Monday, October 21, 2019

Hot in Talladega in July


THIS WAS IN THE MID-1990s, and we were in the Darlington Raceway pressbox. Bill France Jr., then the president of NASCAR, came in to talk about the next year's Winston Cup schedule.

 He said they'd move the July Talladega race to the fall.

 "Some people think it's hot in Talladega in July," France quipped.

 This year's spring race at Talladega, the Geico 500, was held on April 28. The fall race, the *1000Bulbs.com 500, was held on Oct. 14.

 France, a native of the usually-hot Daytona Beach, Fla., died of cancer on June 4, 2007.

 By the way, it WAS hot in Talladega in July; I can vouch for that. On July 25, 1993, the heat index was listed at 107.


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Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Wrong name for the winner


THIS HAPPENED SOMETIME in the 1990s. I was coming home from Atlanta Motor Speedway the morning after a race, and I was walking by a newspaper box in Augusta, Ga.

 The skybox at the top had a promo for the lead sports story inside. Dale Earnhardt had won the Cup race on Sunday, but they spelled it wrong. They spelled it Earnhart. No "d" for Dale's last name.

 That's stuck with me probably 24 or 25 years. I would HATE to misspell a name in a headline or skybox, particularly the latter.

 Dale won Atlanta several times, but I'd guess this to be around 1995 (Nov. 12) or 1996 (March 10).


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Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Memories of Rick


I HAD GOOD EXPERIENCES with Hendrick Motorsports drivers like Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Ken Schrader, but I can't say that with car owner Rick Hendrick.

 I once had a 10 a.m. appointment to call Hendrick, and I was taking a vacation day to work on this magazine story. I called at 10; they said he wasn't there and told me to call back at 2.
I
I called back at 2, and they said he hadn't come in; call back later. I did, and he wasn't in then, either. I don't know if that story ever got written; it sure didn't get written that day.

Some time later, I caught up with Hendrick at a racetrack and said, "I'm Tom Gillispie." He immediately realized I was the guy he'd blown off, and he apologized and gave me his direct number. He said to come back at 9 a.m. the next day and we'd talk. He wasn't there, and I never got an answer at his direct number.

 I interviewed Rick Hendrick's brother John, but I never talked to Rick.

 So I don't have good memories of Hendrick. I don't hold it against him; other people have blown me off. But, for some reason, I remember this one.


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