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Originally Posted by ARTelevision
On the subject of tracks, we just bought our tickets to the Pocono 500!
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Alright Art, glad to hear that! Be prepared to tailgate for a bit at the end though, cause it can take hours to make your exit.
In honor of your ticket purchase, I dug back through some of my old scrapbooks for a couple particularly memorable photos from Pocono:
Filing in the morning of the race. Thousands of friendly folks, many of some have started drinking beer a bit too soon....
Some of the starting grid on pit road before the race. Recognize anybody? There's Earnhardt of course, and Handsome Harry, but that's not Labonte in the 18, it's Dale Jarrett. Not sure who it was then in the Kodak car, I think probably Ernie Irvin.
Anyway, this race was in July '93, one week after Davey Allison died in that helicopter crash. They held open his pit stall in memory. What a fine racer he was, no telling how many cups he'd have won by now.
Here's your winner crossing the line. I think out of the four times I went to this race, he won three of them. The first time in the old Wrangler car. For my money, the best racer ever. As fine as King Richard was, Earnhardt was one dude NOBODY wanted to see in their rear-view mirror!
Then in a moment that brought tears to everyone's eyes, he was handed a huge #28 flag, and drove a Polish victory lap. Remember, Alan Kulwicki had perished in a plane crash in Bristol earlier that spring.
Fine thread you guys, and Art, what a nice story on Junior Johnson. Colorful people like that are becoming MIA around NASCAR these days. Not that I'm pining for the good ol' days or anything, but it might not hurt to see a couple a guys pull down trackside and start throwing punches, ala Cale and Donnie....
Somebody comes close to that now, and they send 'em to anger management classes. Of course it might not be too long now, that they'll only be four or five teams out there, with each team running nine or ten cars.
Ahh sorry, I really didn't mean to start bitching, cause it is still really fun to watch. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy Pocono Art, and if you get the chance, ya gotta make it down to Richmond or Bristol. Man, now that's some racin'.