#richard bill flag sr

[beeclops]

"Creature Commandos" opening sequence!

[art-now-germany]

Sketch For The Painting: Flag - Pax Christi,, Wolfgang Schmidt

This is a pair of 2 pictures - can be united with " Emperor Constantine - Astrolabium " also in one frame. Sincerely to: Andy Hall, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Paul Allen, Edythe L. and Eli Broad, Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, Patricia and Gustavo Phelps de Cisneros (Venezuela and Dominican Republic), Donald and Mera Rubell, Steven A. Cohen, Theo Danjuma, Maria Baibakova, Adrian Cheng, Ingvild Goetz (München), Victoria and David Beckham, Leonardo Dicaprio, Alan Lau, Camilla Barella, Ralph DeLuca, Arthur de Ganay, Ramin Salsali, Moises Cosio, Pedro Barbosa, Monique and Max Burger, Joaquin Diez-Cascon, Luciano Benetton, Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova (Russia), Robbie Antonio (Philippines), Hélène and Bernard Arnault (France), Maria and Bill Bell (United States), Peter Benedek (United States), Debra and Leon Black (United States), Christian and Karen Boros (Germany), Irma and Norman Braman (United States), Peter Brant (United States), Basma Al Sulaiman, Marc Andreessen, Laura and John Arnold, Camilla Barella, Swizz Beatz, Claudia Beck, Andrew Gruft, Robert and Renée Belfer, Lawrence Benenson, Frieder Burda (Germany), Richard Chang (United States), Kim Chang-il (Korea), David Chau and Kelly Ying (China), Pierre T.M. Chen (Taiwan), Adrian Cheng (China), Kemal Has Cingillioglu (United Kingdom), Nicolas Berggruen, Jill and Jay Bernstein, Ernesto Bertarelli, James Brett, Jim Breyer, Christian Bührle, Valentino D. Carlotti, Edouard Carmignac, Trudy and Paul Cejas, Dimitris Daskalopoulos (Greece), Zöe and Joel Dictrow (United States), George Economou (Greece), Alan Faena (Argentina), Mark Falcone and Ellen Bruss (United States), Amy and Vernon Faulconer (United States), Howard and Patricia Farber (United States), Larry and Marilyn Fields (United States), Marie Chaix, Michael and Eva Chow, Frank Cohen, Michael and Eileen Cohen, Isabel and Agustín Coppel, Anthony D'Offay, Hélène and Michel David-Weill, Antoine de Galbert, Ralph DeLuca, Amanda and Glenn Fuhrman (United States), Danielle and David Ganek (United States), Ken Griffin (United States), Agnes Gund (United States), Steven and Kathy Guttman (United States), Andrew and Christine Hall (United States), Lin Han (China), Henk and Victoria de Heus-Zomer (Holland), Grant Hill (United States), Maja Hoffmann (Switzerland), Erika Hoffmann-Koenige (Germany), Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Eric Diefenbach and JK Brown, David C. Driskell, Mandy and Cliff Einstein, Rebecca and Martin Eisenberg, Ginevra Elkann, Tim and Gina Fairfax, Dana Farouki, Michael and Susan Hort (United States), Guillaume Houzé (France), Wang Jianlin (China), Dakis Joannou (Greece), Alan Lau (China), Joseph Lau (China), Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy (United States), Agnes and Edward Lee (United Kingdom), Aaron and Barbara Levine (United States), Adam Lindemann (United States), Eugenio López (Mexico), Jho Low (China), Susan and Leonard Feinstein, Nicoletta Fiorucci, Josée and Marc Gensollen, Alan and Jenny Gibbs, Noam Gottesman, Florence and Daniel Guerlain, Paul Harris, Barbara and Axel Haubrok, Alan Howard, Fatima and Eskandar Maleki (United Kingdom), Martin Margulies (United States), Peter Marino (United States), Donald Marron (United States), David MartÍnez (United Kingdom and Mexico), Raymond J. McGuire (United States), Rodney M. Miller Sr. (United States), Simon and Catriona Mordant (Australia), Arif Naqvi (United Kingdom), Peter Norton (United States), Shi Jian, Elton John, Tomislav Kličko, Mo Koyfman, Jan Kulczyk, Svetlana Kuzmicheva-Uspenskaya, Pierre Lagrange, Eric and Liz Lefkofsky, Robert Lehrman, François Odermatt (Canada), Bernardo de Mello Paz (Brazil), José Olympio & Andréa Pereira (Brazil), Catherine Petitgas (United Kingdom), Victor Pinchuk (Ukraine), Alden and Janelle Pinnell (United States),Ron and Ann Pizzuti (United States), Michael Platt (Switzerland), Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli (Italy), Howard and Cindy Rachofsky (United States), Mitchell and Emily Rales (United States), Dan Loeb, George Lucas, Ninah and Michael Lynne, Lewis Manilow, Marissa Mayer, David Mirvish, Lakshmi Mittal, Valeria Napoleone, John Paulson, Amy and John Phelan, Ellen and Michael Ringier (Switzerland), David Roberts (United Kingdom), Hilary and Wilbur L. Ross Jr. (United States), Dmitry Rybolovlev (Russia), Lily Safra (Brazil),Tony Salamé (Lebanon), Patrizia Sandretto (Italy), Eric Schmidt (United States), Alison Pincus, Heather Podesta, Colette and Michel Poitevin, Thomas J. and Margot Pritzker, Bob Rennie, Craig Robins, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Stephen Ross, Alex Sainsbury, Alain Servais (Belgium), Carlos Slim (Mexico), Julia Stoschek (Germany), Budi Tek (Indonesia), Janine and J. Tomilson Hill III (United States), Trevor Traina (United States), Alice Walton (United States), Robert & Nicky Wilson (United Kingdom), Elaine Wynn (United States), Lu Xun (China), Muriel and Freddy Salem, Denise and Andrew Saul, Steven A. Schwarzman, Carole Server and Oliver Frankel, Ramin Salsali, David Shuman, Stefan Simchowitz, Elizabeth and Frederick Singer, Jay Smith and Laura Rapp, Jeffrey and Catherine Soros, Jerry Yang and Akiko Young (United States), Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei (China), Anita and Poju Zabludowicz (United Kingdom), Jochen Zeitz (South Africa), Qiao Zhibing (China), Jerry Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Susana and Ricardo Steinbruch, Kai van Hasselt, Francesca von Habsburg, David Walsh, Artur Walther, Derek and Christen Wilson, Michael Wilson, Owen Wilson, Zhou Chong, Doris and Donald Fisher, Ronnie and Samuel Heyman, Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis, Evelyn and Leonard Lauder, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Laude, Francois Pinault (France), Udo Brandhost (Köln), Harald Falckenberg (Hamburg), Anna and Joseph Froehlich (Stuttgart), Hans Grothe (Bremen), UN Knecht (Stuttgart), Arendt Oetker (Köln), Inge Rodenstock (Grünwald), Ute and Rudolf Scharpff (Stuttgart), Reiner Speck (Köln), Eleonore and Michael Stoffel (Köln), Reinhold Würth (Niedernhall), Wilhelm and Gaby Schürmann, Ivo Wessel, Heiner and Celine Bastian, Friedrich Karl Flick, Monique and Jean-Paul Barbier-Mueller (Genf), Christa and Thomas Bechtler (Zürich), David Bowie (Lausanne), Ulla and Richard Dreyfus (Binningen und Gstaad), Georges Embiricos (Jouxtens and Gstaad), Friedrich Christian "Mick" Flick (Hergiswil and Gstaad), Esther Grether (Bottmingen), Donald Hess (Bolligen), Elsa and Theo Hotz (Meilen), Baroness Marion and Baron Philippe Lambert (Genf), Gabi and Werner Merzbacher (Zürich), Robert Miller (Gstaad), Philip Niarchos (St. Moritz), Jacqueline and Philippe Nordmann (Genf), Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann (Basel), George Ortiz (Vandoeuvres), Graf and Gräfin Giuseppe Panza di Biumo (Massagno), Ellen and Michael Ringier (Zürich), Andrew Loyd Webber, Steve Martin, Gerhard Lenz, Elisabeth and Rudolf Leopold.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Sketch-For-The-Painting-Flag-Pax-Christi/694205/3253204/view

[fromtheringapron]

WCW Starrcade 1990

Date: December 16, 1990.

Location: Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, MO.

Attendance: 7,200.

Commentary: Jim Ross and Paul Heyman.

Results:

1. Bobby Eaton defeated The Z Man.

2. Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament, Round 1: The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) (USA) defeated Col. DeKlerk and Sgt. Krueger (South Africa).

3. Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament, Round 1: Konan and Rey Misterio (Mexico) defeated Chris Adams and Norman Smiley (United Kingdom). 

4. Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament, Round 1: Mr. Saito and The Great Muta (Japan) defeated Rip Morgan and Jacko Victory (New Zealand). 

5. Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament, Round 1: Salman Hashimikov and Victor Zangiev (Russia) defeated Danny Johnson and Troy Montour (Canada). 

6. Michael Wallstreet (with Alexandra Yorke) defeated Terry Taylor. 

7. The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious and Danny Spivey) defeated The Big Cat and The Motor City Maniac. 

8. Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton (with Robert Gibson) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael PS Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) (with Little Richard Marley). 

9. Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament, Semi-Final: The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) (USA) defeated Konan and Rey Misterio (Mexico).

10. Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament, Semi-Final: Mr. Saito and The Great Muta (Japan) defeated Salman Hashimikov and Victor Zangiev (Russia).

11. Texas Lariat Match for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Lex Luger defeated Stan Hansen (champion) to win the title. 

12. Street Fight for the NWA World Tag Team Championship: Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) (champions) (with Theodore Long) fought Arn Anderson and Barry Windham to a no-contest. 

13. Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament, Final: The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) (USA) defeated Mr. Saito and The Great Muta (Japan). 

14. Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: Sting (champion) defeated The Black Scorpion. 

My Review

The 1990 edition of Starrcade is an outright bad show. Amusingly bad, yes, but it’s still a pretty resounding failure. The cherry on the shit sundae, of course, is The Black Scorpion, one of WCW’s most infamous creative blunders. The storyline leading up to Starrcade was a lot of pulpy early ‘90s hokum⏤a mystery man, who may also be some sort of wizard, haunts world champion Sting for months with a groggy voice provided none other than Ole Anderson. It was completely ridiculous and demanded an equally ridiculous payoff.

What makes it suck so bad, however, is that not only is the reveal underwhelming, but it’s also boring. The Scorpion, first and foremost, is dressed like a masked jobber on an episode of WWF Superstars. Then it’s revealed the Scorpion is Ric Flair, the same man who Sting had already faced off with a billion times in the past two years. It’s admittedly interesting watching Flair try to completely abandon his style to play a new character, but the match itself is a by-the-numbers chore. Oh, and Dick the Bruiser is here as a terrible special guest ref who adds completely nothing. At least the Scorpion has the decency to enter the Kiel Auditorium through a spaceship that looks like your grandmother’s antique lamp.

But that’s not all, folks! We’re also treated to the Pat O’Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament, featuring teams from all over the world. A noble ideal, but the talent pool is, um, underwhelming to say the least. For example, we get wrestlers billed from “South Africa” who clearly aren’t from that country. Not that it winds up mattering anyway, because the whole point is for the Americans to beat them all. The matches are also hindered by some blown finishes that really kill the mood. It’s just a series of missed opportunities that could’ve been much a cooler concept if they’d thought more outside the box than “Welp, America wins LOL!”

It should be noted this is the second out of four consecutive tournaments WCW would book for their biggest show of the year. This is firmly ensconced in the era where the booking for Starrcade started to get a little wonky, anyway. I’m not sure how much of it had to do with them trying to distance themselves from the NWA name as much as possible or what, but it took away from Starrcade’s standing as a marquee show. It says a lot about this time period for WCW⏤constantly throwing one gimmick out there after another in hopes something would eventually stick.

It’s kinda sad, because it’s clear they didn’t need to go so far out of their way to establish their own identity. So many pieces of the puzzle are present in this show, from the production to the roster. It’s when they work overtime in competing with the WWF that things falls apart, a mistake they’d go on to repeat several times over. Collision Course is a fitting tagline for Starrcade ’90, and I’m not talking about the tag tournament. The show is a hodgepodge of half-baked ideas and, like any collision, the result is a mess.

My Random Notes

Apologies for the blurry quality of the poster above. It’s practically the best version I can find right now. Cut a queen some slack in the midst of pandemic, eh? 

A few production notes: 1.) Why is the WCW logo on the entrance way always crooked? 2.) I love the blue and yellow ring apron, but the red and yellow ropes are a weird fit. 3.) We’re treated throughout the broadcast with Starrcade Stats, a cheeseball yet time-period appropriate concept giving us trading card details on each of the night’s competitors. For example, the Z-Man does a missile dropkick “if possible.”

Spot of the night goes to Col. DeKlerk who damns it all and hits one of most ill-conceived front flips of all time, which causes Rick Steiner to visibly corpse on camera.

Laugh at Team Russia all you want, but they absolutely would be at a singlet party in Provincetown during Bear Week if it were 2020.

I’m pretty supportive of having filler matches on pay-per-views, but what the hell was even the point of that Skyscrapers squash? Did they forget to book it on WCW Saturday Night and need to make up the minutes?

We get our first taste of the highly acclaimed commentary duo of JR/Paul Heyman. It’s a slightly awkward first outing. Heyman isn’t really the Heyman we’d come to know yet so he sometimes comes off as a second-rate Bobby Heenan. He tries making a joke that the Midnight Express broke up due to Yoko Ono, which is every bit as painful as it sounds.

You mean to tell me the best Canadian wrestlers they could find were Troy Montour and Danny Johnson, whom I’m not even sure are actual wrestlers?

This should go without saying, but the Fabulous Freebirds and their fetishization of the Confederate flag is, um, a huge amount of yikes in a 2020 context. I don’t know a whole lot about about the point of them having Little Richard Marley as their sidekick, but I don’t think I want to know.

As with the dawn of any new decade, the ‘80s were still alive in 1990 and you need to look no further than the Dynasty extras they put on this show as the flag-bearers, with hair almost as tall as those big ass stars on the entrance way.

This, amazingly, marks the first time I’ve seen Rey Misterio Sr. (or Rey Misteric, as he’s referred to in the Starrcade graphics). I’ve honestly never even Googled his name to see what he looks like. It does seem like his nephew has a much better handle on the high-flying maneuvers. He inexplicably launches himself over the top rope after his Round 1 match is over. I’m sure it made Col. DeKlerk proud.

[the-record-obituaries]

June 19, 2019: Obituaries

Lovina Schrock, 91

Mrs. Lovina Hostetler Schrock, 91, of Moravian Falls, passed away on Sunday, June 16, 2019 at her residence.

Lovina was born on June 11, 1928 in Stark County Ohio to Henry Hostetler and Ella Miller Hostetler.

Lovina is preceded in death by parents; husband, Mervin L. Schrock; brother, Ervin Hostetler; sister, Beulah Hochstedler and great grand daughter, Danielle Schrock.

Lovina is survived by her 5 daughters, Susan Faye Hochstetler of Canada, Joy Roselle Hileman of Ohio, Debra Kaye Yoder of Moravian Falls, Juanita Lynne Herber of Pennsylvania, Charlotte Marlene Schrock of Virginia; 5 sons, John Mark Schrock, Larry Dean Schrock, Timothy Jay Schrock, Franklin Scott Schrock all of Virginia, Frederick Allen Schrock of Moravian Falls; sisters, Mary Wittmer of Pennsylvania, Viola Mullet of Ohio; brothers, Melvin Hostetler of Ohio, Henry Hostetler of Canada; 21 grandchildren and many great grand children.

The funeral service will be held in Ohio at a later date.

Adams Funeral Home of Wilkes has the honor of serving the Schrock Family.

 Nancy Winters, 5

Nancy Lee Winters, age 55, of North Wilkesboro, passed away Saturday, June 15, 2019 at Westwood Hills Nursing and Rehab Center. Nancy was born July 11, 1963 in Wilkes County to Cecil and Mandy Stanley Trivette. She loved to fish; do crafts and quilting. Ms. Winters was preceded in death by her parents; and several siblings.

Surviving are her son, Steven Winters and spouse Jessica of North Wilkesboro; daughter, Amanda Winters and spouse Zachary White of Huntington, West Virginia; a number of siblings; grandchildren, M.J. Winters and Josh Walker.

The family has requested no flowers.

Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.  

 Hazel Prevette, 96

Hazel Maie Johnson Prevette, 96, of North Wilkesboro, went home to be with her Lord and Savior on Saturday, June 15, 2019 at Wilkes Senior Village.

She was born May 23, 1923 in Wilkes County, to the late William Edward Johnson and Julie Maie Combs Johnson.

     Hazel was a member of Lewis Baptist Church.  She loved singing and praising the Lord with her church family in the choir.  She was a passionate vegetable and flower gardener.

     Including her parents, she was preceded in death by: her husband, Dewey Gaither Prevette Sr.; grandchildren, Craig Williams and Pamela Taylor.

     Those left to cherish and honor her memory include: daughters, Peggy Taylor (Wallace) of McGrady, Kathy Williams (Dean) of Wilkesboro; sons, D. G. Prevette, Jr. (Linda) of Wilkesboro, Kenneth Prevette (Sarah) of Lewisville; sister, Annie Lou Brown (Gene) of Millers Creek; brother, Howard Johnson of Purlear; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren

     Funeral services wereJune 18,   at Lewis Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro.  Rev. Bruce Rhoades will be officiating.  Burial followed in the church cemetery.

     Adams Funeral Home of Wilkes and cremation services is honored to be serving the Prevette Family.

 Fern Anderson, 87

Fern Anderson, 87 Mrs. Fern Pauline Call Anderson, age 87, widow of Hobert Anderson, died on Saturday, June 15, 2019 at Villages of Wilkes.

     Funeral services were June 19,  at Reins-Sturdivant Chapel with Rev. Alan Bouchelle officiating.  Burial was in Fishing Creek Arbor Baptist Church Cemetery.

Mrs. Anderson was born June 19, 1931 in Wilkes County to Benjamin Winfred and Carrie Elizabeth Benge Call. She was a member of Penelope Baptist Church in Hickory. Before her retirement while residing in Hickory, NC, she worked for Cline Insurance Company as a private secretary and was self-employed as a skin care specialist thru Ann Mari.

