(photo courtesy NASCAR)

Very possibly two of the three combatants in the above photo could be elected into this year’s class of NASCAR  Hall of Fame inductees.  The photo above is from the very famous 1979 Daytona 500.  That race was the very first race telecast from green flag to checkered flag . . . → Read More: Who Will Be In The Second HOF Class?]]>

(photo courtesy NASCAR)

Very possibly two of the three combatants in the above photo could be elected into this year’s class of NASCAR  Hall of Fame inductees.  The photo above is from the very famous 1979 Daytona 500.  That race was the very first race telecast from green flag to checkered flag on network TV.

The “readers digest” version of the race goes like this.  With one lap to go Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough were side by side, and had been banging doors for the lead for several laps.  Coming out of turn number 2 Allison and Yarborbough really got to door banging each other and wrecked down the back straight, coming to a stop in turn number 3.  As their cars came to a stop, they both got out of their race cars and began arguing.  From the arguing, name calling, and heritage discussions, a fight broke out on national TV!  After the checkered flag flew Donnie’s brother, Bobby, stopped his race car and joined the fracas, in a brotherly free-for-all!

So much for the picture description!  The race was won by Richard Petty with Darrell Waltrip right on his bumper!

The time for the NASCAR Hall of Fame to announce the second class of inductees from the list of 25 individuals nominated for the class of 2010 is at hand, and will be announced October 13th.  First and foremost, WOMR believes the NASCAR erred in a significantly huge way in limiting the number of inductees to just a maximum of five individuals per year!  That will never allow all the richly deserving pioneers to take their place in the Hall of Fame.  As time moves on, people will forget those who so rightly deserved to be recognized by NASCAR!

But nevertheless it’s stuck on five inductees per year, and now the question is who should the next five be? We’ll know Oct. 13. Meanwhile here are WOMR’s choices to join already-inducted Dale Earnhardt, Junior Johnson, Richard Petty and the Frances, Bill Junior and Senior:

David Pearson. How could NASCAR have a Hall of Fame without the Silver Fox?

Darrell Waltrip: One of the sport’s most significant figures, both on and off the track.

Cale Yarborough: As good as there was, with more in the tank when he walked away.

Bobby Allison: Few were better, none sacrificed greater.

Those four are, or should be, a no-brainer for induction!  The fifth spot is harder to run with.  There are three people that could be voted in for this year’s class.  WOMR believes that it will be between Lee Petty, Ned Jarrett, and quite possibly Raymond Parks.

Petty had more success on the track and was one of the sport’s greatest pioneers. But it could be argued that Jarrett’s off-track contributions were greater as he extended his career into broadcasting.

Raymond Parks, who just passed away this summer at the age of 90 something, was the owner of the very first NASCAR champion’s car.  Additionally, Parks was a very successful businessman, and moonshiner in the Atlanta area in the early NASCAR years!

If you want to bring in the pioneers of the sport, then either of these three should get the vote.  In fact, it is WOMR’s opinion that all 25 of the nominees for this year’s class should be voted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame!  The NASCAR Hall of Fame committee should open up the doors for the first 3-5 years to induct all of the pioneers of the sport and enshrine those who were the backbone and responsible for getting NASCAR where it is today!

The Hall should have opened with a big, positive feel-good bang last year with 15-20 inductees. A second wave of 15-20 on Oct. 13 would at least cover the most obvious and deserving.

Afterwards, a class of 10 a year still wouldn’t be too many. WOMR could come up with 100 deserving individuals right now – drivers, team owners, mechanics, officials, marketing persons and media personalities – who made vital and lasting contributions to the sport. Even at 10 per class it would take a decade to induct the most deserving.

What is your view of the NASCAR Hall of Fame rules regarding induction?  Who are your choices for this year’s inductee class?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

(file photo courtesy NASCAR)

This year marks the “golden anniversary” of  The Atlanta Motor Speedway.  The foundation of this 870 acre facility began back in the planning stage in 1958.

WOMR would like to reflect on some thoughts about the six races at Atlanta that were viewed in person.  The first Atlanta . . . → Read More: Atlanta: The Golden Anniversary]]>

(file photo courtesy NASCAR)

This year marks the “golden anniversary” of  The Atlanta Motor Speedway.  The foundation of this 870 acre facility began back in the planning stage in 1958.

WOMR would like to reflect on some thoughts about the six races at Atlanta that were viewed in person.  The first Atlanta race that WOMR attended was on the spur of the moment, therefore the seat that was available was less than desirable.  It was way down low and just past the old start/finish line.  Since the reconfiguration that location now is on the back stretch, and the grandstands have been torn down in favor of the luxury RV parking.

Having grown up in the San Joaquin Valley of California, there was an abundance of car racing there in the 50′s, 60′s, and 70′s.  Growing up in the Central Valley of California, I had watched George Snider, Billy Vukovich, Jr., Dick Brooks, Al Pombo, Marshall Sargent, Joe Leonard, and Howard Kaeding, just to name a few of the West Coast “hot shoes” race in Fresno, Clovis, and San Jose, CA race on a regular basis.  Additionally, USAC and NASCAR would also make their rounds through California and I witnessed the “immortals of racing”, “Lone Star JR” Johnny Rutherford, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Jr. Parnelli Jones, Bobby Unser,  Al Unser,Sr., Roger Ward, and Jim Hurtubise as well.

Nevertheless, when I parked my car in the parking lot of  The Atlanta Motor Speedway there was a sense of grandeur like no other that I have witnessed in my, then, 34 years.  As I walked to my seat, the pre-race pageantry, spartan by today’s comparison, was electric.  I thought to myself, I am at the big time, the big show, I’m at NASCAR!

