You Asked For It! ~ When The Races Weren't Boring!
3/21/2014
PattyKay Lilley
**My
thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Gary Bettenhausen in your time of loss. Gary was the consummate
racer, and he will be sorely missed by the entire racing world.
I bid
you welcome gentle readers to a follow-up of sorts on the column seen here on Wednesday. This one takes a twisting and
winding route through my younger years in racing and continues up to today,
with some interesting suggestions along the way for beating the boredom so many
complain of these days. Please enjoy and don't be afraid to add your comments
at the end. Your thoughts are, after all, the most important ones, and that's
what we want NASCAR to read and understand.
Back in
the stone age, when I was a teenager, there was (and still is, though it's
paved now) a half-mile dirt track located some 30 miles east of Rochester NY,
where I grew up. It's called Spencer Speedway, and many of you will remember
folks such as Richie Evans, Geoff Bodine and Jimmy Spencer (No relation) racing
there, but they all came later.
At about age 15 or 16, I was "dragged" out there by an old boyfriend
that was fascinated by drag racing. In those days, the dragsters were burning
something that passed for high-powered fuel but reeked of ether, and it just
made me sick. Anyone near my age that had a tonsillectomy back then knows
exactly what I mean.
Ah, but one weekend night we stayed on after the stinky cars were through
because there was scheduled to be a couple of feature races for something
called "stockcars", and the rest, as they say, is history.
Bear in mind that we are talking early to mid-fifties here, but the cars were
of a much older vintage, having a born-on date in the area of 1938 to 1941,
pre-World War II. They strongly resembled the little "Legend" cars
that we see today except that they were full-sized. I would learn later in life
that maybe these were not stock cars at all, but modifieds, something seen far
more often in the Northeast than the actual stock cars. It didn't matter to me
though; I loved them for whatever they were.
This video does not include Spencer Speedway, but gives a really precious representation of what is described herein. Yes, this is what they looked like and this is the way they raced, back when racing was a lot of fun. What's not to love about a car in your lap?
I couldn't tell you the name of a driver
I saw there that night, but I knew I'd found something special;
something that really piqued my interest and made me ecstatically happy to be a
part of it. Time and again, I went back to that little dirt track (Without that
particular boyfriend) to watch the likes of Dutch Hoag, Elmer Musclow and Lee Bliss turn circles while flinging
rooster-tails of dust and dirt all over the crowd. The crowd loved it, and I
did too! It was all about speed, and those men were our heroes, whizzing around
that little bull ring, sliding sideways through the turns and daring to risk
their lives to put on the best show on earth for the race fans, a stock car
race!
Looking
back from this end of the telescope, a much older me realizes how perilous a
seat in those old grandstands could have been. Remember, I'm the gal that bangs
the loudest drum for those SAFER barriers... but this is now and that was then,
when I was young and indestructible.
In 1955, the Big Guns from the Grand National circuit came to town to race at
the Monroe County Fairgrounds out on West Henrietta Road and my darling Aunt
Isabelle, who indulged the every whim and fancy of that scrawny teenager she
loved, got tickets for herself, my poor unsuspecting grandmother and me to go
and see a Grand National race. Life doesn't get any better when you're not yet
seventeen!
The race was won handily by Tim Flock, who wound up alone on the lead lap, but
there were a few other interesting names among those that I saw that day; names
such as Lee Petty, Buck Baker, Fonty Flock and a guy
named Junior Johnson, just to name a few.
I have to admit that being as young and ignorant as most teenagers, I really
didn't understand back then why some of the local heroes, especially Dutch
Hoag, who was the best that Spencer Speedway and the Northeast had to offer at
the time, didn't fare well against those interlopers, but I would learn over
the years what it means to race the best and try to beat the best.
It was some 30 years or so before I was able to see another live Grand National
race, but for all that time, I followed the series closely (buying copies of
the Monday edition of the Charlotte Observer from a local News Service) and
looking forward to weekly copies of GNS... Grand National
Scene. It was the best I could do while living in Western New York
State. I cheered lustily when ESPN decided to take a chance and begin
televising the races. Looking back today, I'm not at all sure that was a good
thing. Sometimes, less really is more.
Now, Spencer Speedway, Oswego, up around the Lake, Nazareth, down in
Pennsylvania and the like are not in a league with Indianapolis, Daytona or
that big ugly track in Alabama. (Hold your fire! I used to like Talladega,
until the restrictor plates came upon the scene. Now, it just flat scares me!)
Neither, I guess, are the small Southern tracks like North Wilkesboro Speedway,
Hickory Motor Speedway, Myrtle Beach Speedway,
Columbia Speedway or Bowman Gray Stadium and many more, all of which have been
removed from the Grand National [Cup] schedule over the years.
Still,
the small local tracks provide some of the best racing to be had, and they are
the venues that give us the best of the racers we see on the TV screen every
Sunday. Over recent years, I've had many readers and race fans tell me stories
of disillusionment and disappointment regarding the current state of NASCAR
racing at its highest level. The reasons for that are many and varied, ranging
from a seemingly endless parade of boring races to the impact on the wallet of
being bled by not only the tracks, but by every hotel, motel, restaurant and
gas station within their local hospitality industry.
Then of
course, there is the television coverage, or lack of same, that so many of us
are subjected to on a weekly basis. Whatever the individual reason, many fans
have canceled long-held reserved seating at almost any track you can think of,
and are planning vacations in the mountains or at the beach instead of at the
track.
What
will happen in the end to the “Big League” remains to be seen, but there is
something quite simple that we as race fans can do. My advice, and that of
Humpy Wheeler and his Speedway Benefits program, is to take your kids out to the local
short track; whether it’s dirt or asphalt makes no difference. Whether they run
Stockers, Modifieds, DIRT, Sprints, Midgets or Dragsters is immaterial. Show
the kids where real racing comes from, lest they be fooled by the bread and
circuses that now pass for the upper echelon of racing on television. You won't
see Chris Myers or Michael Waltrip in the infield, and you're not likely to run
into Rutledge Wood, (What IS his function?) but you just might see the guy that
lives down the road a piece, out on the track and racing hard.
What you
will see for sure are drivers that still race for the win rather than looking
at some “big picture.” You’ll see older drivers still racing, with no one
suggesting that they might like to sign into a nursing home, and you’ll see
youngsters that still have to prove their worth... and perhaps learn to
shave... before even being considered for
a top ride. If any of that sounds familiar, it might be because that’s
what Grand National racing used to be all about, before the big dollars took it
over.
It's
funny; I really don't mind being old. I've lived my life in relative comfort...
not what anyone would define as rich, but not poor either. I've enjoyed each
step along the way, from being that carefree, unafraid teenager, to being a
wife and mother and now being a grandmother to two beautiful Angel Babies that
are no longer babies by any means. The one constant throughout much of what's
turned out to be a long lifetime has been racing. Ever since those teenage
years, racing has been an integral part of what I've done and often why I've
done it.
That's
why I write about it I guess. I've seen it change over the years, watched the
fantastic growth of stock car racing under the loving and expert promotion of
Series sponsor R.J. Reynolds and conversely watched the decline of that same
racing over the past decade. No finger pointing today gentle readers; the point
I'm making is that I've seen it all unfold like a lifelong saga... the good and
bad all mixed together... making no one time better or worse than another,
merely different.
I do
miss the little dirt bullrings of my youth, right down to the need to shower
twice to get all of the dust and dirt out of places I didn't know I had. Racing
should be fun, and it should be about the race and who wins! If I want a "show",
I'll order one up "On Demand." Please, would someone explain that to
NASCAR?
Be well
gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~
PattyKay