In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her husband, Hobert Anderson; four sisters, Sylvia Call Soots, Tessie Call Foster, Florence Call Hayes Bouchelle, and Doris Call Waddell Spears; and four brothers, Julius H. Call, James P. Call, Roy "Ray" Call, and Coy "Clay" Call.

She is survived by her daughter, Linda Anderson Plemmons of North Wilkesboro; twin sons, Tracy Anderson and wife, Sandy, of Millers Creek, and Travis Van Anderson of Hickory; four grandchildren, Dana K.Anderson, Dylan L. Anderson, Doug Plemmons, and Floyd Plemmons; four great-grandchildren, Rachel C. Plemmons, Kyle P. Plemmons, Jason Sprinkle, and Elijah Foster; one great-great-grandchild, Chaselyn Kate Plemmons; one sister, Lois Call Foster of Traphill; and one brother, Thomas Jerry Call of Wilkesboro.

The latter part of her life, Mrs. Anderson spent ten years at Catawba Valley Assisted Living and three years at Wilkes Senior Villages.  The family sincerely thanks the staff of both facilities for their wonderful care of their loved one.

A special thank you from the family to Shirley Bowlin for her exceptional care of our Mother.

  Kenith Jones, Sr., 83

 Mr. Kenith Smythe Jones, Sr., 83, of Taylorsville, passed away Thursday, June 13, 2019 at Valley Nursing Center.

Kenith was born December 18, 1935 in Fayette  County, WV, the son of the late George Thomas Jones, Sr. and Inez Blanch Duncan Jones.

He was a US Army veteran, who served in Germany as a combat engineer. He had worked as a supervisor for Southern Devices before retiring and was a member of Bethel Baptist Church. He enjoyed reading Westerns, was a avid Redskin fan, and enjoyed playing golf when he was able and also enjoyed watching NASCAR.

Including his parents, he was preceded in death by: his wife, Peggy Joyce Payne Jones; four sisters, Beulah Pemberton, Doris Criss, Natella Blackwell and infant sister, Carolyn Jones; a brother, George Jones.

Those left to cherish and honor his memory include: a daughter, Patricia Jones Carter and husband, Larry, of Statesville; four sons, Kenny Jones and wife, Joan, of Taylorsville, Barry Jones and wife, Janna, of Newton, Timothy Jones and wife, Lisa, of Taylorsville, Ricky Jones of Asheville; five grandchildren, Joshua Moore, Caitlin Jones Parkhurst and husband, Matt, Ashley Jones, Tyler Jones and wife, Tiffany, Andrew Jones and fiance, Lacey Bruno; four great-grandchildren, RJ, Gracelynn, Jacob and Ezra; two sisters, Janet Payne and husband, Charles, of WV, Drema Gail Gales of VA; a brother, William Jones and wife, Carol, of WV; a sister-in-law, Christine Jones of WV; and a number of nieces and nephews.

A service was held  June 17,  at Bethel Baptist Church with Revs. Bill Smith and Ervel Jones officiating. Burial   followed in the church cemetery with flag folding ceremony.

Pallbearers were Ken's sons and grandsons.

The family would like to express a sincere thank you for every act of kindness or visit to our loved one and also to the staff, nurses and caregivers at Valley Nursing Center.

Memorials may be made to: Alexander County Hospice, 50 Lucy Echerd Lane, Taylorsville, NC 28681.

Adams Funeral Home and cremation services is honored to be serving the Jones Family.

 Terri Sigmon, 64

Terri Lynn Sigmon, age 64, passed away peacefully on June 11, 2019 at Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation in Taylorville and is now resting in the care of our Lord.  

She was born in Hickory, NC on February 28, 1955.  Prior to moving there she lived at Parklane Group home in Newton.

She was preceded in death by her parents Charles and Jane Sigmon of Hickory.  

She is survived by her sister, Sandie Cline (Jimmie) of Wilkesboro, and her brothers, Robert Sigmon (Virginia) of Statesville, and Bruce Sigmon of Hickory.

Terri was a long- time member of Christ Lutheran Church in Hickory where she is best remembered for her deep faith and leading the congregation in happy birthday songs.  She especially loved family gatherings during the holidays. She had a special relationship with her nephews Christopher (Tanya) of Wilkesboro, Jonathan (Ellen) and Matthew (Jessica) of Mooresville and great nephews and nieces, Ayden, Charlie, Cameron, Macie, Oren, Eli, Finley and Luke. They will cherish the memories of her.

The funeral service will be held on Thursday, June 20,   at 3:00 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church in Hickory.

The family will receive friends prior to the service from 2: 00 until 3:00 p.m. at the church. Rev. Richard Schwandt will be officiating the service. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to the memorial fund at Christ Lutheran Church, 324 2nd Ave. SE, Hickory, NC 28602.

Pallbearers for the service will be Christopher Cline, Jonathan Cline, Matthew Cline, Van Smith, Scott Wimmer, and Billy Pernell.

 Vickie Cothren, 52

Vickie Cothren, 52 Miss Vickie Lee Cothren, age 52 of Roaring River, passed away Wednesday, June 12, 2019 at Woltz Hospice Home in Dobson.

     Funeral services were June 15,   at White Plains Baptist Church with Pastor William Souther and Bishop Peggy Horton officiating.  Burial was in the church cemetery.                Vickie was born October 24, 1966 in Wilkes County to James "Jim" Ervin Cothren and Georgie Lee Swaim Cothren. She was employed for 30 years with Wilkes Community College as a Library Assistant. Vickie enjoyed spending time with her great nieces and nephews who called her "Bibby" and liked sports from WFU, Chicago Bulls and Carolina Panthers. She also enjoyed cooking and most enjoyed sharing her testimony with her relationship with God.

She was preceded in death by her mother; Georgie Lee Cothren.

In addition to her father; Jim Cothren, she is survived by three sisters; Anna Church of Millers Creek, Teresa Absher of Roaring River and Jane Whitley of Hays, nieces and nephews; Amanda Miller (William), Sonya Evans (Allen), Michael Church, Ashley Mabe (Jason), Lindsay Jester (Justin) and Colby Whitley, great nieces and nephews; Elijah Miller, Asher Miller, Brenan, Nevan and Rowyn Mabe and Elizabeth Jester, Aunt Joy Swaim, Cousins; Calvin Swaim, Charlene Dancy and family, special friends and co-workers; Rebecca Kruger, Christy Earp, Misty Bass, Janet Atwood, Audrey Chapel and Donna Church and Fur Babies; Jett, Sanford, Melinda and Miss Sunshine.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to the Donor's Choice, Wilkes Community Partnership for Children PO Box 788 North Wilkesboro, NC 28659, Wilkes Community College Endowment Corporation PO Box 120 Wilkesboro, NC 28697 or Mtn. Valley Hospice 401 Technology Lane Suite 200 Mt. Airy, NC 27030.

 James Ashley, Jr. 77

Mr. James Martin Ashley, Jr. age 77 of Wilkesboro, passed away Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at his home.

Funeral services were June 18,   at Cub Creek Baptist Church with Pastor John Lewis and Mr. Frank Denny officiating. Burial was in Cub Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.  

Mr. Ashley was born November 27, 1941 in Wilkes County to James Martin Ashley, Sr. and Geneva Sink Ashley.  He was retired after 35 dedicated years at Lowe's Companies. During his employment he worked as a Store Manager and a Regional Manager. James was a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather and friend. He was a member of Cub Creek Baptist Church where he was a Faithful Deacon, Loved and Respected Sunday School Teacher, member of the Adult Choir and Hand Bell Choirs, Good News Club Teacher, served on the Building Committee, Maintenance Committee and the Expansion Committee. James was an avid Golfer. After retirement, he enjoyed spending his time working on his cattle farm and enjoying the beautiful mountain views. He was always helping or attending the many activities with his grandchildren. James was well known for his love of his family, his church and his tremendous work ethic. His best Friend, Bear, Black-Lab mix was always at his side, waiting for the last bite of anything that James ate.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother; Bill Ashley.

James is survived by his wife; Judy Ann Wayne Ashley of the home, two daughters; Jamie Ashley Beamon and Lorie Ashley Kerhoulas both of Wilkesboro, a son; James Martin Ashley, III "Jimmy" of Wilkesboro, five grandchildren; Anna Kerhoulas LaFave and husband Ethan, Stephen Kerhoulas and fiancé Clair Colburn, Martin Beamon, Jacob Beamon and Nicholas Ashley, a great grandchild; Addy Billings and two sisters; Ann Ashley and Jane Ashley both of Wilkesboro.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made in honor of grandchildren Anna and Jacob to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Piedmont Triad Chapter 216 W. Market Street Suite B, Greensboro, NC 27401.

 Ann Whitworth, 83

Ann Hill Whitworth, age 83, passed away on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at her home in Purlear, NC. She was born in Erwin, NC on November 12, 1935 to Frank Weaver, Sr. and Elsie Horrell Weaver.

Mrs. Whitworth was formerly employed at Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company and was retired from Duke Medical Center. She was a member of Greystone Baptist Church until her move to Purlear, NC in 2007. She was a member of New Hope Baptist Church, Purlear, NC until her passing.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Fred Roy Hill and her husband, Donald Whitworth.

She is survived by her daughter, Deborah Hill Yates of Purlear, NC; her son, Frederick A. Hill of Durham, NC; three grandsons, Ross B. Yates, and wife, Andrea of Mt. Pleasant, SC, Brett J. Yates of Millers Creek, NC, and Mark C. Yates of Purlear, NC and three great grandchildren, Finley Madison Yates, Bennett Reid Yates, and Cooper Hill Yates.

A memorial service will be held on June 29, 2019 at 2:00 PM at Greystone Baptist Church, Hillsborough Road, Durham, NC. A private burial at Maplewood Cemetery, Durham, NC will follow the memorial service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Wake Forest Care at Home Hospice, 126  Executive Drive, Suite 110, Wilkesboro, NC 28697.

Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.  

[xtruss]

Historic Summits Between US, Soviet Union/Russia Leaders Post WWII

People cross a bridge decorated with United States and Russian flags in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. US President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Wednesday, June 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — As the world is closely following the upcoming summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden and speculating on its possible outcome, Sputnik has reviewed historic meetings between the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia to examine the ups and downs of relations between the two superpowers.

FIRST SOVIET LEADER TO VISIT UNITED STATES

WHEN September 1959

WHERE Washington, D.C., New York, California, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maryland (US)

WHO Dwight D. Eisenhower (US) and Nikita Khrushchev (Soviet Union)

It was one of the first bilateral meetings between the leaders of the US and the Soviet Union after the end of World War II and during the ongoing-Cold War. The visit was not a breakthrough in the relations between the counties and no official documents were signed, yet the sides discussed the Berlin issue and nuclear non proliferation. The event received extensive media coverage.

MOSCOW SUMMIT/WASHINGTON SUMMIT/MOSCOW SUMMIT

WHEN 1972-1974

WHERE Moscow, Yalta (Soviet Union) / Washington, D.C. (US)

WHO Richard M. Nixon (US) and Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)

US and Soviet leaders held three consequent summits amid the Cold War at the start of the 1970s, which resulted in the signing of important treaties and relaxing of the fixed relations between the two nations. Following the 1972 Moscow summit, the sides sealed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to limit the ballistic missile systems, a deal which existed for 30 years, and the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), the predecessor of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT 1) Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon

A year after the Moscow summit, the sides met again, this time in the US capital. Joined by then-US State Secretary Henry Kissinger and Soviet Chairman of the Council of Ministers Aleksey Kosygin, the sides signed the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War.

In 1974, Nixon was met by cheering crowds at the Moscow airport. Together with Brezhnev, he visited Moscow's Bolshoi Theater and then departed for the Crimean resort city of Yalta. This was Nixon's final summit with Brezhnev as a month later he would announce his resignation. The summit ended with the signing of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, which banned the tests of nuclear devices with a yield of more than 150 kilotons. Before the treaty, both countries were conducting such tests. However, the agreement was not ratified until 1990 due to a number of reasons.

VLADIVOSTOK SUMMIT

WHEN November 1974

WHERE Vladivostok (Soviet Union)

WHO Gerald Ford (US) and Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)

By the 1970s, the US-Soviet arms race reached colossal scale, and the leaders understood that the agreements to regulate nuclear arsenals should be implemented. The meeting, thus, was focused on arms control, with Ford and Brezhnev agreeing to limit both nations' weapons, including intercontinental ballistic and submarine-launched missiles.

WASHINGTON SUMMIT

WHEN December 1987

WHERE Washington, D.C., (US)

WHO Ronald Reagan (US) and Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Union)

The Washington summit – followed by the ones in Geneva and Reykjavik – was probably one of the most significant bilateral meetings between US and Soviet leaders, as the sides signed the historic Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The sides agreed to destroy all ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles that have ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310 miles and 3,400 miles).

U.S. president Ronald Reagan (left) and General Secretary of the Central Committee of CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev at the joint meeting exchanging ratification instruments on bringing into force Soviet-American treaty on elimination of medium and short range missiles. (File)

The treaty went into effect on June 1, 1988. Nearly 30 years later, in 2018, Donald Trump announced his intention to leave the deal and formally pulled the US out in 2019. Russia responded reciprocally. The nuclear pact came to an end after Washington accused Moscow of repeat breaches, a claim denied by Russia.

MALTA SUMMIT

WHEN December 1989

WHERE Birzebbuga, Malta

WHO George H. W. Bush (US) and Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Union)

The summit, which happened weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, saw the declaration of the end of the Cold War between the two countries. This was the second meeting between Gorbachev and Bush after the one in New York in 1988, with the participation of Bush's predecessor, Reagan. Back then, the media hailed the summit as landmark and compared it to the Yalta conference of 1945, which gathered Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

MOSCOW SUMMIT

WHEN January 1993

WHERE Moscow, Russia

WHO George H. W. Bush (US) and Boris Yeltsin (Russia)

This was one of the first meetings of US and now Russian leaders after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The sides signed the START II treaty banning the use of multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs) on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). However, the deal never entered into effect. Yeltsin later met with Bush's successor, Bill Clinton a number of times in Washington, Munich, Moscow, Vancouver, Helsinki, Paris and other cities.

Then Russian President Boris Yeltsin (left) and then US President George Bush Sr. (right) during official welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn, 1992.

LJUBLJANA SUMMIT / BRATISLAVA SUMMIT

WHEN June 2001/February 2005

WHERE Ljubljana, Slovenia / Bratislava, Slovakia

WHO George W. Bush (US) and Vladimir Putin (Russia)

This was the first meeting between Putin and Bush since the latter assumed his post as the US president. Putin already met Bush's predecessor, Clinton, back in 2000. At the summits in Slovakia and Slovenia, Putin and Bush discussed such items as arms control, strategic stability and events of international significance in Iran, North Korea, the Balkans and Afghanistan.

Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, right, and George W. Bush of the USA meet in Novo-Ogarevo, presidential country residence in the Moscow environs. May 8, 2005.

PRAGUE SUMMIT

WHEN April 2010

WHERE Prague, Czech Republic

WHO Barack Obama (US) and Dmitry Medvedev (Russia)

The summit marked the signing of the landmark New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), which is the only remaining nuclear arms pact between the US and Russia. The deal that is premised on the proposition that each side ultimately reduces their nuclear arsenal to a total of 700 missiles, 800 launchers and 1,550 deployed warheads, has recently been extended until 2026. The accord was under threat of being defunct as the INF, however, the sides eventually decided to extend the treaty. Now it is believed that the sides may have a five-year breathing space to negotiate arms control and other strategic treaties.

HELSINKI SUMMIT

WHEN July 2018

WHERE Helsinki, Finland

WHO Donald Trump (US) and Vladimir Putin (Russia)

The summit was held amid the heightened tensions between Russia and the US in the wake of the 2014 Ukraine crisis, subsequent US sanctions against Moscow and the reports about Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. At the joint press conference, Trump cast doubt on the US intelligence assessment of the Russian meddling, thus causing an immediate wave of criticism from numerous US politicians and media and accusations of weak positioning in comparison with Putin.

The two leaders also discussed a variety of aspects of bilateral cooperation along with international issues, such as Syria, the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and North Korea.

Meeting of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki

— Sputnik | June 16, 2021

[theresawelchy]

George HW Bush passed away- some non-partisan math comments

George HW Bush passed away recently. When he was alive there were 5 living ex presidents. Now there are 4. What is the max and min number of ex presidents? This we will answer. What is the prob of having many living ex-presidents?

What is the max number of ex-presidents alive at the same time? List the times this has happened. Your answer should be a list of statements of the following form:

 Shortly after X took office there were Y ex-presidents: Z(1), Z(2), ... , Z(Y).

I leave a little white space in case you want to try to figure it out, though the point of this post is not to quiz you.

ANSWER: The max number of ex-presidents alive at the

same time is five. This has happened four times.

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

ONE: In 1861 just after Lincoln took office there were five living ex-presidents:

Martin van Buren (died in 1862), John Tyler (died in 1862), Millard Fillmore (died in 1874), Franklin Pierce (died in 1869), James Buchanan (died in 1868).

Key factors: (1) Between 1836 and 1860 there were no 2-term presidents, (2) Martin van Buren lived a long time after being president.

TWO: In 1993 just after Clinton took office there were five living ex-presidents:

Richard M. Nixon (died in 1994), Gerald Ford (died in 2006), Jimmy Carter (still alive as of Dec 2018), Ronald Reagan (died in 2004), George HW Bush (died in 2018).

Key factors: (1) Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush Sr were the equivalent of 4 one-terms, and (2) Reagan lived a long time after being president.

THREE: In 2001 just after George W. Bush took office there were five living ex-presidents:

Gerald Ford (died in 2006), Jimmy Carter (still alive as of Dec 2018), Ronald Reagan (died in 2004), George Bush (died in 2018).  Bill Clinton (still alive as of Dec 2018).

Key factors: (1) Ford, Carter, Bush Sr. were effectively 3 one-terms, and (2) Reagan lived a long time after being president.

FOUR: In 2017 just after Donald Trump took office there were five living ex-presidents:

Jimmy Carter (still alive as of Dec 2018), George  HW Bush (died in 2018).  Bill Clinton (still alive as of Dec 2018).  George W Bush (still alive as of Dec 2018).  Barack Obama (still alive as of Dec 2018).

