track. 1.17 miles around and everyone loved racing at the track. Lost the race dates because of a lawsuit between Charlotte and Daytona. Rockingham was built in 1965, almost 40 years of racing history down the tubes. Pretty soon there won't be a track left that you can use to gauge the racing prowess of all NASCAR drivers and crews. In fact Rockingham had the Pit Crew Championship. Now Bruno and Humpy have turned that into just another carnival event too. NASCAR just ain't what it used to be. I remember the only way you could see live NASCAR racing other than at the track was at a theater on a big screen. The pictures were really grainy but what racing. Ah those were the days.

Anyway, that being said, welcome to you and Ken J as new members of POG. Its a great place to be and populated by some of the nicest folks you will ever meet.

Hope to see you somewhere on down the road.