The Auto Racing Journal: September 2024

THIS STORY HAPPENED LONG BEFORE THIS PHOTO

We were at Daytona International Speedway for a Winston Cup race in February — yes, it would have been the Daytona 500 — but I couldn't concentrate just on racing.

I was also my newspaper's Charleston Southern reporter, and the Buccaneers were going to play basketball the next day. I had to do one of our information boxes that would run in the newspaper, and I got the sports information director to fax me the info to the DIS pressbox. I'd given Mike the fax number.

So while pre-race was going on, I typed the box information into the computer, then took it down to the bank of phones to send it in. It probably took 10 or 15 minutes to do the whole thing, and then I could concentrate on the race.

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Who won? I don't remember for sure, since I don't remember what year it was. But it could have been Sterling Marlin (1994 and '95).

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

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!

Top 10 Dale Earnhardt Moments in NASCAR | NASCAR Legends

One of my favorite memories of Dale Earnhardt Sr. came in the 1990s in Atlanta.

We were in the press box, and a woman I'd never seen before asked Dale a question. He gave an honest answer, but he realized that she was taken aback a bit by the strength of his reply.

So he did something I'd never seen him do before; he smiled, softening the "blow" of his reply. She relaxed a bit, and the press conference went on.

It was subtle, but I was happy to see it.

Strangely, I never saw her again.