Key factors: (1) Carter, Bush were both one-termers,  (2) Clinton and W are relatively young for presidents and in good health, and  (3) Carter and W lived  a long time (Carter is still living!)

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

I want to see this record broken! I want to see 6 living ex presidents! (Darling asks why I want to see that. Its a good question which I will partially address later.) Hence I want to see Donald Trump impeached or resign or leave office!  I was hoping it would would happen before one of Carter, Bush Sr, Clinton, W, Obama died. Oh well.

So now what? Is it possible that we will see 6 living ex-presidents in our lifetime. Factors: prez longevity, prez age, one-term vs two-term, and since I am asking about in OUR lifetime, our longevity.

Lets assume that neither The Donald nor any other president resigns or gets impeached or leaves office before their term is up. We assume that the presidents after Trump are  Alice, Bob, Carol.

Scenarios:

ONE: Donald Trump loses to Alice in 2020, Alice loses to Bob in 2024. None of the ex presidents dies before 2025. Then we would have, in the first day of the Bob presidency, which would be  in  2025,  6 living ex presidents:  Carter, Clinton, W, Obama, Trump, Alice.

This needs Carter to live to be about 100 (the others are much younger). Possible!

TWO: Donald Trump loses  to Alice in 2020, Alice loses to Bob in 2024 . Bob loses to Carol in 2028. Carter passes away before 2025 but the other ex presidents are alive in 2029. Then we would have, in the first day of the Carol presidency, which would be in 2029, 6 living ex presidents:Clinton, W, Obama, Trump, Alice, Bob.

This needs W, Clinton, Trump  to live to be about 83 and Obama to live to be 72.  Possible!

I'll stop here, but you can make up your own SCENARIO THREE which requires some people to live to 87.

Scenario ONE seems unlikely. TWO and THREE are plausible; however, there is another factor. I am assuming a long string of one-termers (that was flagged as not-a-word. Oh well.)  Lately incumbency has a big advantage: Clinton, W, Obama were all two-termers. Incumbency is powerful for two reasons that reinforce each other:

The incumbent can DO things, can LOOK presidential.

Since the incumbent has these advantages people are scared to run against him or her.

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

Math problem

: What is the probability that we will see 6 living ex presidents by 2029? To solve this you would need to know

Longevity statistics. But of what group? by Age? by profession? of ex-presidents? That seems to narrow for good statistics.

Incumency statistics. How likely is it for a Prez to be re-elected? Again, too small a sample size. And Trump seems like an outlier. I suspect that if Jeb or Hillary were president they would get re-elected because of the incumbency advantage. But Trump is so unusual that it might not hold. One thing in his favor: it is unlikely there will be a challenge from his own party. One thing in his disfavor would be a third party challenge. But ENOUGH. My point is that it would be hard to do good stats here.

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

So why do I care about seeing 6 living ex-presidents in my lifetime? I have a reason but its not a good reason.

Early in the Nixon Presidency LBJ died. I noticed that there were ZERO living ex-presidents. I knew that LBJ was dead, and JFK was dead, and I suspected (correctly) that Eisenhower and Truman were dead, and I knew FDR was dead. Before that we have Hoover and others who were of course dead. I was SO PROUD of myself for KNOWING this (to be fair I was 12 years old). This sparked my interest in presidents and especially in the question of most/least living ex-prez.

Now for the obvious question on the other end of the spectrum:

What is the min number of ex-presidents alive at the same time? And when did it occur (list all times)

White space for those who want to try to figure it out or look it up.

ANSWER: Zero. This happened six times.

ONE: When George Washington was president there obviously were zero living ex-presidents.

TWO: Shortly after John Adams became president George Washington died. At that time there were zero ex-presidents.

THREE: During Ulysses S Grant's term Andrew Johnson, the prior president died. Lincoln was dead by assassination and all prior presidents were dead of old age  or similar (e.g., James Buchanan died at the age of 77, Franklin Pierce (an ancestor of Barbara Bush (nee Pierce) was 65 and died of cirrhosis of the liver, from alcoholism.)

FOUR: During Theodore Roosevelt's term Grover Cleveland died, and all other ex-presidents were dead.  Recall that the prior prez, McKinley, had been assassinated.

FIVE: During Herbert Hoover's term, following Calvin Coolidge's death (Hoover's predecessor), there were no ex-presidents.  This partially explains why Coolidge didn't run- he had health problems.  Note that Harding died in office.

SIX: During Nixon's term, in 1973, Lyndon Johnson died. At that time there were zero ex-presidents.  This was because Lyndon Johnson died young (65), Kennedy was assassinated, Eisenhower was old while president.

NOTE: I would have thought that since FDR served so long and died in office either during FDR's term or Harry Truman's term there would be a time with no living ex-presidents.  Early in FDR's term there was only one living ex-president: Hebert Hoover. However, he didn't die until 1964. Hence he lived through the presidencies of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and part of Johnson's.  This is NOT the most presidents an ex-president has lived through after they step down. That honor might go to Carter who has lived through the presidencies of Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, W, Obama, and, as of this writing, a few years of Trump.  I have not checked if this is a record but I will once Carter passes away.

NOTE: In most of the cases above a recent president had died prematurely. Grant- Lincoln, Roosevelt- McKinley, Hoover- Coolidge, Nixon- Johnson and Kennedy.)

NOT: Since Obama, W, and Clinton are all relatively young, and presidents dying in office is now very rare (the last one was JFK in 1963)   I doubt this will happen again. But politics and history can surprise you.

Computational Complexity published first on Computational Complexity

[renewableenergylawtopics]

Around Lexington

Citizens for Lexington Conservation Annual Meeting: 7-9 p.m. April 5, Carey Memorial Library, 1874 Massachusetts Ave. Citizens for Lexington Conservation will hold its annual meeting in the large lecture room at Cary Memorial Library. The featured speaker will be Professor Richard Primack, professor of biology at Boston University. The topic of his talk will be “Climate Change Comes to Thoreau’s Woods: Effects on Plants, Birds, and Insects.” Primack is an expert in plant ecology, conservation biology, climate change biology and tropical rain forests. The meeting is open to the public. Light refreshments will be available, and Primack will have copies of his book for sale.

Women IN God’s Spirit: 9:30-11:15 a.m. April 5, St. Brigid Parish Center, 1995 Mass. Ave., Lexington. The Lexington Catholic Community concludes its Spring WINGS (Women IN God’s Spirit) program. This last session will led by Sr. Maureen Casey, SND, Program Director at the Miramar Retreat Center in Duxbury, MA, and co-director of the Spiritual Direction Internship Program in Brighton MA. Her stimulating presentation will be, “God’s Longing to Capture Our Hearts in Our Everyday Experiences.” Following the presentation there will be a light luncheon in Keilty Hall. Membership is not required to attend any WINGS session.

The Wonder of BeeKeeping: 7-8 p.m. April 5, Keilty Hall, St Brigid’s Church, 2001 Lexington Ridge Drive, Lexington. Free. For information: https://lexgardenclub.org. Noah Wilson-Rich, Ph.D is the founder of Best Bees Beekeeping Services, a full-service beekeeping operation that delivers, installs and manages beehives for residences and businesses. Their mission is to expand the honeybee population, and to improve the overall health and safety of bees; each hive is a subject of analysis and scientific research. Light refreshments at 6:30 p.m. Parking is free.

New Student Admissions Open House: 9-11 a.m. April 5, Tremont School, 758-r Marrett Road, Lexington. Parents and their middle school and/or high school students can attend Tremont School’s next Open House to experience the classroom environment and its “dedication” to social, emotional and academic learning. RSVP at http://dev.tremontschool.org/Home/admissions/open-houses.

Musketeers, Charge!: 7:30 p.m. April 6, 5 p.m. April 7 and 14, The Cross Performing Arts Center at Lexington Christian Academy, 48 Bartlett Ave., Lexington. “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas, adapted for children and teenagers. Performed in Russian with English subtitles. ​Intended for children ages 6 and older, teenagers and adults. Bringing children younger than 3 is not recommended. ​The play is 90 minutes with one intermission. Tickets cost $20-$25 and can be purchased at http://almamaterstudio.org/musketeers.

Lexington Conservation Stewards Photo Exhibit: At Home In Nature: 2-4 p.m. April 7, Carey Memorial Library, 1874 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington.. The Conservation Stewards will take over the Pierce Gallery at Cary Memorial Library during the month of April to showcase some of their Steward photographers and the conservation areas they love. A reception and short presentation on the Lexington Conservation Stewards program will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. April 7.

Friends of Cary’s Book Lover’s Brunch: 10 a.m.-noon April 7, Large Meeting Room, Cary Memorial Library, 1874 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington. Free. The Friends of Cary’s Book Lover’s Brunch will present award-winning novelist, memoirist and playwright Monica Wood. Seating is limited; advance registration is required. Brunch registration opened March 1 through Friends of Cary Library. Participants may sign up for themselves and one guest by calling 781-862-6288, ext. 84407, emailing friends@carylibrary.org or by signing up online at the Library Events Calendar. Provide a name, phone number and email address.

Singer Bill Staines in concert: 7:30 p.m. April 8, Temple Isaiah, 55 Lincoln St., Lexington. Temple Isaiah Coffeehouse will present folk singer Bill Staines, Temple Isaiah’s first Coffeehouse performer. With 26 recordings to his credit, he has written over 300 songs, many of which have been recorded by the likes of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Makem and Clancy, Nanci Griffith, Glen Yarborough, and Jerry Jeff Walker. On stage, Staines encourages his audience to sing with him on his chorus songs. He will mix in traditional tunes with his own contemporary folk ballads. Tickets may be purchased in advance at https://bpt.me/3233214.

‘MA Wills and Trusts in Plain English’: 2 p.m. April 8, Lexington Depot, 13 Depot Square. Free. Joel Bernstein, a Lexington attorney and resident who has spoken to national audiences for 25 years on understanding wills and trusts, will speak on the topic of “MA Wills and Trusts in Plain English.” He will address creating these estate planning documents in a “more understandable” manner. This lecture will look behind the “usual verbiage” and suggest understanding the issues facing people and their beneficiaries in this area of their lives. Call 781-863-8606 to reserve a seat.

LexRap Public Information Session: 7-8 p.m. April 9, Cary Memorial Library, 1605 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington. For information: http://lexrap.org. Lexington Refugee Assistance Program will present a Public Information Session. LexRAP is a Lexington-based volunteer organization helping refugees to settle in the U.S. and to become “productive and well-adjusted” members of the community. The mission of LexRAP is to support and to assist refugees and asylum seekers to integrate into American society. The session will provide an overview of the organization, what they do and how community members can help.

Attorney General Maura Healey to speak: 6-9 p.m. April 11, Arlington Town Hall, 730 Massachusetts Ave. For information: 978-318-3447; http://c4rj.com; info@c4rj.com. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a supporter of criminal justice reform, will be the keynote speaker at “Expanding the Circle: Restorative Justice at a Pivotal Time,” a fundraiser and party for Communities for Restorative Justice (C4RJ). Funds raised will support C4RJ’s partnerships with police departments in 19 communities and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. The event will feature live music, silent auction and a light supper provided by popular local restaurants and caterers. Tickets cost $75 per person or $250 as a supporting patron. RSVP at http://c4rj_expanding-the-circle.eventbrite.com.

Meant For Each Other: Foliage Combinations: 10-11 a.m. April 11, Lexington Depot, 13 Depot Square. For information: http://lexgardenclub.org. Maria von Brincken, certified landscape designer, will talk about grouping plants for the visual interest of their foliage. Plants with “remarkable” foliage when used in thoughtful combinations can produce exciting color, form and textural clusters in the garden. Moreover, they are low maintenance and endure for much of the growing season. Coffee at 9:30 a.m. Parking at the Town Lot 50 cents per hour.

Trade Agreements: 2-3:30 p.m. April 12, Lexington Community Center, 39 Marrett Road, Lexington. Free. Economist Jim Osten will explore the ramifications of evolving world trade policies as part of Lexington’s monthly Economics and Finance Lecture Series. Who benefits from NAFTA, the TPP and expanding global trade? What are the consequences of Brexit and withdrawal from trade agreements? What is the likely outcome of these evolving trade policies on economic health? Call 781-698-4840 to reserve a seat.

Minuteman High School ‘Topping Off Ceremony’: 11 a.m. April 12, Minuteman High School, 758 Marrett Road, Lexington. The “Topping Off Ceremony” for Minuteman’s new high school will be held rain or shine. The event is a traditional builders’ rite marking the point when the final steel beam is lifted into place. A tree or leafy branch along with an American flag is often tied to the beam, to represent good luck and to demonstrate patriotism. Minuteman High School’s final 25-foot beam has been painted white so that visitors can sign their names. RSVP to j.maglio@minuteman.org or 781-861-6500, ext. 7291, by April 10 at 10 a.m. Wear footwear that is appropriate for a construction site. Following the ceremony, there will be a short reception in the student-operated restaurant, the Fife & Drum.

Lexington High School Class of 1977 Reunion: 6:30 p.m. April 14, Waxy O’Connor’s, 94 Hartwell Ave., Lexington. For information: Lexingtonhs.ma.classof1977@gmail.com. Participants are asked to RSVP ​with their name and the name of their plus one, if they choose to bring ​a guest. A reliable count will allow the restaurant to better prepare for the crowd.

Grilled Cheese Weekend: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. April 14-15, Wilson Farm, 10 Pleasant St., Lexington. Wilson Farm will hold their Grilled Cheese Weekend. All of the proceeds will benefit Team Wilson’s Ride at the Pan-Mass Challenge which benefits the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Cary Lecture Series: 8 p.m. April 14, Cary Memorial Hall, 1605 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington. Free. For information: https://carylectureseries.org. The 2018 Cary Lecture Series will present “Age is Unnecessary: Shakespeare and the War Between Young and Old” with Stephen Greenblatt, the Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. Greenblatt is the author of 12 books, including “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” (winner of the 2011 National Book Award and the 2012 Pulitzer Prize) and “Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare,” and has edited many others. His newest book, titled “The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve,” is scheduled for publication in September. His lecture will be about “extreme old age,” and he will focus on King Lear and the anxieties and states of consciousness that happen in old age.

‘What Really Happened That Day?’: noon April 16, First Parish Church in Lexington, 7 Harrington Road. Free. Dan Fenn, a longtime member of the Lexington Minute Men Company, will relate the real story of the events of April 19, 1775. The church is handicapped-accessible (rear door, facing the parking lot).

Lexington Troop 160 Patriots’ Day Pancake Breakfast: 5:30-10 a.m. April 16, Keilty Hall, St Brigid’s Church, 2001 Lexington Ridge Drive, Lexington. Each year on the morning of Patriots’ Day, the Boy Scouts of Lexington Troop 160 host their legendary Pancake Breakfast. The Troop’s sole fundraiser for the year, the proceeds ensure that all kids can fully participate in Scouts regardless of their ability to pay. Cost: $7 per adult and $5 per child (younger than 12). They will open immediately after the Battle of Lexington Reenactment on April 16 in Keilty Hall in the basement of St. Brigid Church, which is newly renovated and now handicapped-accessible. They will keep serving until 10 a.m.

Patriot’s Day Handbell Concert: 11:15 a.m.-noon April 16, Hancock Church, 1912 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington. For information: 781-862-4220; https://hancockchurch.org. Hancock Church will present their annual Handbell Concert of Patriotic and American Music, timed to begin after the road race and before Paul Revere arrives at the Minute Man statue. The concert is family-friendly and includes music played on five octaves of handbells and handchimes. Selections include “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” “Twelfth Street Rag,” spirituals, marches and patriotic songs. Hancock Church is handicapped-accessible. Suggested donation is $3 per person to benefit the Russell School in Dorchester.

‘Moral Revival in Politics’: 7-8:45 p.m. April 17, Cary Memorial Library, 1874 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington. Three Rivers Affinity Groups, co-sponsored with Our Revolution Concord Area invites the community to join the National Call to Action for a Moral Revival in Politics: The New Poor People’s Campaign. Participants can meet members of the Poor People’s Campaign in Massachusetts and learn how to get involved and support. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

ONGOING

Lexington Toastmasters: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Thursdays, Lexington Community Center, 39 Marrett Road. For information: http://6272.toastmastersclubs.org. The Lexington Toastmasters meet every Thursday to work with others on communication and leadership skills. All are welcome.

MOVING ON meetings: 7:30-9 p.m. every Thursday, The Church of our Redeemer, 6 Meriam St., Lexington. MOVING ON invites singles over age 50, from all towns, to come to the non-denominational meeting. This nonprofit group of singles has been meeting weekly for years to share personal issues, discuss diverse topics and engage in social activities.

Sen. Cindy Friedman office hours: 9:30-10:30 a.m., first Tuesday of every month, Lexington Community Center, 39 Marrett Road. For information: https://cindyfriedman.org. Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, will hold monthly office hours in the 4th Middlesex district. Friedman currently serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Service. The 4th Middlesex district includes Arlington, Billerica, Burlington, Woburn and precincts 1-2 and 4-7 in Lexington.

Tricorn Toastmasters: noon-1 p.m. Tuesdays, Room 237, Lexington Community Center, 39 Marrett Road. For information: 781-698-4812; mspencer@lexingtonma.gov. Tricorn Toastmasters meet to improve speaking and leadership skills. Participants will learn how to organize and present their ideas and themselves.

Lexington Republican Town Committee meetings: 7:30-9 p.m. fourth Wednesday of every month, Lexington Community Center, 39 Marrett Road. For information: https://lexingtonrtc.org. The Lexington Republican Town Committee meets the fourth Wednesday of every month in one of the meeting rooms at the Lexington Community Center.

Lex Eat Together: 5:15-6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Church of Our Redeemer, 6 Meriam St., Lexington. For information: http://lexeattogether.org. Lex Eat Together offers a weekly dinner in the heart of Lexington for anyone in need of a meal or companionship. Their mission is to provide a setting which respects privacy and dignity. All are welcome to this community event.

First Friday suppers: 6:30 p.m. first Fridays, 2 Hayes Lane, Lexington. Every First Friday of the month except holidays, join the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3007 for a free supper. Reservations are a must. Call 781-862-1370 for a will-call ticket number. Exclusively for veterans and their family members. Ample parking on premises.