The race cars were being assembled on the grid, down on pit road.  There was “The King’s” car, that legendary Petty Blue and STP Day-Glo #43 Pontiac staring back at me.  WOW!  I looked further and saw Cale Yarborough’s Hardee’s #28 race car.  I peered longer and I spotted the Wrangler #3 Chevy of “The Intimidator”, Dale Earnhardt, Sr.  Then there was the red Budweiser #9 Ford Thunderbird of “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville,’ that “aw shucks” lanky redheaded Bill Elliott.  I spotted Buddy Baker’s racing machine, ol DW’s (Darrell Waltrip)#17 Tide ride was there, and the black #27 Miller Genuine Draft Pontiac of Rusty Wallace was perched on the gird, too.  Just looking at the starting grid sent chills up and down the back of my redneck!

I was totally awe struck!  I had made it to the big time, this is NASCAR!

When the pageantry had concluded and it was time to go racing, I got one whale of a huge surprise.  I had never worn ear protection to any of the races that I had attended while growing up, so why would I need some for this race?  Well, my thinking was totally askew!

Well, have you ever heard what over 36,000 horsepower sounds like up close and very personal?  It is earth shattering, and ground rumbling at the very least.  Pain is the only word that comes to mind!  It was a piecing, ringing, mind numbing, kind of pain!  My ears didn’t recover for two full days, needless to say, the ringing was really hard to deal with for those two days!  It didn’t take long for me to learn my lesson for future trips to the race track!

As the race unfolded, the pain in my ears became more tolerable, the excitement level increased, the cars were unbelievably fast, and the racing was intense.  At the end of the day, I witnessed “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville” win one of his many victories at Atlanta on that memorable Sunday afternoon!

It is a Sunday that I will never forget the thrill and excitement of 43 beautifully painted, finely tuned, deafeningly loud, precision racing machines,  accelerating like a bullet toward the waving green flag to start the Atlanta Journal-Constitution 500.  It was the Who’s Who of NASCAR racing doing what they do for 36 Sundays every year, and WOMR was privy to be there that Sunday afternoon!

So the 50th anniversary celebration this weekend is sort of bittersweet.  Although there is a gala type of an atmosphere at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, it was just announced the previous weeks that Atlanta is loosing its Spring race, thus only have the Labor Day weekend race starting in 2011.  So the fastest race track and one of the cornerstones of NASCAR is loosing a piece of its history, and some its clout beginning in 2011.

But for WOMR The Atlanta Motor Speedway will always hold a special place in my heart and in my mind that can never be replaced!

What is your special memories of Atlanta?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON  MY REDNECK!

(photo courtesy Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

There was a time when race car drivers would do ANYTHING to win a race!  Do the names like Dale Earnhardt, Sr., David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Fireball Roberts, and Junior Johnson ring a bell?   These men were hard charging, blatantly fierce race car drivers. 

Yeah I know . . . → Read More: Competitors Fierce or Friendly?]]>

(photo courtesy Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

There was a time when race car drivers would do ANYTHING to win a race!  Do the names like Dale Earnhardt, Sr., David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Fireball Roberts, and Junior Johnson ring a bell?   These men were hard charging, blatantly fierce race car drivers. 

Yeah I know that was long ago and in a far away place right, kind of like Star Wars?  Wrong!!! That was NASCAR competition, pure and simple!

What is with these so-called team mates being so happy, friendly, wanting to help their team mates score extra points by pulling over and allowing their team mates to lead a lap and pick up 5 bonus points?  What happened to the fierce, macho competitive edge that was once displayed?  Where is the game face of these “steely eyed“, fearless men? 

 Has Corporate America taken control of the one last bastion of fierce, masculine, take-no-prisoners type of independent competition? 

Was too much made out of the competitive beating and banging of team mates, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, after all, they are both four time Sprint Cup champions?  They are supposed to have that “fire in their belly”!  Do you think that Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough,David Pearson, or Richard Petty would have pulled over and let his team mate lead a lap for some bonus points?  I think NOT!

What is your take on the subject of team mates?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

(photo courtesy Harry How/Getty Images)

Now that NASCAR  has had an extra week to absorb the happenings from Atlanta, it is on to the Bristol Motor Speedway. Although the activities from Atlanta are now two week old, the memories are still very fresh on many race fans minds, as well as most . . . → Read More: Bristol: Beating, Banging, Bruising, and Brawling]]>

(photo courtesy Harry How/Getty Images)

Now that NASCAR  has had an extra week to absorb the happenings from Atlanta, it is on to the Bristol Motor Speedway. Although the activities from Atlanta are now two week old, the memories are still very fresh on many race fans minds, as well as most of the sports writers computers.

In fact, there has not been so much tongue-wagging and computer key strokes since that muddy February afternoon at Daytona when Cale Yarborough’s nose met the fists of the Allison brothers!  NASCAR was so up in arms over that fight that they used that altercation to advertise for the Daytona 500 the following year!  It was very good for business back then!

You remember Bristol don’t you?  Bristol Motor Speedway is the track that is so action packed and so tough with its bruising, banging, and brawling.  This is the track that should require the owners, drivers, and crew members to check their feelings at the pit gate before they  sign in and enter the racing facilities!

Bristol is such a unique track that it has its own zip code…….911!

For the fans that have been bored stiff with all the latest dish on Danica- “The Hottie”, or Jimmie- “The Great”,  they are starting to wake up and smell the burning rubber, ’cause now we now have an interesting rivalry brewing!

What do you think about this rivalry?

Do you think that there will be some banged up sheet metal, some bruised egos, and some tempers that will get lost before the Sun sets on Sunday in Bristol??  What do you think?

I’ll be hanging out near my computer for the next round in this Soap Opera from Bristol!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!