Birthday boys, Dale and Willie

Happy birthday today to one man who is no longer with us (Dale Earnhardt Sr.) and one who is (Willie Nelson).

They were born 18 years apart, April 29, 1951 (Earnhardt) and April 29, 1933 (Nelson). Dale would have been 75; Willie is 93.

(I almost forgot to mention it.)

✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧

FIND MY BOOKS ONLINE

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com   BLUESKY: PROFILE

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

• What I do when I'm editing

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

• 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

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic 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!

The pig on the media tour

We were on the Winston Cup Media Tour in the early to middle 1990s, and we'd stopped at a business that provided racers with safety products.

One of the workers there had a pot-bellied pig, and for some reason a handful of women on the tour wanted to pet the pig. I looked around, and they had it trapped at the top of a short set of steps in front of a closed door, and the pig was terrified.

The pig got away for a moment, then did something extraordinary. It knocked down a display to cause its own distraction. While the women were retreating a few feet, the pig made its getaway.

Don't say that pigs aren't smart.

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FIND MY BOOKS ONLINE

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com   BLUESKY: PROFILE

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

• What I do when I'm editing

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

• 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

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic 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!

Two Dales on the media tour

We were on the annual Winston Cup Media Tour one year, around 2000, and I assume it was Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s first tour.

We were going from shop to shop, and we were at Dale Earnhardt Inc. The media members immediately spread out. Some were talking to DEI executive Ty Norris or one of the crew chiefs, something I probably did. A bunch were swarming around Earnhardt, and the rest were attracted to Junior.

Before joining the fray, I watched both Earnhardts for a minute.

Earnhardt, by then a veteran at meeting the press, was answering questions but also watching his son. All I could see of Junior was his face, with a halo of tape recorders around it. Dale looked calm in a storm of questions, and Dale Jr. appeared almost overwhelmed in a similar cyclone.

Welcome to the big time, Junior.

Fortunately, it got easier. I saw Dale Jr. at Rockingham that same year, and he looked more comfortable. Of course, he didn't have 50 microphones and tape recorders stuck in his face at one time, either. Maybe 15 or 20.

And by now it's probably no big deal ... as it was with his father.

------------------------------

FIND MY BOOKS ONLINE

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com   BLUESKY: PROFILE

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

• What I do when I'm editing

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

• 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

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic 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!

My favorite auto-racing posts (so far)

My best day as a sports writer

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-best-day.html

Earnhardt played, and PR guy squirmed

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2009/10/earnhardt-played-and-pr-guy-squirmed.html

Keeping watch over Bobby Isaac

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2012/02/keeping-watch-over-bobby-isaac.html

Jerry and Bobby (Jerry Punch and Bobby Isaac)

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2016/03/jerry.html

Wayne Auton: A life in racing

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2012/02/wayne-auton-life-in-racing.html

OOPS! Remembering Louise Smith

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2016/02/oops.html

One sweet ride for Chocolate Myers

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2017/02/chocolate.html

At HMS, Allio takes his best shot at Hickory

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2013/09/allio-best.html

Back Up to Speed; the Winston Cup Museum reopens (a magazine story from 2016)

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2017/01/speed.html

My mom called me Richard, a quick story about Dick Trickle

http://the-auto-racing-journal.blogspot.com/2016/11/richard.html

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

• What 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

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• 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!