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1965 NASCAR Grand National Series - Wikipedia

The 1965 NASCAR Grand National Series was the seventeenth season of the premier stock car racing championship sanctioned by NASCAR. Due to the increasing speeds of the cars, and the concerns for safety, NASCAR outlawed the Chrysler hemi engine. Chrysler responded by withdrawing their support, and drivers Richard Petty, David Pearson, Paul Goldsmith, Bobby Isaac, and others were forced to sit out the races.[1] Driver Ned Jarrett won the Grand National (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) Drivers Championship after winning 13 of the 54 races he competed in.[2] Ford won the Manufacturers Championship again.[3]

The newly-built Rockingham Speedway opened in 1965, and Curtis Turner returned from his ban to win the inaugural race in his Ford. Turner had been banned from NASCAR in 1961 by Bill France, Sr. for trying to organize a drivers' union with the Teamsters.

Schedule[edit]

No. Race title Track Date 1 Motor Trend 500 Riverside International Raceway, Riverside January 17 2 100-mile qualifying races Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach February 12 3 4 Daytona 500 February 14 5 1965-05 Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds, Spartanburg February 27 6 Fireball 200 Asheville-Weaverville Speedway, Weaverville February 28 7 Richmond 250 Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds, Richmond March 7 8 1965-08 Orange Speedway, Hillsborough March 14 9 Atlanta 500 Atlanta International Raceway, Hampton April 11 10 Greenville 200 Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Greenville April 17 11 Gwyn Staley 400 North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro April 18 12 Virginia 500 Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway April 25 13 Columbia 200 Columbia Speedway, Columbia April 28 14 Southeastern 500 Bristol International Speedway, Bristol May 2 15 Rebel 300 Darlington Raceway, Darlington May 8 16 Tidewater 250 Langley Speedway, Hampton May 14 17 1965-17 Bowman Gray Stadium, Winston-Salem May 15 18 Hickory 250 Hickory Speedway, Hickory May 16 19 World 600 Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord May 23 20 1965-20 Cleveland County Fairgrounds, Shelby May 27 21 1965-21 New Asheville Speedway, Asheville May 29 22 1965-22 Harris Speedway, Harris May 30 23 Music City 200 Nashville Speedway, Nashville June 3 24 Birmingham 200 Fairgrounds Raceway, Birmingham June 6 25 Dixie 400 Atlanta International Raceway, Hampton June 13 26 Pickens 200 Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Greenville June 19 27 1965-27 Rambi Raceway, Myrtle Beach June 24 28 1965-28 Valdosta 75 Speedway, Valdosta June 27 29 Firecracker 400 Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach July 4 30 1965-30 Old Dominion Speedway, Manassas July 8 31 Old Bridge 200 Old Bridge Stadium, Old Bridge July 9 32 1965-32 Islip Speedway, Islip July 14 33 The Glen 151.8 Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen July 18 34 Volunteer 500 Bristol International Speedway, Bristol July 25 35 Nashville 400 Nashville Speedway, Nashville July 31 36 1965-36 Cleveland County Fairgrounds, Shelby August 5 37 Western North Carolina 500 Asheville-Weaverville Speedway, Weaverville August 8 38 1965-38 Smoky Mountain Raceway, Maryville August 13 39 1965-39 Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds, Spartanburg August 14 40 1965-40 Augusta Speedway, Augusta August 15 41 Sandlapper 200 Columbia Speedway, Columbia August 19 42 Moyock 300 Dog Track Speedway, Moyock August 24 43 1965-43 Beltsville Speedway, Beltsville August 25 44 Myers Brothers 250 Bowman Gray Stadium, Winston-Salem August 28 45 Southern 500 Darlington Raceway, Darlington September 6 46 Buddy Shuman 250 Hickory Speedway, Hickory September 10 47 Pennsylvania 200 Lincoln Speedway, New Oxford September 14 48 1965-48 Old Dominion Speedway, Manassas September 17 49 Capital City 300 Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds, Richmond September 18 50 Old Dominion 500 Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway September 26 51 Wilkes 400 North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro October 3 52 National 400 Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord October 17 53 1965-53 Orange Speedway, Hillsborough October 24 54 American 500 North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham October 31 55 Tidewater 300 Dog Track Speedway, Moyock November 7

Expansion[edit]

Fords had won 34 races before NASCAR adjusted the rules to allow the Chryslers to compete, but it was too late in the 55 event season for them to mount a championship challenge.[4]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Fleischman, Bill; Al Pearce (2004). "At A Glance: Year-by-Year Summaries; 1965". The Unauthorized NASCAR Fan Guide: 2004. 2004 (10 ed.). 43311 Joy Rd. #414, Canton, MI, 48187: Checkered Flag Press; Visible Ink Press. pp. 152, 153 of 576. ISBN 0-681-27587-1. 

[junker-town]

Can NASCAR save itself when Dale Earnhardt Jr. is gone?

BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE, SATURDAY — 6:51:55 P.M., 40 MINUTES UNTIL LAP 1/500

The DJ keeps playing the wrong music.

The Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway is the one NASCAR event a year where drivers can choose the song that accompanies their pre-race introductions. “Lights Come On” by Jason Aldean booms across through the bleachers, but it’s not right. “X Gon’ Give It To Ya” by DMX (which an official press release will later call “Gon Give It To Ya,” by X) is supposed to be playing as driver Matt DiBenedetto walks the red carpet. He's visibly annoyed.

The sound system in the infield where I’m standing is messed up, but someone fixes it just in time for the opening bars of Birdman and Lil Wayne’s “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy” to rush out of the stadium’s giant speakers.

Cash money still a company And b[censored version] I’m the boss And I be stuntin’ like my daddy, stuntin’ like my daddy... I'm the young stunna, stuntin' like my daddy...

The crowd erupts as Dale Earnhardt Jr. bursts through the curtains with the stadium’s nickname splashed across them: THE LAST GREAT COLOSSEUM. Fans’ primal screams and shouts of “JUNIOR!” and “DALE!” drown out the music.

NASCAR’s favorite son says something muddled into the microphone, then raises it above his head, triumphant. He hasn’t been racing well this season, but fans don’t seem to mind. They’re just happy Dale Jr. is still here. For now, at least; he’s retiring at the end of this season.

The stands whoop and holler louder and louder as the 14-time most popular driver climbs into the bed of a Chevy truck, the chariot awaiting him at the end of the red carpet. He holds onto the cab like it’s reins of steel and glides down the straightaway to his Chevy, the high tech, aerodynamic race car he’ll soon drive around the track.

Kyle Busch, the best and most hated driver in the sport right now, walks out to boos a few drivers later. Fans flip him off, but he has his two-year-old son Brexton with him, and the kid repeatedly pretends to fall as he holds his dad’s hand. The crowd softens at the sight of the goofy toddler and some cheering breaks through the jeers.

Busch bends down, and Brexton screams what sounds like “Fuck yeah!” into the mic. At a press conference later, Busch will say he told his son to yell, “Truck yeah.” Reporters in the media center will be skeptical.

The intros end. No other driver gets a response even close to what the fans gave Dale Jr.

Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

VOLUNTEER PARKWAY, BRISTOL, TENNESSEE — 9:02:39, FRIDAY MORNING

It’s the morning before the Bristol Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, and I’m speeding.

I’m not not pretending I’m a race car driver, but I’m mostly worried I’ll be late for Chase Elliott’s 9:15 a.m. press conference. The Friday night race won’t start until 7 p.m., but the day begins early for reporters, who used to have to arrive at the track twelve hours ahead of time to beat the terrible traffic. Attendance has fallen so much that there’s hardly anyone on the road right now and won’t be until this afternoon, but no one’s thought to change the schedule.

Bristol straddles Virginia and Tennessee. During prohibition, bootleggers ran moonshine across the state line. They’d pack potent, highly flammable, homemade booze in the trunks of their Fords and Chevys and outrun state troopers, tearing around the sharp corners of country roads. They’d also race each other, which is eventually how NASCAR was born. Moonshine used to be the predominant illegal substance in the region, but these days it’s painkillers and fentanyl. Several of the talk stations I switch between as I approach the stadium are discussing the opioid crisis.

The deep green Tennessee hills are breathtaking. They rise straight up, walls of trees for miles. Taller mountains behind them fade into lighter greens and blues. Horse farms and dilapidated houses dot the countryside behind the auto body shops, car dealerships, Jiffy Lubes, and O’Reilly Auto Parts stores that line the road. The sky is bright and clear.

And then I round a corner, and there it is. Bristol Motor Speedway.

The stadium’s walls are as vertical as the hills, but they’re made of metal instead of earth, plastered with corporations’ neon signs rather than trees and underbrush. Logos of Food City, Bass Pro Shops, the NRA, and other sponsors, as well as the faces of famous drivers — Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr. — adorn banners wrapped around the building’s many steel spines. One sign says OUR ROOTS ARE IN RACING. Another says THANK YOU DALE JR. RVs fill the hills behind the stadium and the Earnhardt Campground beside it.

The colossal structure is unnatural, arresting, incongruous with the landscape. It appears almost alien; beings besides humans might have put it here. I’m so distracted by the sight of the thing that I almost miss my turn. I pull a sharp left and channel my inner bootlegger, speeding up as I round a corner before pulling into the lot next to the stadium. The campgrounds sprawl up the hill beside it, and the RVs parked there make up a village, a temporary neighborhood on wheels. Confederate flags fly from at least four of the trailers’ roofs. They flap gently in the light breeze.

BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE — 7:26:44 P.M., 5 MINUTES UNTIL LAP 1/500

After the driver intros, I walk through the concrete tunnel that takes me underneath the steeply banked track to the main concourse. Black-and-white photos of Dale Sr. are plastered onto the cinder block walls. There’s also a picture of Dale Jr. posing with a broom in front of the Bristol trophy in 2004. It was the first time anyone had swept the weekend. Junior won the Busch series race (now called the Xfinity series) that Friday, then won the Nextel Cup series (now the Monster Energy Cup Series) on Saturday night.

Bristol Communications Department

“It’s Bristol, baby!” he yelled into the microphone when asked immediately after why the win was so special. Those words are now set in plastic in the form of a huge statue in the fan zone outside the stadium’s gates.

I make my way into the stands, which have mostly filled up along the straightaways but are still half-empty around the turns. Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” is playing as I slide into an empty row of bleachers. Everyone’s standing as though it were the national anthem.

‘Cause I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free!

All of a sudden I hear a voice in my ear scream, “ARE YOU PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN?”

I whip around to find a guy wearing a DRUNK LIVES MATTER tee-shirt bending down so that his face is level with mine, about three inches away. He’s holding a big black flag that has both the NASCAR and Monster Energy logos splashed across it. I recoil and don’t say anything.

He responds to my silence with, “You should be.” Then he drapes the flag around my shoulders and puts his hand on my back.

“Stop it, what are you doing?” I say, swatting the flag and his hand away and jumping back so quickly that I almost fall over onto three shirtless, middle-aged men in front of me. Flag Guy stares directly into my eyes. He shakes the NASCAR logo in my face.

“You just got baptized by the greatest thing this country has,” he says.

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY — 11:45:58, FRIDAY MORNING

I’m standing on the asphalt of the infield, sweating in the thick Tennessee heat, watching a pit crew guy screw lug nuts onto a tire. He’s working on the No. 3 car, which is owned by Richard Childress Racing. Austin Dillon will drive it in tomorrow’s race. This strikes me as somewhat heretical. You wouldn’t give Babe Ruth’s No. 3 to another Yankee. How can anyone run No. 3 after Dale Sr.?

I made it in time for Chase Elliott’s press conference this morning, but shouldn’t have bothered racing to get there. The 21-year-old son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott (A.K.A Awesome Bill from Dawsonville) just offered platitudes about trying hard — he’s been running well this season but he hasn’t won a race yet. The most interesting thing he said was that he wants to watch the upcoming solar eclipse from an airplane.

I passed Chase in the pits a few minutes ago and asked him if I could ask him a few questions. He told me I have to go through his PR guy or he’ll get in trouble. He's a smart kid who knows better than to offend anyone — an easy thing to do in the age of the internet — and put his sponsorships or public perception at risk. He keeps it vanilla.

“No, I mean, it’s frustrating every week. I don’t know how to quantify frustration. I don’t know how to measure it. None of it’s good. We want to be competitive, we want to compete, we want to have a good last season.” — Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The infield smells like gasoline and cigarettes. The entire place could go up in flames at any moment and I wouldn’t be surprised. Huge, eighteen-wheeled haulers that bring the cars around the country during the 38-weekend season are parked in a perfectly straight line, a life-sized toy box. These trucks are basically RVs with hydraulic lifts that put race cars in compartments above the living area when drivers aren’t racing them or practicing, which a few are currently doing. They zoom around the track between tune-ups.

The pit crew guy finishes adjusting the screws on the tire. He tells me that the drills he used fifteen years ago were the same ones I could buy at an auto parts store. So were the cars’ brakes, exhaust pipes. But now, racing teams make everything in-house, test cars in wind-tunnels, and calibrate them within an inch of their steel lives. All of this means that it now costs $40 million to run one car for one season. In 1994, brakes cost $3,500 at the Daytona 500. Now, they cost $38,000. NASCAR knows the high costs are unsustainable, and everyone — from drivers to team owners — wants to bring them down. But that’s easier said than done; once it gets going, technological progress is hard to stop.

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

I walk up to the No. 3 car. This thing used to be the common thread between mere mortals and racing gods, but automotive sales are plummeting as more Americans stay in cities. Not that a sedan you’d drive off a lot has much in common with the one I’m staring at now, anyways. This machine resembles something a UFO would pilot more than it looks like the Camry I’ve rented. I stoop down to peer into the metal exoskeleton. The most substantial thing inside, besides the 900 horsepower engine under the hood, is the HANS device, a safety measure that looks like a neck brace with extra padding. Dale Sr. refused to wear his and died after colliding head-on with a retaining wall during the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. That October, NASCAR made head restraints mandatory.

Ads for DOW Chemical splash the car’s black sides. R.J. Reynolds, a tobacco company, was the first Cup sponsor in 1971. The company managed to hang on through the decades as Big Tobacco was dying, but gave up the sponsorship in 2003. Nextel picked up the rights, then merged with Sprint, renaming the races once again in 2008. Sprint abruptly dropped the sport late last year. NASCAR had to scramble. Eventually Monster Energy stepped in.

After Chase’s press conference I asked Tad Geschickter, who co-owns the team JTG/Daugherty Racing with his wife Jodi, what he loves about NASCAR. I expected him to say something about the roar of the engines or the thrill of speed.

But he said this:

“For me, there’s no other sport that can provide the value for corporate america that this can. NASCAR fans say, ‘My team can’t run without this sponsor, so I’m going to buy their product because I love the sport.’ That turns into huge business results. And that’s what keeps corporate America coming back.”

A sport that started because guys had to rebel against The Man in order to get drunk has become a vehicle — a very, very expensive vehicle — to make The Man even richer.

I leave the infield, descend into the tunnel, pop up into the concourse, and walk out into the bleachers. I climb up to the very top row, marveling at this massive crater in the middle of the Tennessee country.

No one else is up here except for one old guy with white hair and leathery, tan skin. He’s wearing a Dale Jr. tank and drinking a beer wrapped in an ancient koozie with Dale Sr.’s No. 3 on it. A cooler beneath him is packed with ice and ten more beers.

Charlotte Wilder

The cars practicing are so loud that he has to lean in very close to hear me when I ask him his name. He reeks of booze, and says his name five times before I give up and take out my phone, asking him to type it for me. His fingers are too shaky for the touch screen of my iPhone, so he takes out his flip phone and slowly types out D-A-L-E.

“Just like Dale Sr.” he mouths. “And Junior.”

I yell into his ear, asking if he’ll miss Dale Jr. when he retires. He nods.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he mouths.

Dale isn’t the only one who feels lost when he thinks about a future without Dale Jr., and NASCAR knows it. Right now, the hope is that those fans will transfer their allegiance to another driver, perhaps one like Chase Elliott, who also comes from racing royalty.

The problem is, there aren’t many compelling reasons to do so.

BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE — 7:31:01 P.M., SATURDAY, LAP 1/500

“Drivers, start your engines!”

The sound of 40 cars starting up at once rumbles from the pits. It echoes outside the walls and across the hills, a deafening heartbeat inside the stadium’s metallic rib cage. I understand now why one of this place’s nicknames is “Thunder Valley” — the sound climbs to 140 decibels, the same as an aircraft carrier in full swing. Fans put in earplugs or don noise-blocking headphones. They adjust their radio scanners to track their favorite drivers. No one talks to each other because they can’t. It’s the opposite of a silent rave.

The drivers circle around the track, shaking their wheels from side to side to create friction and warm up the tires faster, which helps them stick better to the smooth concrete. The cars are more animals than machines. They’ve subsumed the drivers inside and become sentient.

The green flag drops and they’re off.

It’s a beautiful, hypnotizing dance set to the sounds of a chainsaw slicing through aluminum. Awesome in the literal sense. The vibrations buzz through the bleachers and into my feet, my legs, up into my spine. When you watch a race on television, you can’t feel the rumbles, you can’t hear the fullness of the roars. You can’t smell this noxious mix of cigarette smoke, burning rubber, spilled beer, and gasoline fumes.

But now, witnessing a race in person for the first time, I get it. I can’t look away.

On the 88th lap, fans stand up and cheer to honor Dale Jr. as he whizzes by. Two guys a few rows down stay standing, each raising three fingers to the sky, an homage to the original, and only true, No. 3.

Dale Sr. isn't dead. He's more alive than most people who walk the earth.

And, although it was an almost impossible order, the son has managed to win over the crowd that still worships the father. Dale Jr. has become nearly as beloved as the sport’s most beloved driver of all time. He’s filled his dad’s shoes better than anyone could have imagined.

What remains to be seen is whether there’s any driver in the sport today who can even come close to filling his.

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY — 3:11:15, FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Matt DiBenedetto is sitting in the media center Friday afternoon before qualifying rounds, which will determine the order drivers start in tomorrow night. He had a bad first practice, but he’s feeling better after the laps he just ran.

