Some Classic Quotes From NASCAR's Early Days
8/13/2013
PattyKay Lilley
Years
back... easily over a decade, I submitted one of these lighthearted columns to
my editor at the time, Ron Felix at Insider Racing News. After reading what I'd
sent, he asked me if it were a rerun. Ron detested reruns. Smiling demurely, I
answered, "Well, the beginning is new, the ending is new and my comments
are new. The quotes, I must admit, remain the same." The article ran as
written (Smile Ron; ya know I still love ya)
And in
that same spirit, today I'd like to share some of the more colorful quotes I've
collected over the years, all coined by icons of our sport. Most have at one
time or another appeared in one of my older columns, from which I've plucked
some personal favorites.
Some
will bring a smile to the lips of older fans, some will leave you scratching
your head a bit and all, hopefully, will impart to our younger and newer fans,
a feeling of what it was like back in the days when these quotes were first
uttered.
We’ll
begin today with a few gems from one of the most quotable men ever in racing,
Smokey Yunick. In fact, I suspect this entire column will be heavily weighted
in his favor, as he was always my favorite racing personality. As a favor to my
gentle readers, and especially with Smokey’s words, I’ve taken a few liberties
with the words you wouldn’t want your ten-year old to read.
*****
"As far as cheating goes,
they'll never stop it. There will always be some guy that'll think of something
that's a little smarter than the average
cat, but the reason there ain't any more of it on a big scale is that the only
way it can be done successfully, only one person can know about it.”
(And
more on the same subject)
"They will find out there is
no way to police creativity. No way in he**! There's always some guy who comes
along, like Ray Evernham, that's smarter than the
average cat, and he's going to figure out a way to get around it. The
difference between Gary Nelson's ability to think and Ray Evernham's
- well, probably there's not a lot of difference in their IQs, but Evernham concentrates on engines and certain areas with a
lot of expensive, very educated help. For 60 hours a week, he's studying new
stuff to beat the rules. Gary Nelson is spending 50 hours a week trying to
enforce the rules that were made yesterday. They're not even in the same
game."
(Remember,
when it came to “innovations”, Smokey was the undisputed King)
*****
“Between 1947 and the year 2000,
we had racing and then something that came after it; whatever name you want to
put on it, I am not criticizing it. This is by far several hundred times more
successful than we were, but, if I was a racer, then these guys competing today
aren't. And if these guys are racers, then I never was.”
"That doesn't mean I
consider that we were better, nor do I consider them
better than us. The fact is, this doesn't resemble
what we had, what we started out with. It doesn't mean it is bad. It is now
operating as entertainment and has nothing to do with the sport. When we
started, my pleasure was, the reason I did it, was I'd like to step out on the
line Sunday morning and pull my pants up and say, 'Let's have a race.' If I
won, I was happy. And if I didn't, I was already thinking about what I was
going to change next week to beat their a**.”
(To
those readers that tend to blame the current regime for everything that is
wrong with racing today... if indeed there is anything wrong... please note
that this man was racing personified, and he was seeing the transformation from
racing to show business at the time those words were spoken, shortly before his
death in April of 2001. No Chase, no Lucky Dog, no top-35, COT or any of the
rest. Those things would all come later.)
*****
“In the early 50s at a short
track, Herb Thomas drove my Hudson Hornet to a runaway victory. Lee Petty finished second and Curtis Turner third. Turner
charged that the scoring was crooked, and he and Petty argued. After the race,
we were in the Hudson dealer’s garage. The argument got heated, and Lee finally
swung at Turner”.
“Just behind where Curtis was
standing, was a wall made of plywood with a bunch of hooks on it. A piece of
iron that weighed 65-70 pounds was hanging on a hook that was 7-8 feet off the
floor. When Lee swung, Turner ducked, and Lee’s fist hit the wall. The hook
holding the piece of iron collapsed and a piece of iron hit Turner in the head,
knocking him unconscious. While we were dumping water on him trying to revive
him, he woke up and said, ‘Da**, Smoke, that (bleep) can hit.’”
(Smokey
was always at his best when telling tales. Wonder what Mike Helton and his gang
would have to say about that sort of horseplay in today’s more politically
correct sport. Would that come under the heading of "Boys, have at
it?")
*****
“What about the drivers? All
you’re gonna do with this is kill ‘em deader, quicker.”
Smokey,
to Tony George, on the new concrete walls installed at Indianapolis Motor
Speedway to accommodate the larger and heavier stock cars.
*****
We’ll
leave Smokey now, though I’d be perfectly happy to quote this man for days on
end. Don’t tell his wife, but I loved Smokey! He was my hero.
