Running 2023 Motorsports thread

D.W. didn't get a full season sponsorship until he was 29, and he was still considered a "young punk" at the time. I think Earnhardt was 27 when he won rookie of the year in 1979.

Hell, Harry Gant was 39 when he landed his first full-time Cup ride. Of course, he had won over 300 Sportsman races by then but the construction business paid more.

 

McGriff, 95, gave the quote of the night: "My speech shouldn't be too long, because most of the people I have to thank are dead."
BTW, Oregon has several cities with cool names. McGriff hails from one of them, Bridal Veil.

 

When I interviewed him for a story, McGriff told me he drove cross-country for the inaugural Southern 500 and found there were no motels to be had anywhere near Darlington. Guys were sleeping on the courthouse lawn, in movie theaters and back seats of cars that month. He taped up the headlights -- never even removed the Oregon license plate -- started 44th and finished ninth, winning $500. He then drove back to Bridal Veil in the same car.

Herb Thomas, one of the pre-race favorites, had his car repossessed while it was sitting on the grid before the race started and had to withdraw.

 

The stories about teams stealing tires and parts off fans’ cars parked in the Darlington infield (I’m sure it happened elsewhere, too) always cracked me up.

I’m glad guys like Hershel and Red Farmer are getting their due while they’re alive.

 

I've seen a picture of my dad and his buddies at Darlington in the '60s where they in the infield sleeping in, on top of, under, and around a van.
I don't think it was from a lack of hotel rooms. I guess they couldn't afford tickets and hotel, so they just slept there.

 

Someone should write a book about the early days of NASCAR. The founding of Darlington and the first Southern 500 has to be in it.

 

Best I've read(IMHO, of course), that fits that bill, was Neal Thompson's "Driving with the Devil." It's probably close to 15 years old now, but did a nice job of telling the story.

 

I spent eight months in Volusia County a little more than a decade ago. Back then, tickets to the 500 were getting entirely too easy to acquire.

 

Michael Shank Racing's new Acura is on the Rolex 24 pole, undercutting last year's Daytona Prototype mark by all of three one-thousandths of a second. AMG Mercedes swept the GTD poles.

https://racer.com/2023/01/22/blomqvist-msr-acura-start-new-gtp-era-on-pole-for-rolex-24/

And the Porsche teams are bitching about balance of performance.

https://racer.com/2023/01/21/new-gtd-porsches-struggling-with-top-speed-at-roar-before-the-24/

 

Caleb Williams of USC is the honorary starter for the Coliseum race. NASCAR said it wanted someone who knew what it was like to run out of gas.

 

Porsche in IMSA in 2023 = Dodge in NASCAR in 2001?

 

How time flies: I was at the Charger unveiling at Las Vegas in 2012, a sweet-looking car which never actually raced. In fact I brought the "Dodge Motorsports" baseball cap down this winter in case we go to Daytona for any of the Speedweeks circus.