ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus
AL= ALabama Journey
Have Bear,
Will Travel
October 13, 2017
Talladega fall 2017.
Back to Talladega one more time. I keep thinking this will be my last time, that's why I keep going back. At this age it may be the last time I go to Talladega.
Starting back in 1968 I used to go up and see Dad at work with Moss-Thornton doing excavation work at Talladega so this goes way back in my history and I have a really unique memories of seeing it being built seeing the crane truck up on the top of the track with a crane boom lift it up high and cable going down to a motor grader going around the track and the cable was so the motor scraper Road scraper motor grader would not slide down the Steep race track.
Back 4 years ago I almost wrote this but I kept holding out hope that I was wrong but I think we've seen the Apex in NASCAR. The crowds are not as big they constructed some stands over on the back straightaway this was a decade ago or so they never could fill them up and went and tore them down because the visual did not look good to see empty stands.
It quit being racing somewhere back in the early nineties. With the restrictor plates it basically slowed the cars down to be competitive and I heard little France one time say we're not about racing we're about entertainment and that pretty well holds true.
I'm just glad I got to see the real thing when it was really real racing by the old timers, the stars of the old, the real NASCAR dirt and grease drivers and half of their mechanics worked on the cars and those are really some good racing days back in the late 60s, 70s. even into the 80s, it was still exciting. That's back in the day when every single driver when they stick that microphone into his face for the Trackside interview it would be quote “well we was a runnin’ good all day’till ___________ blank, you fill in the blank, we blew a tar in number three. we got a clutch burned out. And so on.
I'm glad I got to see maybe one of the greatest races and all of NASCAR history. Was going to college but I went back up to the race I think in August 2nd race of 1974 and it was an absolute screamer. It narrowed down like always about 20 laps to go the four or five real horses that we're going to determine who the winner was.
Buddy Baker had been leading most of the day, Bobby Allison, and Dave Marcus were front contenders back then. I remember Baker was leading and add a pit stop and something didn't do right after he came out I don't know if his clutch, or overheated.
They caught a caution and it I was about less than 10 laps.
2017 #43 still looks good!
The last four five six laps it was a shootout between Richard Petty and David Pearson, Silver Fox. number 21 Purolator Ford. They passed each other about every turn, back straight away, they were constantly LeapFrog passing each other there was no stronger Contender... they were equal contenders and it boiled down to the driving skill and technique of passing each other in the corners and on that back straight away it was real racing. And Petty had developed this thing where he called a slingshot where he would ride on the high outside Lane Groove and coming out of the turn when the other car on in side tried to move up and block him from passing he would slingshot down under them and pass, and have a lot of times like a half a car length and go on and lead a couple of hundred yards.
1974 fall race was one of the greatest ones in history of NASCAR I was near the start Finish Line sitting in the Moss-Thornton stands section and Petty and David Pearson bumped, what they call trading paint in the tri-ovall and I came down to the finish line and Petty Won It by a foot... a blink of an eye It was absolutely one of the best finishes in the world. And just the excitement of seeing that electric blue STP Dodge with that big red “V” 43 on the front nose thundering by that finish line after bumping in the tri-oval with David Pearson that was one of the best races that's ever been.
It's still exciting, it was still a great show and spectacle. But it's like most things now at this age we're at the end of an era.
Now they are offering free tickets for kids and that's so the grandparents will come and buy tickets. most of the guys my age don't have the temperament anymore for the big crowds and it is some doing to go to a race on Saturday and Sunday at Talladega.
Decades ago I used to go up to time trials on Friday. I think back in the seventies and eighties they didn't even charge admission you just walked in or maybe it was not much and then I think in the late 80s or 90s that started being $10 to to go on Friday to the time trials. In the 70s there wouldn't be 2000 people in the stands. Early 90s mid 90s there was 10 thousand race fans in the stands. This last year the weather was bad in the spring and it was pretty dismal it was back to 3 or 4000 it was a declining crowd even in the bad weather.
I don't know what the next generation will demand of the racing community it will be interesting to see. I still like to go. There is nothing like being at Talladega. It’s Talladega Baby!
2017 pix
You never drink twice from the same stream. Just because you wander doesn't mean you're lost.
by Uncle Hargus: Last of the Independents
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