The Auto Racing Journal

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Lighting the track

The year was 1992, and I was at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the testing of the track's new lighting system.

They had a break for some reason, and they sent out a van full of photographers driving slowly around the track. Then Eddie Gossage, then the track's PR guy (now the head of Texas Motor Speedway), took out a pace car with four reporters in it. I was riding shotgun in the front seat.

We lapped that van at least twice, maybe three times. I didn't look at the speedometer, but we were booking. I'd look to the right, and I could see the wall an arm's-length away. Then I'd see a big expanse of black in the turn, and we'd turn left ... and dirt and grass would fly up behind us!

And while we were doing this, Eddie would look casually over his shoulder and talk to my friend Jim McLaurin in the back seat. I was so tempted to help Eddie with the steering wheel, but I didn't want to make a mistake at 120 or 140 miles an hour.

We probably ran four or six laps in the pace car, and I was so relieved that I got out and kissed the pavement in the garage.

Eddie laughed and jokingly asked if we'd like to go again. I said, no, thanks. I'm good right here.

I never personally felt the need for speed; I only wrote about it.

Contact: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is 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!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

It's the kid

Yes, it seems like I write about Kyle Petty a lot, and I do. I've had a lot of contact with him since 1989.

Several years ago, I was writing for the Hickory (N.C.) Daily Record, and I found out that a young racer was going to be at a local doughnut store. He was going to be at Hickory Motor Speedway the next week, so I went to the doughnut shop to meet him.

The first person I saw was Kyle Petty. We greeted each other from afar, and I went over to talk to him. He said he had a deal of some sort with the doughnut company, and he was helping out.

I asked him where the driver was, and he pointed to a youngster. "It's the kid," he said. The driver was Gray Gaulding, then 14, I think.

We both laughed over that. When I met Kyle in '89, most of the Cup drivers were in their 30s and 40s. Many or most local drivers were in their 20s and 30s, if not older.

Now, there are a bunch of kids out there at local tracks and in racing series. Gaulding was in a racing series; I forget which one.

Kyle stood with me as I talked to Gaulding, and we both laughed when he talked about "back in the day." After all, he wasn't around back in the day. Truthfully, even Kyle and I weren't around then. Kyle's dad and granddad were there.

Anyway, I came away really impressed with Gaulding. He was well-spoken and well-informed. He thanked me for coming to see him, and he waved on his way to his family's street car.

Strangely, he was then old enough to race with men in a touring series, but he was two or three years from getting his street driver's license. He certainly has it by now.