Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Missing David Pearson

I WROTE THIS IN 1992

 I'll write more about David Pearson later, but I was saddened tonight when I learned of Pearson's passing on Nov. 12, 2018. He was about a month short of turning 84.

 David was the first big-time driver I ever interviewed, and he was nowhere near the last. But he was one of my favorite former drivers to talk to.

 Almost ironically, the three-time NASCAR champion walked away from me the first time I tried to interview him. I think he was frustrated at my lack of knowledge about stock-car racing. Oh, I knew the drivers, the tracks and the races, but there was so much more to know.

 In 2007, I was re-writing I Remember Dale Earnhardt into Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr., and Pearson was one of the many former drivers I called. I was walking into the local Wal-Mart, and my cell phone rang.

 "Tom, Tom, it's David!" a voice said. After a beat, the voice added, "David Pearson."

 I hadn't recognized the voice over my cell, so I was glad he told me.

 I laughed and said, "David, I'm at Wal-Mart; can I call you later?"

 He said he was going out to eat with friends, but I could call at 8:30. I did, and it was one of the best interviews I ever had with a driver.

 By the way, I told him about him walking away, and he said, "I'm sorry." I told him it was OK. I was just glad how much better our relationship had improved over 20-some years.

 I wrote a little more about Pearson in a blog post called Learning from Hoss Ellington. Hoss was the car owner when David walked away from me.

 One quick Pearson story: When I was writing Angel in Black, I asked David who the greatest NASCAR driver of all time was, he didn't say Dale Earnhardt or Richard Petty. Unapologetically, he said, "I thought it was me."

By the way, in the early 1990s, I wrote a comic-book script about Pearson, and you can find it online here.

 Bye, David. You're the best; and you're missed.

 MORE: One more story, in the late '90s, Darlington Raceway hosted a press event featuring Pearson. Holly, my future wife, went with me to the event, and she saw Pearson in person.

 "Well, he looks just the same as he does on TV," she said.

 I laughed. Of course he does.

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

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com   BLUESKY: PROFILE

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Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Kevin Eby feature from 2012


HMS NOTEBOOK: Eby doesn't enjoy running away from the field

By:  Tom Gillispie  |     Hickory Daily Record  
Published: October 03, 2012  Updated: October 03, 2012 - 10:32 PM  
HICKORY, N.C. -- Kevin Eby, this year's Street Stock champion at Hickory Motor Speedway, isn't into boring racing.
EBY AND DAUGHTER KAYLA
"My enjoyment is to go out (and) race hard against somebody," said Eby, who lives in Lenoir but works at Shenandoah Furniture in Valdese. "I may have had to work hard to get around No. 33, but I enjoy it when I get somebody to race against.
"When you're just out front and riding, that's boring. I enjoy being side by side and racing, but I know not to tear stuff up."
Eby, 42, says he moved down from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in late 1994 and began racing Super Sports at Hickory in 1995.
"It wasn't Street Stock, and it wasn't Limited (Late Model)," he said. "It was halfway in between. We had more motor than we have now."
Among track championships that Eby won were those in Street Stocks at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson (2004, 2005 and 2007).
"The championships do not get boring, because we put just as much work into winning each one," Eby said. "Every time a new race season begins, it's like starting back at square one. So each championship is hard earned and unique."
If you saw all of the Street Stock races this year, you might have seen Eby with seven-year-old daughter Kayla, who joins him in the pits for many of his races.
He says his next race is a 100-lap Street Stocks race in mid-October at Lonesome Pines Speedway in Coeburn, Va., and he may run a Frank Kimmel race at Rockingham.
Webb improving
You may recall the horrific wreck Ken Webb survived nearly a month ago in a Sportsman Classic race at HMS.
"He's improving, but it's not going to be a fast process," said Mackie Webb, Ken's brother and president of the Classic Sportsman Racing Association. "He's doing OK. He got out of the hospital on the Wednesday after the wreck on Saturday.
"He's going to stay flat on his back for eight to 12 weeks."
Ken Webb, 53, was driving his No. 77 Chevelle in the Sportsman Classics race when his car hit the wall and got airborne. The 1965 Chevelle landed on its nose and spun before stopping in the middle of the track.
Webb was taken to N.C. Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, and he got out the following Wednesday. He said he had "busted four vertebrae" and they put him in "a body bag."
Mackie Webb says his brother can walk a bit.
"He can do that to get to the bathroom," he said. "He has to keep it to the minimum. He's able to do that, but it's painful."
Trivia question
Where did Dale Earnhardt Jr. get his first Cup win?
Last Saturday's results
In the Fall Brawl last Saturday, young Pietro Fittipaldi won the Late Model feature, with David Garbo Jr., Josh Wimbish, Trey Gibson and track champion Austin McDaniel rounding out the top five. Chad Reed, the motocross/supercross star, finished 16th in a 22-car field.
Shane Lee, the track's 2012 Limited Late Model champion, won the 15-car Limited race, followed by Jeremy Pelfrey, Brandon Setzer, Roger Pitts II and Brandon Atkinson.
In the eight-car Renegades race, Gregory Austin finished ahead of Carroll McKinney, Darren Dickinson, Daniel Moore and Dillon Crouch.
Upcoming at HMS
The Rev-Oil Pro Cup race is Oct. 20 and The Fall Classic is Oct. 27, with a 100-lap Limited Late Models race, plus trucks and Renegades.
Happy birthday
Bill Elliott will be 57 on Monday. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be 38 on Wednesday. Morgan Shepherd (71) and Ned Jarrett (80) have birthdays on Oct. 12.
Worth quoting
Joey Logano, from For the Love of Racing online: "They don't pay you for winning practice."
Trivia answer
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won twice his rookie year (2000), at Texas and Richmond. The famous photo of the two Dale Earnhardts hugging came at Texas.
Tom Gillispie, the author of "Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.", writes about racing at Hickory Motor Speedway for HDR Sports. If you have a favorite story about HMS, he'd like to hear it. You can reach him at nc3022@yahoo.com.
EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from TARJ
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