Cars and money matter more than talent now. You can be the most gifted driver in the world and it doesn't matter if you don’t have the cash. This bothers 26-year-old DiBenedetto to no end. Not only does he have the technical ability to succeed in this sport, he has the personality. He’s beloved by his fan base for his funny tweets, a hashtag dedicated to his love of burritos (#DiBuritto), and his honesty on Reddit and Snapchat. His following isn’t huge; he has about 50k followers on Twitter, peanuts compared to Chase Elliott’s 700,000, or Danica Patrick’s millions. Still, his fans are so engaged that he almost got voted into the All-Star race.

“But yeah, I could send one tweet and ruin my entire career,” he jokes, tapping his phone, which sits on the table in front of us. I tell him I could too, and we both laugh, fall silent, then shudder before continuing our conversation.

In a sport where viewers’ loyalty centers on individual drivers, a guy like DiBenedetto, or Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. (who wasn’t racing at Bristol because he currently doesn’t have a sponsor), or Ryan Blaney, or Landon Cassill, could be instrumental to bringing in new, younger fans — if they could win. Most of the other personalities just aren’t that interesting. Kyle Busch puts on a show, but fans hate him. This works when you’ve got Dale Jr. to play the hero to Busch’s villain. But what’s a heel without a face?

Times have changed drastically since the days when guys lit Winstons and threw punches at each other in the pits after a race. It wasn’t just the drivers, either. If you believe the stories, one time Lee Petty’s wife Elizabeth — mom to Richard — got in on a fight and walloped the driver Tiny Lund (who weighed 270 pounds, easily) in the back of the head with her pocketbook. Legend has it she was packing a .45.

Now, drivers look more like Goldman Sachs interns than the mechanic who’d fix your car if you pulled into one of the auto body shops off the main drag in Bristol.

DiBenedetto, however, looks like a normal dude from Grass Valley, California because he is one. He got bit by the speed bug as a kid (he doesn’t know why, neither of his parents were into racing) and grew up pushing go-karts around dirt tracks. His parents moved the family to South Carolina to pursue his racing career, but stopped paying for his cars when he was 16 because they couldn’t afford it. He’s hung on to the sport by a thread in the ten years since, hopping from team to team, getting in cars thanks to his sheer talent and a lot of luck.

Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Matt DiBenedetto

Dale Sr. didn’t come from money, either. But he could use spec parts to throw a car together and muscle his way to wins. You can’t do that anymore. DiBenedetto knows he needs more sponsors, but he can’t get them, because he isn’t winning. And he isn’t winning because he doesn’t have the best car. And he can’t get in the best car because he doesn't have sponsors, because he isn't winning.

It’s a Catch-22.

“So that’s where the hard part is,” DiBenedetto tells me. “If you have the same skill set in baseball, being that determined and that exceptionally good at what you do, you can legit make it. Racing is not that way. If I had a 30 million dollar sponsor behind me, I could drive a racecar well. I know I could be on a top team.”

Racing is made up of dynasties. Bill France Sr., who founded the sport in 1948, passed the business down to his son Bill Jr., who passed it down to his son Brian, the current CEO. Then you’ve got the drivers: Earnhardts, Allisons, Walltrips, Elliotts. NASCAR seems to think a last name can make up for a lack of charm. They’re going with what they know and with what’s worked before. You can almost imagine the marketing meeting: Dale Sr. and Dale Jr. worked out, and people loved Bill Elliott, so let’s push his son Chase.

But you can’t teach charisma. NASCAR got lucky once: one of the biggest stars to ever drive a car had a son with a great personality who was gifted at connecting with fans. And even then, it took Dale Jr. a while to be loved for who he is rather than who his father was.

DiBenedetto wasn’t born with a silver wheel in his hands or a last name that’s etched into the walls at Bristol, but he can entertain on and off the track. Perhaps NASCAR will wise up and realize this could actually be key to his — and the sport’s — future success.

Later this afternoon, DiBenedetto will totally botch his qualifying rounds and will have to start the race tomorrow 34th out of 40 cars. This will suck, and he’ll be pissed about it. He’ll release an honest video on Twitter telling his fans he’s sorry, and that he’s as upset as they are. He’ll delete it a few days later.

Tomorrow morning, sitting in front of his hauler, DiBenedetto will tell me that his lousy starting position could actually be a good thing. If the front of the pack wrecks out — which they often do at short tracks like Bristol — he’ll be able to scoot by them and have a real shot. But the CEO of the construction company that sponsors DiBenedetto will be sitting nearby as the driver says this to me, and it will seem very much like DiBenedetto is trying to will the chance of a win into existence.

There won’t be one.

BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE, SATURDAY — 9:25:32 P.M., LAP 272/500

The sun goes down and the fluorescent lights come on, glinting off the hoods of the racecars, adding an artificial glow to the cars’ dizzying circles.

After a brief stint in the top ten, things aren’t looking good for Dale Jr. He’s fallen back to 21st as we enter the third and final stage of the race. Busch, Kyle Larson, Elliott, and Erik Jones (all of whom are in their 20s, except Busch, who’s 32) battle for the top spots, but by lap 361, Busch is in first again. DiBenedetto managed to crawl his way up a few spots, but he’s stuck firmly in 29th.

There are very few wrecks.

“This race is terrible!” a reporter says, too loudly, in the press box.

One of my southern colleagues father’s used to say that “Racing at Bristol is a damn fistfight in a soup bowl.” But it isn’t anymore. The speedway used to be a one-groove track, which meant cars had to physically touch each other — called a bump-and-run — if one was going to break out of the single-file line. In 2007, owner Bruton Smith resurfaced and modified the track to create more space and allow drivers to race side-by-side with plenty of room to pass.

Fans hated it.

They wanted the old, rough-and-tumble, wreck-heavy style of racing back. After only half of the stadium’s 160,000 seats sold in 2012, Smith tried to narrow the track again by grinding the upper groove down, but drivers complained that all it did was make things slippery (“It’s terrible,” Busch declared). This race is more tetherball game than fistfight.

Busch pulls away. Dale is 22nd and falling. DiBenedetto is back in 30th. There’s a flurry of excitement over the radio as it looks like there’s a prayer Erik Jones can catch Busch. For a few moments, as they battle it out, the race is thrilling. I get a taste of what the sport used to be, and I’m struck by a sense of loss. I miss something I never knew.

Fans who did know the sport in its wild, lawless form miss it even more. But that doesn’t mean they’ve stuck around.

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

EARNHARDT CAMPGROUND — 2:45:01, SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Cindy Lee sells unofficial NASCAR merchandise from a tent in the Earnhardt Campground outside the stadium’s gates. Most of the gear for sale is dedicated to the Dales, but there are also glow-in-the-dark Bristol shirts, photos of Danica Patrick in a bikini, and beer koozies. There are also shirts that say “If you can read this, the bitch fell off,” above a caricature of Donald Trump pushing a sexualized Hillary Clinton off a motorcycle.

Lee stopped watching the races after Dale Sr. died and NASCAR changed everything about the sport in the years since. It’s almost entirely different now; there are three stages to a race rather than one long slog, the system of awarding points isn’t the same as it used to be, and there are now playoffs in addition to the regular Cup Series championship (as well as other, more in-the-weeds alterations). It would be like taking the NFL, making each touchdown worth 9 points, resetting the score at halftime, and tacking on a five-game postseason after the Super Bowl.

“You never could get a ticket unless you knew someone who had season tickets who was selling one. Now you can get ‘em off street corners. Food City has ‘em for sale.” — Cindy Lee, t-shirt vendor

NASCAR also got cocky. In its heyday in the 1990s and through 2005 or so, top brass thought their sport was invincible. They tried to appeal to a broader national audience, forgetting that they were built on the backs of die-hard fans who bought season tickets to regional tracks. Executives messed with races, adding new ones in Las Vegas and moving old staples off the schedule (the beloved North Wilkesboro Speedway lost both its dates) and added races in *gasp* Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, and Southern California, leading many fans to believe that NASCAR was abandoning its Southeast roots. They even tried to build a track outside New York City, in Staten Island. But that and many of the sports’ other plans flamed out after the recession, when the states that many fans come from — Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and California — were hit the hardest by the economic crash.

The sport also adopted more safety measures and reconfigured some tracks to make them less dangerous.

Lee isn’t jazzed about any of this.

“With all the equipment they’ve got ‘em wearing now, it’s not like racing anymore, it’s about money. It’s sports, it’s not racing,” Lee says, standing by a display of toy cars. “If they hit each other, it used to be, well, fine. It was racing. That’s the way it was. Now they wanna penalize ‘em. They don’t let ‘em go out and race and have fun.”

She pauses, looks around the campground.

“Bristol used to be sold out, and it hasn’t been in years,” she continues. “You never could get a ticket unless you knew someone who had season tickets who was selling one. Now you can get ‘em off street corners. Food City has ‘em for sale. I went last night to walk around the campground. There’s only one-third of the vendors here from three years ago.”

Charlotte Wilder

Lee is right. Races at Bristol, which once sold out 55 consecutive races, always have empty seats now. Between the ticket prices, transportation, and lodging, it can cost families thousands of dollars to go to a race. The sport is struggling a bit on TV, too: ratings for seven of the eight races Fox broadcast in the first half of the season were down from 2015. The sport is okay financially until 2024, because it’s locked into billion-dollar broadcast deals with Fox and NBC Sports, but after that…well, who knows.

A man who doesn’t want me to use his name in this article is browsing the racks of Cindy’s booth with his grandson named Diesel. The guy, I’ll call him Jim, works at a paper mill in the south that used to be employee-owned until a global corporation bought them out last year. He’s here for the first time in five years because Diesel wants to see a race. All of Jim’s friends, who used to have season tickets, gave theirs up when cars ceased to look anything like the ones they drove and the drivers they loved retired or died.

But there’s another reason Jim stopped coming.

“I’m mad at Earnhardt and Johnson for calling for taking down the confederate flag,” he says. “I don’t like it. It’s the same as these people calling for tearing down these monuments. It’s just part of history. And it’s mostly white people who want to tear these down. I don’t get it.”

He's referring to Dale Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, who supported removing the confederate flag from the South Carolina State House after white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in 2015. Dale Jr. also spoke out against Trump’s immigration ban back in January. He most recently tweeted “Hatred, bigotry, & racism should have no place in this great country. Spread love,” after the white supremacist and Nazi rally in Charlottesville, where a white supremacist killed a woman, Heather Heyer, with his car when he deliberately backed into the crowd.

“It’s sad and frustrating to see what happened,” Dale Jr said at his Thursday press conference. “And you feel sort of somewhat responsible to speak on it.”

Dale Jr.’s statements didn’t come across that brave to me when I first heard them. They seemed more like human decency than anything bold or divisive. But as I stand here talking to Jim among the multiple RVs flying confederate flags, it's somewhat impressive Dale Jr. said anything at all.

“Look,” Jim says. “I got black friends. But we gotta separate race — just like church and state — from what we love. We gotta keep race out of racing.”

Before I can ask him exactly what he means by “keep race out of racing,” he tells me he and Diesel have to go find something to eat, and he walks away.

Diesel follows, unwrapping the toy car Jim bought him, a replica of Kyle Busch’s Toyota. Busch is Diesel’s favorite driver, even though Jim only likes drivers who race Fords. The majority of fans will hate it if Busch wins tonight, and it honestly doesn’t seem like any outcome would make Jim happy. But maybe, if Diesel gets to see Busch take home the trophy, the trip will have been worth it.

BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE — 10:44:98, LAP 500/500

The checkered flag falls. Busch wins, sweeping the weekend for the second time in his career.

Dale Jr. comes in 23rd.

He pulls into the pits, where none of the drivers are fighting each other, and climbs out of the car. He’s pale after sweating out 10-15 pounds of liquid over the course of three and a half hours. Shaking his head and putting his hands on his hips, he stares at the Chevy that let him down. His crew chief pops the hood and they both look at the engine.

“This race track can be a lot of fun, or it can be very difficult,” Dale Jr. says to me and two other reporters. “I use to drive — gosh...”

He trails off, rubs his temples.

“I just don’t know what to do,” he finally continues, exasperated. “We were quick for 20 laps. We passed five cars. Then we just dropped like a rock.”

Charlotte Wilder

One reporter tells Dale Jr. it’s the most frustrated he’s seen him all season.

“No, I mean, it’s frustrating every week,” Dale Jr. says. “I don’t know how to quantify frustration. I don’t know how to measure it. None of it’s good. We want to be competitive, we want to compete, we want to have a good last season. I don’t want to be out there just packing it in. It’s a lot of work to run 23rd, I’ll say that.”

Busch drives his Toyota up victory lane and climbs out onto the roof. Someone hands him a broom and he sweeps the top of his car, mimicking — intentionally or not — the picture of Dale Jr. that hangs in the walls of the tunnel. The crowd boos and flips him off. He plugs his ears and stares them down, taunting them from the jumbotron as confetti falls.

Dale Jr. looks up at the huge screens. He grimaces as he watches Busch celebrate, as though someone's about to reset a bone he's broken. Squinting his eyes and pursing his lips, he shakes his head and walks away alone, disappearing into the maze of haulers.

12:46:23, BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY, SUNDAY MORNING

The pit crews have packed up the cars and the haulers are starting to leave. Race trash — beer cans, cigarette butts, water bottles, energy drinks, stray ear plugs, bits of confetti — litters the pits and the stands.

The stadium smells like a campfire, and the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race logo (a fish with bat wings, which look suspiciously like the butts of rifles) flips around and around on the jumbotron. The track has cooled off, and my shoes no longer stick to the concrete as I walk up to the concourse. I can’t figure out what feels so strange, but then I realize Thunder Valley is quiet for the first time all weekend.

The storm is over. Bristol sits empty, straddling state lines and decades, the past and the present. The future is anyone’s guess.

The drivers left long ago, but fans still wait outside while the trucks roll out. They cheer as each one exits the gates. The haulers honk in acknowledgement, each blast loud and guttural, leftover noise. I get into my rental car. Right before I close the door, I hear much louder screams and cheers float up from the stadium’s entrance.

Dale Jr.’s truck, with the Nationwide logo and No. 88 splashed across the sides, emerges. It makes its way down the drive, honking the whole time. The remaining fans don’t stop cheering until it’s out of sight.

[beeclops]

[buildercar]

New Post has been published on http://www.buildercar.com/a-look-back-at-the-1963-san-mateo-san-jose-and-oakland-shows/

A Look Back at the 1963 San Mateo, San Jose and Oakland Shows

The year was 1963. Stranger on the Shore and Telstar become the first singles by British groups to reach No.1 on the U.S. charts, predating the first No.1 by the Beatles by 13 months.

The Beatles recorded their debut album, Please Please Me, in a single day at the AMI Abbey Road Studios in London.

U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 passes by Venus, becoming the first probe to transmit data successfully from another planet.

Wally Parks shocked the sport by adding an invitational, “experimental” Top Fuel Eliminator, to the Winternationals in Pomona, California. He also outlawed jet propulsion. While aircraft power plants had been banned from actual competition since 1960, but allowed to make exhibition runs, these new “weenie roasters” were strictly forbidden, despite a solid safety record to date.

The northern California car show season for 1963 began on the weekend after New Year’s Day, at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. Harry Costa’s San Mateo Custom, Rod and Sports Car Show saw the debut of the latest projects that had been languishing in garages during the prior winter months (Remember this is California!).

The San Mateo Custom, Rod and Sports Car Show began in 1956 by Bay Area hot rodders Harry Costa, Jr, Andy Brizio and Richard Costa. The show was billed as ‘The California Auto Fair’. San Mateo is located on the San Francisco peninsula, about 20 miles south of the city of San Francisco. In the years that followed, San Mateo was the place to debut your latest build. Many cars came from outside of California, hoping to win awards at California’s top car shows during the months of January and February, and for many a chance to get out of the snow and cold weather.

Two weeks after San Mateo, the venue changed and moved down the San Francisco peninsula to the San Jose Fairgrounds. Paul and Vicki Bender usually assembled a fresh group of rods, customs and race cars, with emphasis on Bay Area car clubs.

The San Jose Autorama was started in 1952 by Paul’s dad. Paul’s dad sold advertising for the programs at the National Roadster Show in Oakland. Paul helped out by pedaling the programs during the show’s 10-day run over the Washington’s Birthday holiday.

Paul took over the San Jose show from his dad in 1959, with help from partner and race promoter Bob Barkhimer. The last San Jose Autorama was 1987. During this 35-year run of the San Jose show, Paul also was the NASCAR flag man for races at California short tracks like San Jose Speedway, Watsonville, Fresno, Madera, and Clovis.

The next venue was a short ride north on Highway 17 from San Jose to the East Bay community of Oakland, and the Oakland Exposition Building. This had been the home of the National Roadster Show since its inception in 1950, as well as the home of Bay Area midget racing. The show actually began as the International Auto Show in 1949. Al and Mary Slonaker billed that first show to include new domestic and foreign automobile makes. A group of Bay Area hot rodders asked Al if they could display their “hot rods” in one far corner of the building, and he agreed. Needless to say, the 10 hot rod roadsters stole the show, and in 1950 the show became the National Roadster Show.

The NRS became known in the media as Oakland, mainly because it was easier than saying National Roadster Show. In 1963 the show became the Grand National Roadster Show, a title which was even longer. Hence, though the show has since moved to the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California, many of us still refer to the show as Oakland.

The Oakland Exposition Building had its own brand of character and ambiance. Since the large doors at each were constantly opened and closed for ventilation, and for midget races, some birds found themselves a comfortable home in the tall steel roof trusses. Naturally this caused some car owners, wary of the birds leaving their marks, to add an extra coat of wax to the exposed horizontal surfaces of their rides.

So here we present a cross section of images from the San Mateo, San Jose and Oakland shows in 1963. Some of the images are a little focus fuzzy and have deteriorated over the past 54 years. For that I apologize. In 1963 I was just out of high school and still learning how to shoot indoor car shows.

(Editor’s Note: A big thank you goes out to Greg Sharp, Rod Powell, Paul Bender, Rik Hoving and Rudy Perez for their help.)

The 1957 Thunderbird of Jim Giminez underwent a serious transformation at Joe Ortiz Custom Shop in nearby Hayward, California. Features included ’58 Edsel headlights, a floating tube grille, extended rear fenders, a chopped windshield and tunneled taillights. This was some very radical metalwork for the early 1960’s. The car was finished in candy green.

