THE BAD 500

Years ago, they were about to hold the Birmingham Auto Dealers 500, an ARCA race, at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. We were in the media room, and I noticed my friend Neal Sims, a sports writer for the Birmingham paper.

I went over and told Neil that I'd been calling the race the BAD 500 on second reference, and he nearly fell out of his seat.

"Can I use that?" he asked quickly. I told him, "Sure; just give me credit."

He never said if his editors (or anyone else) liked the name. He and I did, and my bosses at the Charleston (S.C.) Post & Courier didn't complain.

It was bad, in a good way.

P.S.: I just thought of this (more than a year later), but Dale Earnhardt would have appreciated the BAD 500.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK.

More entries from TARJ

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

EDITOR@WORK blog entries 

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• hat I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• What I do when I'm editing

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 12-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!