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Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Huffman balanced football and racing


HMS NOTEBOOK: Huffman balances football, racing


Landon Huffman, here conferring with his dad, Robert, got  his first Limited Late Model win of the season last weekend, and his high-school football team, Bunker Hill, won its season opener. Photo by Nick and Sherri Stearns

  • Tom Gillispie - Aug 22, 2012
HICKORY, N.C. -- Teenager Landon Huffman had two reasons
to be excited last weekend.

First, he played linebacker as his high school, Bunker Hill, won
42-14 last Friday night at Cherryville.

Huffman, 16, then won a 17-car Limited Late Model race at Hickory Motor Speedway last Saturday night. He finished ahead of Jeremy Pelfrey, Travis Byrd, Brandon Setzer and Shane Lee.

Huffman also won the Limited race during last year’s Bobby Isaac Memorial weekend.

Was he excited Saturday?

“For sure,” he said. “We should have won several (times) earlier in the year; we just didn’t get it done. I’ve learned a lot this year, and I was able to use it last week and this week.”

 Two weeks ago, Huffman started third and finished second behind Monty Cox. Last week, he started on the pole and led every lap.

Through Aug. 13, Huffman was 11th in Limited points, but he’s missed several races. His dad, Robert Huffman, is team manager at X Team Racing in Statesville, and Landon has worked as a tire man for racer Daniel Suarez in the K&N Pro Series series.

Landon Huffman has his sights set on the Isaac, scheduled Sept. 1 at HMS.

“We’re going over the car,” he said on Tuesday. “We should be good; we have a lot of momentum.”

On Friday night, Huffman expects to start at linebacker and perhaps play some fullback when Bunker Hill plays host to St. Stephens.

Which sport does he like better?

“I’d much rather race, but football doesn’t cost any money,” said Huffman, who is 5-foot-11 and weighs 185 pounds.

He says he hopes to run later in the season at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway and Ace Speedway in his first excursions away from HMS.

Robert Huffman was the HMS track champion in 1988 and 1989 and is a five-time Daytona Dash champion.

Other HMS results

Last Saturday, Austin McDaniel picked up his seventh Late Model win of the season. Josh Wimbish was second in the 12-car race, followed by two-time track champion Andy Mercer (2009 and 2010) and Pietro Fittipaldi.

Todd Harrington won the five-car 4-Cylinders race, followed by Nathiel Kanupp, Rob Lewis, Donn Wardo and Donnie Harmon.

Marshall Sutton beat out points leader Kevin Eby in the eight-car Street Stocks race, followed by Mike Newton and Mark Whitten.

Trivia question

Who won Hickory Motor Speedway’s Late Model title five years running? No, it wasn’t Ralph Earnhardt, who won five non-consecutive championships in the 1950s.

Learning more about her dad
It was reported here last week that Tina Hedrick wants to learn more about her late father, Richard Spears, who raced Street Stocks and other divisions at Hickory from 1977 to 1980.

She’s learning more and more.

This past week, Hedrick received emails from Gerald “Junior” Killian and Don Herman, and a family friend brought along a photo of Spears.

“I remember Richard Spears as a youngster working on one of my first racecars,” Killian said. “As a kid I helped on a couple of hobby and limited racecars that were housed in or close to Setzer’s Garage.”

Killian said Richard Spears used several cars from Tom Setzer’s junkyard for demolition derbies.

“I enjoyed watching the passion that Richard displayed,” Killian said. “He truly enjoyed his struggle and was very successful at times.”

Herman sent along a photo of an orange No. 26 car, with only “Richard” above the door.

“I remember two kids running around the garage in back of your house where you lived,” Herman said. “The other was your brother.”

Herman says he once drove Spears’ car on dirt at old Metrolina Speedway in Charlotte.

“Richard raced under the No. 26 in a 1957 Chevrolet and was pretty good, too,” Herman said.

Upcoming at HMS

• The 36th annual Bobby Isaac Memorial race (321 Lawnmower/Hickory Daily Record Night) is set for Sept. 1. A 150-lap Late Model race is scheduled along with Limiteds, Street Stocks and Sportsmen Racing Classics.

• On Sept. 8, a 100-lap Late Model race will be featured, plus Limiteds, Street Stocks, trucks, 4-Cylinders, Hobbys and Mini-Cups.

Happy birthday

Former Sprint Cup driver Steve Park (45) and Nationwide driver Kenny Wallace (49) were born on Aug. 23; same with former Cup crew chief and car owner Ray Evernham (45) on Aug. 26.

Worth quoting

Jimmie Johnson, from NASCAR’s website, after drawing a pink car for a 2003 IROC race at Daytona: “I guess those guys are going to lose to a guy driving a pink racecar.”

(Johnson ran two IROC races at Daytona, finishing fourth in both 2003 and 2004.)

Trivia answer

John Settlemyre won five Hickory track titles from 1977 to 1981.

Tom Gillispie, the author of “Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.”, writes about racing at Hickory Motor Speedway for HDR Sports. You can reach him at nc3022@yahoo.com.
EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from TARJ
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

EDITOR@WORK blog entries 

Entries from The Dog Blog
More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

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