This 1928 Ford roadster pickup was brought to Oakland by Dewey O’Connell of Santa Rosa, California. Louvers were punched in the side aprons and the inner sides of the front fenders before the truck was sprayed with Sierra Gold lacquer. The engine is a 1960 Pontiac with three carbs, a Pontiac Hydromatic transmission and a 1948 Ford rearend. The wheels are Cragars and the interior is done in black naugahyde.

This radical 1951 Mercury was the creation of now Bay Area paint legend Rod Powell. The engine was a Buick. Rod enlisted the help of Bill Cushenberry with the top chop, the concave fender wells and the sculptured rear end to match the front. The quad headlights and the custom taillights were covered with Lucite plastic. The Chrysler swivel bucket seats were upholstered in black by Howard Curry. The paint was candy tangerine lacquer. The car was wrecked a couple of years later after Rod sold it, and ended up at the crusher.

The rear of the Rod Powell Mercury. Note that the rear sculptured bodywork resembles the front.

The very radical interior of builder Dave Stuckey’s wild ‘Little Coffin’, a radical show rod that began life as a 1932 Ford Sedan owned by Larry Farber from Derby, Kansas. The chromed roll bar obviously holds up the chopped top since the windshield was frameless. The bench seat, done in gold frieze and white naugahyde, looks cool but uncomfortable, as does the abbreviated steering wheel.

The Steve Swaja-designed XR-6 roadster of LeRoi “Tex” Smith won the street roadster half of the 10-foot trophy at Oakland in 1963, America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. The 1927 Ford T-roadster body was augmented with additional body panels built by Barris Kustoms, Gene Winfield, Gordon Vann, and Tex himself. The engine was a Dodge Dart aluminum slant 6-cylinder in a tube frame with Volkswagen front suspension, a push button transmission and Dodge Dart rear suspension. Tony Nancy did the upholstery. The color was candy red.

We weren’t able to identify the owner of this entry in the Hot Rod Pickup class at Oakland, but I really like the profile and the stance. The top has been chopped and the full fendered body appears to have been either sectioned or channeled. The 1932 grille shell was obviously chopped and the front splash apron is modified. The quad headlights were unusual. The white walls and the white upholstery contrasted nicely with the bright orange lacquer.

Bob Tindle’s Orange Crate 1932 Ford got everyone’s attention with its unusual tilt-up body. The Portland, Oregon creation won the Competition half of the 10-foot trophy, America’s Best Competition Car. The 417 cubic inch 1960 Olds engine had a front-mounted Potvin blower. The suspension and the Halibrand quick-change rearend came from a sprint car, as did the Halibrand magnesium wheels.

Paul Hannon showed his channeled 1929 Ford roadster powered by a bored and stroked 1952 Studebaker V-8 engine under the Crower U-Fab four-carb manifold. The transmission was a 1939 Ford. The body was channeled 8 inches and the windshield chopped 4 inches. The American mags were fitted with Firestone tires. Paul was and is still a member of the Bay Area Roadsters.

An overhead view of the show floor at San Jose showing Les Erben’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup. In the rear we can see George Barris’ Twister T roadster and Gene Winfield’s blue 1935 Ford shop truck.

Built in the early 1950’s by Bob Johnston, Ed Roth purchased the car in 1962, and turned the little 1923 Ford Model T into Tweedy Pie. The T-bucket roadster took center stage at San Mateo and the crowds loved it. Larry Watson painted the car purple after Ed dropped in a 283 Corvette motor with six Strombergs, quad headlights and new fuscia upholstery. Reversed chrome wheels, wide whites, and tasteful striping made the car a show favorite.

A very tasteful and well detailed 1936 Ford Sedan was shown at Oakland by Jim Adamson. The sedan had power from a 1955 Ford, chromed interior moldings and Chrysler wire wheels. Even back in ’63, four-door sedan street rods were very rare. This cars’ level of detail was exceptional.

Nick Medeiros of Antioch brought his 1961 Ford Galaxie hardtop to San Jose. The car featured a 1954 Chevy grille, roof scoops and 1959 Cadillac taillights.

The latest car from Darryl Starbird and the Star Custom Shop in Wichita, Kansas, was the Futurista, a three-wheeled concept vehicle built for Monogram Models, Inc. The engine was from a Volkswagen Spyder and the paint was pearl white.

Aerospace engineer Tom Prufer displayed his Power King Too AA/FD dragster, his first foray into top fuel car ownership. The Kent Fuller chassis sported a 354 cubic inch Chrysler, a full aluminum body by Jack Hagemann, Sr., and striping/lettering by Tommy the Greek. This car ran 200 miles per hour at Fremont in 1964 with Gerry Steiner driving.

Another overhead view of the show floor at San Jose.

Don Ruter was a member of the Ramblers car club in San Francisco, and built this Fiat coupe dragster in his home garage. Power was a blown Chrysler.

The very nice 1932 Ford five-window coupe was built by Bruce Humphreys of Oakland. The flawless body was covered with 20 coats of lacquer. The engine was 1963 Corvette with two four-barrel carbs. The transmission and rearend also came from a Corvette. The interior contained Volkswagen bucket seats, tinted glass and Stewart-Warner gauges.

Dressed in Swift Red lacquer was Al Lindstrom’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup from Sacramento. Engine was a 1954 Oldsmobile 371 dressed in much chrome and topped with a J-2 manifold with three carbs. The 1932 Ford frame had a 2 ½-inch dropped axle and a 1940 Ford rearend. The red lacquer paint was done by Miller’s Auto Body in Redding, CA. The wheels were chromed and reversed.

The word radical can be used to describe Bob Hiser’s 1956 Chevy two-door from San Jose. The car was designed and built in the owner’s garage, which is even more impressive.

This 1933 Ford 5-window coupe was built by Tim Davis of San Francisco, and featured a 4-inch top chop and an 8-inch body channel. The engine was from a 1955 Thunderbird with a 1939 Ford transmission sending power to the 1937 Ford rearend. The wheels were magnesium and the taillights were from a Cadillac. The interior was done in black and white Naugahyde with a chromed dash and Stewart-Warner gauges.

A small-block Chevrolet was the engine of choice in Dave Marasco’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup from San Jose. The chromed frontend had a dropped axle. The pickup bed had been shortened 12 inches. The paint was black lacquer and the striping was done by Andy Southard.

Ray Silva’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup from San Jose.

A Buick engine with dual four-barrel carbs powered Joe Cardoza’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup from San Jose. The black rolled and pleated interior was set off nicely by the Naples Orange lacquer exterior. Joe still owns this truck, is a member of the Bay Area Roadsters and drives the truck regularly.

This very nice 1934 Ford pickup was displayed in San Jose in an equally impressive manner, with palm trees, driftwood and spot lights.

San Jose Roadster member Frank Rocha showed his 1927 Ford roadster at San Jose. The engine came from a 1956 Buick Century. The tranny was a 1939 Ford. The white interior contrasted nicely with the Cobalt Blue lacquer paint. Frank still owns the car.

John Capman brought his 1923 Ford T-bucket roadster to San Jose from Santa Rosa, California. The 1959 Chevrolet engine had four carburetors and sent power through a Powerglide transmission to a 1948 Ford rearend. The battery, electric fuel pump and the fuel tank were located in the 18-inch pickup bed.

The 1941 Ford Pickup of Joe Crispin came to the San Mateo show from Redwood City, California. The previous years’ yellow paint was replaced with candy green with flames. The canted quad headlights were installed by Bill Cushenberry, as were the Corvette taillights. The engine was a 1956 Oldsmobile. The bed featured a TV and a telephone.

This full fendered Model A roadster in red was typical of the style of street rod roadsters that Paul and Vickie Bender wanted in the San Jose Autorama. The American mags and the redline tires complete the package.

Cal Perreria brought his Oldsmobile-powered 1939 Ford Coupe to San Mateo from nearby San Leandro, California. A 1937 Cadillac transmission sent the Oldsmobile power to a 1950 Olds rearend. The interior was black rolled and pleated Naugahyde.

This very clean 1956 Ford big back window pickup was shown at San Mateo. Judging by the cheater slicks and the drilled rear bumper, this beauty must have seen a few trips down the quarter mile.

This 1936 Ford Coupe was displayed at San Mateo, and was obviously a trophy winner.

Jack Snyder’s 1956 Chevy hardtop was built by San Jose customizer Joe Wilhelm. Features were a custom grille, canted quad headlights, side lakes pipes and custom taillights. Another really clean early 1960’s custom; where is it now?

Ken Pucci of San Jose built this miniature 1922 Ford Model T roadster pickup completely by hand. The engine was from an English Ford and had a miniature blower with twin carbs.

Out of Gene Winfield’s custom shop in Modesto, California, came Louie Stojanovich’s 1948 Plymouth. Barris Kustom did the candy tangerine and pearl white paint. The rear had a rolled pan, custom nerf bumpers and a frenched license. The front grille, in a rolled and tucked cavity, housed quad Lucas headlights and chromed mesh with door handles. Wheels are chromed and reversed.

Charlie’s Business Coupe was entered in the Dragster class at Oakland. Charlie Mewes and Bert Sumner ran 185 miles an hour at Half Moon Bay and Fremont. The car still exists today and is still raced by Pierre Poncia of the Juggers Racing Team out of San Francisco.

A very nice 1934 Ford pickup was entered by Joe Filipelli. The engine was a 1958 Corvette, the taillights were 1958 Impala and the steering was from a 1958 Ford truck.

You gotta’ love these shop trucks. The Hogue Brothers out of Gilroy, California, picked a 1948 Studebaker for their parts go-getter.

Out of the Hayward, California shop of Joe Bailon came John Gomez’s 1957 Chevy Bel-Air. The rear fenders were extended and peaked and had 1959 Cadillac taillights set into custom bezels. The custom rolled pan with nerf bars and a small grille was a pleasing change from stock. The side scoops mimic the 1958 Impala. The canted quad headlights were set above a tube grille and more nerf bars. Gene Winfield the applied one of his signature fade paint jobs in candy gold and red.

A full side view of Ed Roth’s Tweety Pie roadster, again at San Mateo.

A very immaculate 1923 Ford T-bucket roadster from Rudy Heredia of Gilroy, California was shown at San Jose and San Mateo. The nicely chromed Buick engine is topped with six Stromberg carburetors. The bright red lacquer was new for 1963, changed from dark blue in 1962.

Nicely done was a good description for the 1957 Plymouth hardtop of Eddie Johnson from Petaluma, California. San Jose customizer Joe Wilhelm created the exaggerated rear fins, the front and rear rolled pans and the front and rear tube grilles. A very unusual model to use as a base for a full custom. The fade paint job looked even better in person.

The 1963 San Mateo show saw Richard Zocchi’s 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix in “new clothes.” The previous years’ multi-hued green paint scheme was redone by Gene Winfield in Tangerine and Pearl White lacquer in a typical Winfield signature “fade job.” Bodywork included a complete shave job, peaked rear fenders, frenched headlights and custom taillights.

The gorgeous Fiat altered of Joe Davis and Wes Ingram was just a much at home at the San Jose show as on the dragstrip in nearby Fremont, California. The car won the BB/A class at the 1964 U.S. Nationals at Indy, and was Runner-up for Competition Eliminator. Their best time in the quarter mile was 10.17 seconds at 140.84 miles per hour. Credit for the body and paint work goes to the Johnson Brothers of San Jose.

Shown in San Jose was the gleaming candy gold metalflake 1941 Ford pickup of Nick Lepesh from nearby Sunnyvale, CA. Under the hood was an Oldsmobile engine with a high rise manifold and dual carburetors. Body modifications included dual-quad headlights, dog bone running boards and a rolled rear pan with 1963 Impala taillights. The interior was done in gold and white, and featured a 1940 Ford dash and an Impala steering wheel.

A serious contender for the 1963 AMBR award was the 1929 Ford roadster of Dave Whitehead from Victoria, British Columbia. The body was channeled 7 inches and the 1932 Ford grille shell was sectioned. Other features were a 1948 Hillman steering gear, an Impala steering wheel, a 1948 Mercury engine and a 1932 Ford dashboard with a 1933 Chrysler instrument insert. The interior was done in white rolled and pleated Naugahyde with black rugs and polished mahogany floorboards.

This 1930 Ford Coupe was shown at Oakland by Ron Mancebo of Redding, California. The full race 1948 Ford flathead engine sported three Stromberg carbs, and the chassis was fully chromed. The Royal Blue lacquer was accented with Pearl White. The interior was pearl white Naugahyde, a custom dash and a Bell steering wheel.

San Jose resident Les Erben brought his beautiful 1929 Ford roadster pickup to Oakland and took home a Sweepstakes Award. Credit for the bodywork and black lacquer paint went to Joe Wilhelm. The 1955 Oldsmobile engine contained a bunch of go-fast goodies and was topped with an Edelbrock triple two-barrel manifold. The Buick Skylark wire wheels finish off the abundance of exterior chrome. The black interior featured twin bucket seats and Stewart-Warner gages.

Done in very heavy Lime Gold metalflake paint by the Art Chrome Body Shop, Dave Robertson’s 56 Ford pickup made the trip to Oakland from South Gate, California. The Lil’ Nugget featured canted quad headlights, a perforated mesh grille, Cadillac taillights and front and rear rolled pans. The engine was a 1959 Cadillac with two four- barrel carbs. Eddie Martinez did the pearl white and gold upholstery. This truck is still alive and well in Long Beach, California.

Mickey Himsl dubbed his heavily modified 1926 Ford touring, Moonshiner. Chartreuse and violet lacquer covered the 7-inch channeled and shortened body. The chassis was 1930 Ford. American mags were shod with M&H slicks on the Lincoln rearend. The five gallon gas tank is chromed. The 1948 Ford flathead is bored and stroked. The upholstery was stitched by Mickey’s brother Art.

Part of the Ford Motor Company Custom Car Caravan was this gorgeous 1963 Thunderbird named The Italien. The car was built by car designer Vince Gardner at Detroit Steel Tubing Company, a Ford subcontractor who also built the original 100 Ford Thunderbolt drag cars. A wood buck was built to match a clay roof from the Ford Design Studio, and then overlaid with fiberglass. The trunk lid was also fiberglass. The car somehow escaped the crusher and still exists today, restored in 2007 by noted Thunderbird restorer Tom Maruska of Duluth, Minnesota. It is now in the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California.

The newest dragster of Ted Gotelli was built by Rod Stuckey in the Midwest, and was driven by Jerry Card. Later in 1963, this car ran the quarter mile in 7.70 seconds at 195 miles per hour.

A typical early 1960’s mild custom was this 1960 Impala shown at San Mateo. Silver fogging accented the red paint. The engine appears to have multiple carbs, and there was a bunch of white pleats in that interior.

Another fine mild custom at San Mateo was the 1955 Ford Victoria of Bob and Vickie Benedetti from Daly City, California. The color was Tahitian Red with black accents. The grille was from a 1959 Cadillac while a Dodge Dart contributed the taillights.

This 1958 Chevy Bel-Air Sport Sedan (a factory name for a four-door hardtop) was shown by Rich and Carol Rozzi. Features included a 1958 Buick grille, shaved emblems and door handles, 1959 Cadillac taillights, interior chromed trim and Tahitian Red paint with black scallops.

This 1959 Chevrolet Impala at San Mateo appeared to come out of the shop of Joe Bailon. The car was owned by George Breein of Sunnyvale, California. Body work included front and rear rolled pans, custom grille and taillights and nerf bar bumpers.

Traveling to the San Francisco Bay Area from Denver, Colorado, Jerry Volavka brought his 1931 Ford four-door sedan. The pearl white paint is accented with purple fogging. The interior is done in velvet; the wheels are chromed and reversed.

The Golden Pearl was built and owned by Mr. & Mrs. Ray Nish. The truck started life as a 1937 Ford four-door sedan. The chassis was 1956 Mercury, the engine was 1957 Lincoln, the transmission was 1957 Thunderbird. The colors were gold and pearl white.

A view of the interior from the rear of Bill Cushenberry’s Silhouette shows some of the crazy details that went into this creation.

Bill Cushenberry created this bubble-top beauty called the Silhouette, from an illustration by artist Don Varner. Starting with a 1956 Buick chassis shortened to a 98 inch wheelbase, the body was hammered and formed from 20-gauge sheetmetal by Cushenberry. The Hilborn-injected Buick engine was liberally chromed. The bubble top was hand-formed acrylic plastic, while the candy paint was red, gold and black lacquer. Not many know that Cushenberry learned his skills working for Darryl Starbird in Wichita, Kansas, before moving to the west coast and opening his own shop in Monterey, California.

Johnny Taylor’s Royal Coach 1958 Ford came to Oakland from Southern California. The Art Chrome Body Shop in Hollydale, California, did the body modifications and the candy lavender paint. Under the frenched headlights was a 1959 Imperial grille. The side trim was made of 800 custom bullets. The interior featured Thunderbird bucket seats and a rear seat beverage bar. This car was restored and sold a few years ago at Barrett-Jackson.

Another overhead view of the San Jose Autorama.

Drag racer and drag chassis builder Jim Davis displayed his own car at Oakland. Power was a blown small-block Chevrolet.

A rear view of the three-wheeled Futurista from Darryl Starbird. Under Lucite 2-piece bubble top was a red velvet interior that featured stick-controlled steering, pushbutton brakes and stainless steel trim pieces.

An original steel Model A panel truck was the basis for Chet and Ron Norris’ Bread Truck’ drag racer. Both the multiple-carbed engine and the driver were set back to get more weight over the rear drag slicks.

Part of the race car display at San Mateo was the Altered Class roadster pickup of Anderson and Hensel. They were part of the Juggers Racing Team car club of San Francisco. The car was driven by Bob Hensel and held the National C/F Altered record in 1963 at 9.40 seconds and 158 miles per hour. Power was an injected Chrysler hemi.

The engine in the Little Coffin was a 320 cubic inch 1954 DeSoto. The body was chopped three inches, sectioned three inches, channeled 10 inches and converted to suicide doors. The paint was candy red. Note that the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) trophy is displayed behind George Barris’ ‘Twister T’. Barris won the award at Oakland in 1962.

Shown at San Mateo was the custom 1957 Corvette owned by Bob Moreira of Hayward, California. The car was totally rebuilt from a wreck, and restyled by Bob McNulty. Features included a Studebaker Hawk grille, Lincoln quad headlights and extended rear fenders with custom taillights. The candy red paint was accented with silver coves. The car was found in Colorado early in 2017, but the car was determined to be too far gone to be restored.

Displayed at San Mateo was the A/Fuel dragster of Wally Allred, running with Champion Speed Shop sponsorship. The totally louvered aluminum body was unusual. Wally, a member of the Juggers Racing Team of San Francisco, built the car in his home garage and chose a blown Chrysler for power.

The 1935 Ford ‘shop truck’ of Gene Winfield from Modesto, California, was shown at San Jose. The top was chopped 3 ½ inches. The rear fenders are from a 1939 Chevrolet. The paint was candy pearl blue.

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[itsworn]

1963…Bay Area Car Shows Were the Best

The year was 1963. Stranger on the Shore and Telstar become the first singles by British groups to reach No.1 on the U.S. charts, predating the first No.1 by the Beatles by 13 months.

The Beatles recorded their debut album, Please Please Me, in a single day at the AMI Abbey Road Studios in London.

U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 passes by Venus, becoming the first probe to transmit data successfully from another planet.

Wally Parks shocked the sport by adding an invitational, “experimental” Top Fuel Eliminator, to the Winternationals in Pomona, California. He also outlawed jet propulsion. While aircraft power plants had been banned from actual competition since 1960, but allowed to make exhibition runs, these new “weenie roasters” were strictly forbidden, despite a solid safety record to date.

The northern California car show season for 1963 began on the weekend after New Year’s Day, at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. Harry Costa’s San Mateo Custom, Rod and Sports Car Show saw the debut of the latest projects that had been languishing in garages during the prior winter months (Remember this is California!).

The San Mateo Custom, Rod and Sports Car Show began in 1956 by Bay Area hot rodders Harry Costa, Jr, Andy Brizio and Richard Costa. The show was billed as ‘The California Auto Fair’. San Mateo is located on the San Francisco peninsula, about 20 miles south of the city of San Francisco. In the years that followed, San Mateo was the place to debut your latest build. Many cars came from outside of California, hoping to win awards at California’s top car shows during the months of January and February, and for many a chance to get out of the snow and cold weather.

Two weeks after San Mateo, the venue changed and moved down the San Francisco peninsula to the San Jose Fairgrounds. Paul and Vicki Bender usually assembled a fresh group of rods, customs and race cars, with emphasis on Bay Area car clubs.

The San Jose Autorama was started in 1952 by Paul’s dad. Paul’s dad sold advertising for the programs at the National Roadster Show in Oakland. Paul helped out by pedaling the programs during the show’s 10-day run over the Washington’s Birthday holiday.

Paul took over the San Jose show from his dad in 1959, with help from partner and race promoter Bob Barkhimer. The last San Jose Autorama was 1987. During this 35-year run of the San Jose show, Paul also was the NASCAR flag man for races at California short tracks like San Jose Speedway, Watsonville, Fresno, Madera, and Clovis.

The next venue was a short ride north on Highway 17 from San Jose to the East Bay community of Oakland, and the Oakland Exposition Building. This had been the home of the National Roadster Show since its inception in 1950, as well as the home of Bay Area midget racing. The show actually began as the International Auto Show in 1949. Al and Mary Slonaker billed that first show to include new domestic and foreign automobile makes. A group of Bay Area hot rodders asked Al if they could display their “hot rods” in one far corner of the building, and he agreed. Needless to say, the 10 hot rod roadsters stole the show, and in 1950 the show became the National Roadster Show.

The NRS became known in the media as Oakland, mainly because it was easier than saying National Roadster Show. In 1963 the show became the Grand National Roadster Show, a title which was even longer. Hence, though the show has since moved to the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California, many of us still refer to the show as Oakland.

The Oakland Exposition Building had its own brand of character and ambiance. Since the large doors at each were constantly opened and closed for ventilation, and for midget races, some birds found themselves a comfortable home in the tall steel roof trusses. Naturally this caused some car owners, wary of the birds leaving their marks, to add an extra coat of wax to the exposed horizontal surfaces of their rides. So here we present a cross section of images from the San Mateo, San Jose and Oakland shows in 1963. Some of the images are a little focus fuzzy and have deteriorated over the past 54 years. For that I apologize. In 1963 I was just out of high school and still learning how to shoot indoor car shows.

(Editor’s Note: A big thank you goes out to Greg Sharp, Rod Powell, Paul Bender, Rik Hoving and Rudy Perez for their help.)

The 1957 Thunderbird of Jim Giminez underwent a serious transformation at Joe Ortiz Custom Shop in nearby Hayward, California. Features included ’58 Edsel headlights, a floating tube grille, extended rear fenders, a chopped windshield and tunneled taillights. This was some very radical metalwork for the early 1960’s. The car was finished in candy green.

This 1928 Ford roadster pickup was brought to Oakland by Dewey O’Connell of Santa Rosa, California. Louvers were punched in the side aprons and the inner sides of the front fenders before the truck was sprayed with Sierra Gold lacquer. The engine is a 1960 Pontiac with three carbs, a Pontiac Hydromatic transmission and a 1948 Ford rearend. The wheels are Cragars and the interior is done in black naugahyde.

This radical 1951 Mercury was the creation of now Bay Area paint legend Rod Powell. The engine was a Buick. Rod enlisted the help of Bill Cushenberry with the top chop, the concave fender wells and the sculptured rear end to match the front. The quad headlights and the custom taillights were covered with Lucite plastic. The Chrysler swivel bucket seats were upholstered in black by Howard Curry. The paint was candy tangerine lacquer. The car was wrecked a couple of years later after Rod sold it, and ended up at the crusher.

The rear of the Rod Powell Mercury. Note that the rear sculptured bodywork resembles the front.

The very radical interior of builder Dave Stuckey’s wild ‘Little Coffin’, a radical show rod that began life as a 1932 Ford Sedan owned by Larry Farber from Derby, Kansas. The chromed roll bar obviously holds up the chopped top since the windshield was frameless. The bench seat, done in gold frieze and white naugahyde, looks cool but uncomfortable, as does the abbreviated steering wheel.

The Steve Swaja-designed XR-6 roadster of LeRoi “Tex” Smith won the street roadster half of the 10-foot trophy at Oakland in 1963, America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. The 1927 Ford T-roadster body was augmented with additional body panels built by Barris Kustoms, Gene Winfield, Gordon Vann, and Tex himself. The engine was a Dodge Dart aluminum slant 6-cylinder in a tube frame with Volkswagen front suspension, a push button transmission and Dodge Dart rear suspension. Tony Nancy did the upholstery. The color was candy red.

We weren’t able to identify the owner of this entry in the Hot Rod Pickup class at Oakland, but I really like the profile and the stance. The top has been chopped and the full fendered body appears to have been either sectioned or channeled. The 1932 grille shell was obviously chopped and the front splash apron is modified. The quad headlights were unusual. The white walls and the white upholstery contrasted nicely with the bright orange lacquer.

Bob Tindle’s Orange Crate 1932 Ford got everyone’s attention with its unusual tilt-up body. The Portland, Oregon creation won the Competition half of the 10-foot trophy, America’s Best Competition Car. The 417 cubic inch 1960 Olds engine had a front-mounted Potvin blower. The suspension and the Halibrand quick-change rearend came from a sprint car, as did the Halibrand magnesium wheels.

Paul Hannon showed his channeled 1929 Ford roadster powered by a bored and stroked 1952 Studebaker V-8 engine under the Crower U-Fab four-carb manifold. The transmission was a 1939 Ford. The body was channeled 8 inches and the windshield chopped 4 inches. The American mags were fitted with Firestone tires. Paul was and is still a member of the Bay Area Roadsters.

An overhead view of the show floor at San Jose showing Les Erben’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup. In the rear we can see George Barris’ Twister T roadster and Gene Winfield’s blue 1935 Ford shop truck.

Built in the early 1950’s by Bob Johnston, Ed Roth purchased the car in 1962, and turned the little 1923 Ford Model T into Tweedy Pie. The T-bucket roadster took center stage at San Mateo and the crowds loved it. Larry Watson painted the car purple after Ed dropped in a 283 Corvette motor with six Strombergs, quad headlights and new fuscia upholstery. Reversed chrome wheels, wide whites, and tasteful striping made the car a show favorite.

A very tasteful and well detailed 1936 Ford Sedan was shown at Oakland by Jim Adamson. The sedan had power from a 1955 Ford, chromed interior moldings and Chrysler wire wheels. Even back in ’63, four-door sedan street rods were very rare. This cars’ level of detail was exceptional.

Nick Medeiros of Antioch brought his 1961 Ford Galaxie hardtop to San Jose. The car featured a 1954 Chevy grille, roof scoops and 1959 Cadillac taillights.

The latest car from Darryl Starbird and the Star Custom Shop in Wichita, Kansas, was the Futurista, a three-wheeled concept vehicle built for Monogram Models, Inc. The engine was from a Volkswagen Spyder and the paint was pearl white.

Aerospace engineer Tom Prufer displayed his Power King Too AA/FD dragster, his first foray into top fuel car ownership. The Kent Fuller chassis sported a 354 cubic inch Chrysler, a full aluminum body by Jack Hagemann, Sr., and striping/lettering by Tommy the Greek. This car ran 200 miles per hour at Fremont in 1964 with Gerry Steiner driving.

Another overhead view of the show floor at San Jose.

Don Ruter was a member of the Ramblers car club in San Francisco, and built this Fiat coupe dragster in his home garage. Power was a blown Chrysler.

The very nice 1932 Ford five-window coupe was built by Bruce Humphreys of Oakland. The flawless body was covered with 20 coats of lacquer. The engine was 1963 Corvette with two four-barrel carbs. The transmission and rearend also came from a Corvette. The interior contained Volkswagen bucket seats, tinted glass and Stewart-Warner gauges.

Dressed in Swift Red lacquer was Al Lindstrom’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup from Sacramento. Engine was a 1954 Oldsmobile 371 dressed in much chrome and topped with a J-2 manifold with three carbs. The 1932 Ford frame had a 2 ½-inch dropped axle and a 1940 Ford rearend. The red lacquer paint was done by Miller’s Auto Body in Redding, CA. The wheels were chromed and reversed.

The word radical can be used to describe Bob Hiser’s 1956 Chevy two-door from San Jose. The car was designed and built in the owner’s garage, which is even more impressive.

This 1933 Ford 5-window coupe was built by Tim Davis of San Francisco, and featured a 4-inch top chop and an 8-inch body channel. The engine was from a 1955 Thunderbird with a 1939 Ford transmission sending power to the 1937 Ford rearend. The wheels were magnesium and the taillights were from a Cadillac. The interior was done in black and white Naugahyde with a chromed dash and Stewart-Warner gauges.

A small-block Chevrolet was the engine of choice in Dave Marasco’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup from San Jose. The chromed frontend had a dropped axle. The pickup bed had been shortened 12 inches. The paint was black lacquer and the striping was done by Andy Southard.

Ray Silva’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup from San Jose.

A Buick engine with dual four-barrel carbs powered Joe Cardoza’s 1929 Ford roadster pickup from San Jose. The black rolled and pleated interior was set off nicely by the Naples Orange lacquer exterior. Joe still owns this truck, is a member of the Bay Area Roadsters and drives the truck regularly.

This very nice 1934 Ford pickup was displayed in San Jose in an equally impressive manner, with palm trees, driftwood and spot lights.

San Jose Roadster member Frank Rocha showed his 1927 Ford roadster at San Jose. The engine came from a 1956 Buick Century. The tranny was a 1939 Ford. The white interior contrasted nicely with the Cobalt Blue lacquer paint. Frank still owns the car.

John Capman brought his 1923 Ford T-bucket roadster to San Jose from Santa Rosa, California. The 1959 Chevrolet engine had four carburetors and sent power through a Powerglide transmission to a 1948 Ford rearend. The battery, electric fuel pump and the fuel tank were located in the 18-inch pickup bed.

The 1941 Ford Pickup of Joe Crispin came to the San Mateo show from Redwood City, California. The previous years’ yellow paint was replaced with candy green with flames. The canted quad headlights were installed by Bill Cushenberry, as were the Corvette taillights. The engine was a 1956 Oldsmobile. The bed featured a TV and a telephone.

This full fendered Model A roadster in red was typical of the style of street rod roadsters that Paul and Vickie Bender wanted in the San Jose Autorama. The American mags and the redline tires complete the package.

Cal Perreria brought his Oldsmobile-powered 1939 Ford Coupe to San Mateo from nearby San Leandro, California. A 1937 Cadillac transmission sent the Oldsmobile power to a 1950 Olds rearend. The interior was black rolled and pleated Naugahyde.

This very clean 1956 Ford big back window pickup was shown at San Mateo. Judging by the cheater slicks and the drilled rear bumper, this beauty must have seen a few trips down the quarter mile.

This 1936 Ford Coupe was displayed at San Mateo, and was obviously a trophy winner.

Jack Snyder’s 1956 Chevy hardtop was built by San Jose customizer Joe Wilhelm. Features were a custom grille, canted quad headlights, side lakes pipes and custom taillights. Another really clean early 1960’s custom; where is it now?

Ken Pucci of San Jose built this miniature 1922 Ford Model T roadster pickup completely by hand. The engine was from an English Ford and had a miniature blower with twin carbs.

Out of Gene Winfield’s custom shop in Modesto, California, came Louie Stojanovich’s 1948 Plymouth. Barris Kustom did the candy tangerine and pearl white paint. The rear had a rolled pan, custom nerf bumpers and a frenched license. The front grille, in a rolled and tucked cavity, housed quad Lucas headlights and chromed mesh with door handles. Wheels are chromed and reversed.

Charlie’s Business Coupe was entered in the Dragster class at Oakland. Charlie Mewes and Bert Sumner ran 185 miles an hour at Half Moon Bay and Fremont. The car still exists today and is still raced by Pierre Poncia of the Juggers Racing Team out of San Francisco.

A very nice 1934 Ford pickup was entered by Joe Filipelli. The engine was a 1958 Corvette, the taillights were 1958 Impala and the steering was from a 1958 Ford truck.

You gotta’ love these shop trucks. The Hogue Brothers out of Gilroy, California, picked a 1948 Studebaker for their parts go-getter.

Out of the Hayward, California shop of Joe Bailon came John Gomez’s 1957 Chevy Bel-Air. The rear fenders were extended and peaked and had 1959 Cadillac taillights set into custom bezels. The custom rolled pan with nerf bars and a small grille was a pleasing change from stock. The side scoops mimic the 1958 Impala. The canted quad headlights were set above a tube grille and more nerf bars. Gene Winfield the applied one of his signature fade paint jobs in candy gold and red.

A full side view of Ed Roth’s Tweety Pie roadster, again at San Mateo.

A very immaculate 1923 Ford T-bucket roadster from Rudy Heredia of Gilroy, California was shown at San Jose and San Mateo. The nicely chromed Buick engine is topped with six Stromberg carburetors. The bright red lacquer was new for 1963, changed from dark blue in 1962.

Nicely done was a good description for the 1957 Plymouth hardtop of Eddie Johnson from Petaluma, California. San Jose customizer Joe Wilhelm created the exaggerated rear fins, the front and rear rolled pans and the front and rear tube grilles. A very unusual model to use as a base for a full custom. The fade paint job looked even better in person.

The 1963 San Mateo show saw Richard Zocchi’s 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix in “new clothes.” The previous years’ multi-hued green paint scheme was redone by Gene Winfield in Tangerine and Pearl White lacquer in a typical Winfield signature “fade job.” Bodywork included a complete shave job, peaked rear fenders, frenched headlights and custom taillights.

The gorgeous Fiat altered of Joe Davis and Wes Ingram was just a much at home at the San Jose show as on the dragstrip in nearby Fremont, California. The car won the BB/A class at the 1964 U.S. Nationals at Indy, and was Runner-up for Competition Eliminator. Their best time in the quarter mile was 10.17 seconds at 140.84 miles per hour. Credit for the body and paint work goes to the Johnson Brothers of San Jose.

Shown in San Jose was the gleaming candy gold metalflake 1941 Ford pickup of Nick Lepesh from nearby Sunnyvale, CA. Under the hood was an Oldsmobile engine with a high rise manifold and dual carburetors. Body modifications included dual-quad headlights, dog bone running boards and a rolled rear pan with 1963 Impala taillights. The interior was done in gold and white, and featured a 1940 Ford dash and an Impala steering wheel.

A serious contender for the 1963 AMBR award was the 1929 Ford roadster of Dave Whitehead from Victoria, British Columbia. The body was channeled 7 inches and the 1932 Ford grille shell was sectioned. Other features were a 1948 Hillman steering gear, an Impala steering wheel, a 1948 Mercury engine and a 1932 Ford dashboard with a 1933 Chrysler instrument insert. The interior was done in white rolled and pleated Naugahyde with black rugs and polished mahogany floorboards.

This 1930 Ford Coupe was shown at Oakland by Ron Mancebo of Redding, California. The full race 1948 Ford flathead engine sported three Stromberg carbs, and the chassis was fully chromed. The Royal Blue lacquer was accented with Pearl White. The interior was pearl white Naugahyde, a custom dash and a Bell steering wheel.

San Jose resident Les Erben brought his beautiful 1929 Ford roadster pickup to Oakland and took home a Sweepstakes Award. Credit for the bodywork and black lacquer paint went to Joe Wilhelm. The 1955 Oldsmobile engine contained a bunch of go-fast goodies and was topped with an Edelbrock triple two-barrel manifold. The Buick Skylark wire wheels finish off the abundance of exterior chrome. The black interior featured twin bucket seats and Stewart-Warner gages.

Done in very heavy Lime Gold metalflake paint by the Art Chrome Body Shop, Dave Robertson’s 56 Ford pickup made the trip to Oakland from South Gate, California. The Lil’ Nugget featured canted quad headlights, a perforated mesh grille, Cadillac taillights and front and rear rolled pans. The engine was a 1959 Cadillac with two four- barrel carbs. Eddie Martinez did the pearl white and gold upholstery. This truck is still alive and well in Long Beach, California.

Mickey Himsl dubbed his heavily modified 1926 Ford touring, Moonshiner. Chartreuse and violet lacquer covered the 7-inch channeled and shortened body. The chassis was 1930 Ford. American mags were shod with M&H slicks on the Lincoln rearend. The five gallon gas tank is chromed. The 1948 Ford flathead is bored and stroked. The upholstery was stitched by Mickey’s brother Art.

Part of the Ford Motor Company Custom Car Caravan was this gorgeous 1963 Thunderbird named The Italien. The car was built by car designer Vince Gardner at Detroit Steel Tubing Company, a Ford subcontractor who also built the original 100 Ford Thunderbolt drag cars. A wood buck was built to match a clay roof from the Ford Design Studio, and then overlaid with fiberglass. The trunk lid was also fiberglass. The car somehow escaped the crusher and still exists today, restored in 2007 by noted Thunderbird restorer Tom Maruska of Duluth, Minnesota. It is now in the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California.

The newest dragster of Ted Gotelli was built by Rod Stuckey in the Midwest, and was driven by Jerry Card. Later in 1963, this car ran the quarter mile in 7.70 seconds at 195 miles per hour.

A typical early 1960’s mild custom was this 1960 Impala shown at San Mateo. Silver fogging accented the red paint. The engine appears to have multiple carbs, and there was a bunch of white pleats in that interior.

Another fine mild custom at San Mateo was the 1955 Ford Victoria of Bob and Vickie Benedetti from Daly City, California. The color was Tahitian Red with black accents. The grille was from a 1959 Cadillac while a Dodge Dart contributed the taillights.

This 1958 Chevy Bel-Air Sport Sedan (a factory name for a four-door hardtop) was shown by Rich and Carol Rozzi. Features included a 1958 Buick grille, shaved emblems and door handles, 1959 Cadillac taillights, interior chromed trim and Tahitian Red paint with black scallops.

This 1959 Chevrolet Impala at San Mateo appeared to come out of the shop of Joe Bailon. The car was owned by George Breein of Sunnyvale, California. Body work included front and rear rolled pans, custom grille and taillights and nerf bar bumpers.

Traveling to the San Francisco Bay Area from Denver, Colorado, Jerry Volavka brought his 1931 Ford four-door sedan. The pearl white paint is accented with purple fogging. The interior is done in velvet; the wheels are chromed and reversed.

The Golden Pearl was built and owned by Mr. & Mrs. Ray Nish. The truck started life as a 1937 Ford four-door sedan. The chassis was 1956 Mercury, the engine was 1957 Lincoln, the transmission was 1957 Thunderbird. The colors were gold and pearl white.

A view of the interior from the rear of Bill Cushenberry’s Silhouette shows some of the crazy details that went into this creation.

Bill Cushenberry created this bubble-top beauty called the Silhouette, from an illustration by artist Don Varner. Starting with a 1956 Buick chassis shortened to a 98 inch wheelbase, the body was hammered and formed from 20-gauge sheetmetal by Cushenberry. The Hilborn-injected Buick engine was liberally chromed. The bubble top was hand-formed acrylic plastic, while the candy paint was red, gold and black lacquer. Not many know that Cushenberry learned his skills working for Darryl Starbird in Wichita, Kansas, before moving to the west coast and opening his own shop in Monterey, California.

Johnny Taylor’s Royal Coach 1958 Ford came to Oakland from Southern California. The Art Chrome Body Shop in Hollydale, California, did the body modifications and the candy lavender paint. Under the frenched headlights was a 1959 Imperial grille. The side trim was made of 800 custom bullets. The interior featured Thunderbird bucket seats and a rear seat beverage bar. This car was restored and sold a few years ago at Barrett-Jackson.

Another overhead view of the San Jose Autorama.

Drag racer and drag chassis builder Jim Davis displayed his own car at Oakland. Power was a blown small-block Chevrolet.

A rear view of the three-wheeled Futurista from Darryl Starbird. Under Lucite 2-piece bubble top was a red velvet interior that featured stick-controlled steering, pushbutton brakes and stainless steel trim pieces.

An original steel Model A panel truck was the basis for Chet and Ron Norris’ Bread Truck’ drag racer. Both the multiple-carbed engine and the driver were set back to get more weight over the rear drag slicks.

Part of the race car display at San Mateo was the Altered Class roadster pickup of Anderson and Hensel. They were part of the Juggers Racing Team car club of San Francisco. The car was driven by Bob Hensel and held the National C/F Altered record in 1963 at 9.40 seconds and 158 miles per hour. Power was an injected Chrysler hemi.

The engine in the Little Coffin was a 320 cubic inch 1954 DeSoto. The body was chopped three inches, sectioned three inches, channeled 10 inches and converted to suicide doors. The paint was candy red. Note that the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) trophy is displayed behind George Barris’ ‘Twister T’. Barris won the award at Oakland in 1962.

Shown at San Mateo was the custom 1957 Corvette owned by Bob Moreira of Hayward, California. The car was totally rebuilt from a wreck, and restyled by Bob McNulty. Features included a Studebaker Hawk grille, Lincoln quad headlights and extended rear fenders with custom taillights. The candy red paint was accented with silver coves. The car was found in Colorado early in 2017, but the car was determined to be too far gone to be restored.

Displayed at San Mateo was the A/Fuel dragster of Wally Allred, running with Champion Speed Shop sponsorship. The totally louvered aluminum body was unusual. Wally, a member of the Juggers Racing Team of San Francisco, built the car in his home garage and chose a blown Chrysler for power.

The 1935 Ford ‘shop truck’ of Gene Winfield from Modesto, California, was shown at San Jose. The top was chopped 3 ½ inches. The rear fenders are from a 1939 Chevrolet. The paint was candy pearl blue.

  The post 1963…Bay Area Car Shows Were the Best appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[yahoo-from-the-marbles-blog]

Book excerpt: Dale Earnhardt's final win at Talladega was his most thrilling

Dale Earnhardt Sr. behind the wheel. (Getty Images)

EARNHARDT NATION, the complete biography of the Earnhardt family, written by Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee, is now out in paperback. In this exclusive excerpt, relive The Intimidator’s last great moment: his astounding come-from-behind white-knuckle victory at Talladega in 2000.

The fall Talladega race in 2000 marked a transitional moment for the sport. A settlement with the federal government severely restricted tobacco companies’ ability to market their products. The 2000 Winston 500 would mark the last time that a regular-season Cup race would carry title sponsorship from Winston.

October 15, 2000, was one of those classic Alabama fall Sundays, the sky wide, bright, and blue enough to touch, the flags in the infield rippling in a faint breeze. There was hope in the Alabama air; a hundred or so miles to the west, a generally woeful Bama football team had just thumped rival Ole Miss 45–7. Outside Alabama, Troy Aikman, Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning were suiting up for NFL games.

At Talladega, more than 170,000 fans filed, stumbled, or were dragged into the stands and infield. Joe Nemecheck had won the pole, and he led a field that ran smoothly and caution-free for the first 104 laps of the 188-lap race. Junior actually managed to lead the very first lap, but no more. Stewart, Gordon, Kenseth, and many others took a turn at the front; in all, there were forty-nine lead changes during the race.

There are two strategies at Talladega, and whichever one you choose, the other one usually turns out to be the better option. You can ride around in the back of the pack, hoping to avoid the inevitable chaos that comes from a dozen-car wreck euphemistically termed the Big One. The risk is that you’ll be too far behind to make a move and challenge for the lead when you need to. Or you can race around in front, knowing that you’re only a couple of degrees on the steering wheel from getting caught in a major pileup.

Earnhardt ended up stuck with the former option. He’d qualified twentieth, and spent most of the afternoon back there as Bill Elliott, Junior, and others traded the lead. With less than twenty laps remaining, a wreck collected Martin and three other cars. After the requisite cleanup, the race restarted with fifteen laps remaining. Earnhardt was stuck deep in the pack, restarting in eighteenth.

As long as your car is running at Talladega, you have a shot at the win. One route to the checkers was a since-discontinued practice called tandem drafting, in which two cars bunch up nose-to-bumper and force their way forward, two cars being faster than one alone. The teamwork lasts until the final turn. Both the front and rear cars have weaknesses; the rear car can overheat, while the front car can suddenly lose speed when the back car releases to push ahead—the so-called slingshot move.

Earnhardt began slithering through the pack, heedless of anything but the clean air in front of him. Kenny Wallace followed Earnhardt’s lead, and before long, Earnhardt had forced his way right up to the front of the pack.

“How did he get through those cars?” ESPN commentator Benny Parsons said in disbelief. “How did he do that?” ESPN’s cameras followed the black Goodwrench No. 3 on every turn, and on every turn it seemed Earnhardt had put another car behind him.

Cars stacked up four wide, then five wide as tension mounted. Every driver needed to make precision moves; one mistake on a turn could send the entire pack pinwheeling around. Nerves rode high, hearts choked throats, fear and anticipation hung in the air. In other words, it was Earnhardt’s time.

“He’s beaten and scraped,” ESPN’s Dr. Jerry Punch said as cameras showed the side of the battered No. 3. “He will not be denied.”

Coming around to the white flag marking one lap remaining, Earnhardt’s teammate Mike Skinner was in first, with Junior second. Junior wobbled and slid down to the apron, losing his chance at victory. Earnhardt took a shove from Wallace to get past Skinner and out into the beloved clean air. From there, it was all over. Wallace was on Earnhardt’s bumper but couldn’t close.

Earnhardt won the race over Wallace by 0.119 seconds, four times shorter than the blink of an eye. (It wasn’t anywhere near the closest finish in Talladega history; in 2011, Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer by 0.002 seconds.) As he took his victory lap, one huge fist stuck out the window in exultation, he passed brightly colored wreckage, the smoke rising from the cars’ engines a fitting backdrop.

“Unbelievable,” Richard Childress, Earnhardt’s team owner, said just after the checkered flag flew. “The race fans today got the race they deserved.” The statistics told the story of a special race: with twenty-one drivers taking the lead forty-nine times, the day saw the most lead changes and most leaders in a race at Talladega in more than a decade.

Normally when a driver wins a race, a few scattered fans, some corporate guests, and the team wait for him in Victory Lane. On this day, the crowd ran two and three deep from the track all the way to Victory Lane. Earnhardt pumped his fist as he crawled past the crowd, then climbed out of his car into a blizzard of confetti. He hoisted crew chief Kevin Hamlin, who was suffering from an injured back, up onto the window ledge of the No. 3, mischievously slapping Hamlin’s back and side all the way. To his credit, Hamlin kept his composure but hastily climbed down.

“It was wild,” Earnhardt said in Victory Lane. “I didn’t have any thought that I had any chance of winning this race, starting where I did on that restart. Boy, as we kept working away and got on the outside of Kenny . . . Kenny Wallace really worked hard with us and he done a good job. I don’t think we could have gotten back up there without Kenny.”

After he took a sponsor-mandated swig from a bottle of Coke, he delivered the kicker: “I hated to beat Mike Skinner, but I had to beat him for a million,” he said, referring to a Winston program that paid a million dollars to drivers who met certain conditions while winning certain races. The Winston No-Bull 5 promised a million dollars to any driver who finished in the top five at one of five races that year—Daytona, Las Vegas, the Coca-Cola 600, Richmond, and Talladega—and won the next. Earnhardt had finished second at Richmond.

“This is the first time I’ve ever won it.” Earnhardt smiled. “I’ve been close a couple times, but never won it. It’ll be good going to Vegas with a million bucks in my pocket, huh?” The Winston 500 marked Earnhardt’s seventy-sixth win, and his tenth Winston Cup victory at Talladega.

“If you were a NASCAR fan, you loved this,” Punch said as the telecast wrapped. “If you weren’t one, you became one today.” EARNHARDT NATION is on sale now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and book retailers nationwide. ____ Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

[chasechapman20-blog]

The Earnhardts

When the name Earnhardt comes to mind, you might think of the words ‘outgoing’ or ‘intimidating.’ Well, none sticks out to me more than just plain ‘tough.’ He was one of the toughest, if not the toughest, race car drivers that ever lived. You think Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty are tough? Think again. When Earnhardt came on the scene, even Yarborough and Petty were intimidated by him. But lets take a look at how he became that way. Earnhardt was born in 1951 in Kannapolis, North Carolina. His father Ralph was a legend on the dirt tracks around the Carolinas. He was aggressive, bumping people out of the way to try and win races. Now some people might ask why. Well, because it was either win races, or work in the local textile mill. Either way, he was desperate to provide for his family, and he didn’t want to work in a mill that had horrible temperatures and wages that were too low to feed a mouse. Dale was the same way, except all he wanted to do was race. In 9th grade, Dale dropped out of high school simply because he wanted to race. He ended up working in the mill for the next couple of years. It was after that couple of years that Dale started racing on the dirt tracks. But he also had another dilemma. He, like his dad, had a wife and son to provide for. And he was not even 18 yet. Nowadays, its not even legal to be married under 18. Due to the fact that he was not making enough money to support his family, Dale’s marriage fell through. Not long after that he married again. This marriage produced two children, one of whom, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., is now a two-time Daytona 500 winner and 14 time consecutive most popular driver. Unfortunately, this marriage ended the same way the last one did, and for the same reason. I can count the number of times Earnhardt started a NASCAR race from 1975-’78 on two hands. But in 1979, he was hired to race full time, and from then on, the rest is history. The first two years in his full time career, Dale was a rookie that raced like a veteran. Although he only won a single race in 1979, he still won Rookie of the Year. Only a year later, he won his first of seven championships. To this day, he is the only driver to win Rookie of the Year and a championship in back to back years. He was very cocky, like most racers. From then until 1985, Earnhardt struggled. Why? Another driver named Darrell Waltrip was in domination mode. He was also extremely cocky, even more so than Earnhardt was. However, over the next decade, it was almost like Earnhardt’s career turned a full 180 degrees. In 1986 and ’87, he won his second and third championships, and no wonder. When he moved to Richard Childress Racing in 1984, the odds turned in his favor. Earnhardt’s driving style was too rough, so Bill France, Jr told him to take it easy. Nevertheless, the sight of his black #3 car in the rearview mirror still scared other drivers. He became known as “The Man in Black” and most famously “The Intimidator.” In 1990, ’91, ’93, and ’94, Earnhardt won the rest of his seven championships. He was the obvious favorite to win at every track. In a 1990 Charlotte Observer article, Ron Green pointed out that “More and more wear his color, black. It was inevitable.” With Richard Petty’s inevitable retirement nearing, “The fans have found a man to fill the void being left by the aging Petty (Charlotte Observer, 114).” But his track statistics were not the only reason he was loved by the fans. He, like Petty, was a man of the people, and even more so than Petty was. He truly represented the working class, because he was a part of the working class, and he never lost connection with that class of people. He liked working on his farm, and was an avid outdoorsman. I love hunting, so I can connect with that side of him. Earnhardt’s driving style was too rough in the 1980s, so Bill France, Jr told him to take it easy. Nevertheless, the sight of his black #3 car in the rearview mirror still scared other drivers. In a 1991 Charlotte Observer Article, Tom Higgins, who had covered Dale’s career from the beginning, claimed that “‘The Intimidator’ is becoming one of the most widely used nicknames because of his charging, aggressive driving style (Charlotte Observer, 125).” Although he had been told to take it easy, Earnhardt was still a little aggressive, but he knew how to control that aggression. Dale Earnhardt might have won seven championships and a large amount of races, but there was one race that seemed to get away from him every time he raced it: the Daytona 500. The Daytona 500 is the biggest race that NASCAR does every year. It was also the first. Earnhardt had won everything there is to win at Daytona, and countless times at that. But he’d never won the Daytona 500. It’s not that he had never won it that concerned him, but the fact that he had come so close so many times, only to be overtaken by someone else late in the race. That went on for 19 years. In 1998, he had a different mindset. For one, he was inspired by John Elway, who a couple of weeks before the 500, had finally won the Super Bowl for the first time in his career. He, like Earnhardt, had won everything in football, except the Super Bowl until 1998. That was the case for Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500. He had run out of gas. He had cut a tire on the last lap. He had crashed towards the end of the race. He had finished second several times. It seemed like every time it was his race to lose, that’s exactly what happened. Not in 1998. This time, Earnhardt showed no signs of wilting under pressure to win it in his 20th try. With 2 laps to go, there was a wreck on the back straightaway, which meant they had to race around to the white flag and caution flag. That just about sealed the deal for Earnhardt. After 20 years of trying, Dale Earnhardt had finally won the Daytona 500. What made it better was the ovation he got from every man on every pit crew. On his way to victory lane, all the pit crews lined pit road to congratulate him on finally breaking through. That still gives me chills to this day. The next two years, he didn’t slow down. And even better, he let his son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., race for him. In 2000, Junior won his first race here in Texas of all places. And he won NASCAR’s All Star race as a rookie. I’m still in shock that he didn’t win rookie of the year that year. The senior Earnhardt finished 2nd in the points standings, so he was an automatic favorite to win the championship in 2001. That never came to be. In the 2001 Daytona 500, while his drivers Michael Waltrip and Dale Jr. were racing for the win on the last lap, Dale Sr. got turned sideways in turn four of the speedway. He collected another car and went head on into the wall. Although Michael Waltrip won the race, his first ever, he was only able to celebrate for about 30 minutes. Earnhardt was pronounced dead an hour after his crash, although the crash killed him instantly. While fans mourned his death throughout the next few months, the healing was just beginning for a few drivers. Just the week after, one of Dale’s drivers won the race at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. A few weeks later, Earnhardt’s replacement driver, Kevin Harvick, in only his 3rd start won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in a side-by-side finish with Jeff Gordon. But in July of that year, NASCAR returned to Daytona. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was the favorite to win the race. He did not disappoint the fans. In the final 6 laps, Junior looked more like his dad as he was charging towards the front. Within 2 laps, he had taken the lead, and he never looked back. When Junior won the race, a sense of healing swept over the NASCAR community. Finally the fans were able to move on. Dale Junior went on to win several more races in his career, including two Daytona 500s. For the past 14 years, he has been voted most popular driver. But no one has left as big a mark on NASCAR as Dale Senior has. He’s still as popular today as he was while he was alive.

Charlotte Observer. Dale Earnhardt: Rear View Mirror. Sports Publishing Inc.,  

          2001.

"Dale Earnhardt." 2017. The Famous People website. Feb 3 2017, 02:00

          Retrieved from http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/dale- 

          earnhardt-4715.php#hCk9R5XcHAX2XxiT.99

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