*****
"I think someday someone
will have a race there, but it's probably going to be after Bruton and I are in
heaven or hell."
Bob
Bahre, former owner of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, on the rape of North
Wilkesboro by Bruton Smith and himself
(Bob,
most of the older fans have a very good idea which place it will be)
*****
“If you don't think there's a
God, just wake up in the morning and watch the sun come up, or watch a flower
bloom over the period of a couple days. It's incredible. There's a lot higher
power than we can account for.”
Jimmy
Spencer
(If that
one surprises anyone, wait until you read the next one)
*****
“Roses are, because if you've got
a really nice rose they are really awesome, but they are hard. You've got to
really be on top of them all the time. I love flowers -- any kind of flowers.
They all have different personalities. Gerber daisies are very pretty flowers
and so are geraniums, daisies, roses, petunias. Every kind of flower out there
is awesome.
I think you also need to mix a
lot of structure in there -- hollies and things like that. Everybody needs to
do gardening, in my opinion, because it is really relaxing and you realize
there is a God when you watch that stuff bloom. That stuff don't
bloom by itself -- there is a good Lord above, between the birds and the bees
pollinating stuff, it's awesome.”
Jimmy on
being asked about his favorite flowers
(You
thought he was a tough guy, didn’t you…Jimmy’s a pussycat in disguise)
*****
"I came to a race and a
rodeo broke out. That's all I've got to say."
Jimmy’s
thoughts on qualifying laps at Daytona
*****
"I'll apologize to them
after they get me to the front!"
Dale
Earnhardt on being told by his crew chief that he was hurting his tires and
needed to conserve them
(Yep,
that was Dale all right)
*****
"I got in the ambulance and
looked back over there and I said 'Man, the wheels ain't knocked off that car
yet ... Get out. I gotta go'."
Dale
Earnhardt, after a wreck in 1997
(You
can’t keep a good man down)
*****
“Stock car racing never would
have started if the Government hadn't chosen to tax moonshine”.
Curtis
Turner
(And he
would know)
*****
“Drivin’
a race car is like dancing with a chain saw."
Cale
Yarborough
(And
Cale could dance with the best of them)
*****
"Those boys playing football
get their $2 or $3 million up front, and if they don't have a good day, they
are not out anything. They still get paid on Monday. If we don't win, we don't
get paid on Monday."
Richard
Petty
(Obviously
spoken in the good old days before NASCAR went money-crazy)
*****
“Well, he lived in the northern
end of the house and I lived in the southern end."
Ward
Burton on how he and brothe Jeff have such different
accents
(Alrighty then)
*****
"It's like when your
girlfriend breaks up with you, she has to tell all her girlfriends about what's
going to happen, but you don't know. That's the way it is here."
Kenny
Irwin on a driver being the last to know he's being replaced
(It’s
always called an unfounded rumor…until it happens)
*****
"The best way to make a
small fortune in racing is to start with a big one."
Junior
Johnson
(Might
have been Junior, but I’ve heard that one quoted so many times, it might even
have been Henry Ford)
*****
"I made as many as four runs
a night. I did that from the time I was thirteen until I was in the
mid-twenties, 365 days a year, seven or eight times a week, probably more than
that."
Junior
Johnson on running moonshine
Now THAT
was definitely Junior)
*****
“Basically, my philosophy is to
keep working and try. It'll all eventually work out. If it
doesn't, so what? You've got be doing something anyhow.”
Dave Marcis
(Ya
know, that makes a lot of sense)
*****
I’ll
leave you now and let you to ponder Dave’s philosophy for a while; it’s a good
one, if you think about it.
Over the
years, I've been asked many times where one goes to find some of the things
I've put in columns such as this one. There is no one source unfortunately;
rather there are hundreds. The Internet is at our disposal and some diligent
searching can turn up all sorts of things. Some have been found purely by
accident. (Always take a moment to save the page or copy the passage if you
find something priceless. You'll be happy later that you did.) Along with that,
I have several wonderful reference books that only require reading in order to
come up with some wonderful facts or fiction, as the case may be.
Those
books include:
Four
volumes plus an appendage of “Forty Years of Stock Car Racing” by Greg Fielden
The
triple anthology of “Best Damn Garage in Town (The World According to Smokey)”
by Smokey Yunick
“Tales
from Pit Road” by Buddy Baker
“American
Zoom”, “The Last Lap” and "NASCAR Confidential", by Peter Golenbock
"NASCAR
Legends" by Robert Edelstein
“Cheating”
by Tom Jensen
“The Wildest Ride” by Joe Menzer
"Twentieth
Century Drifter (The Life of Marty Robbins) by Diane Diekman)
There
are more, and always, there are more I want to read. Some, I will find time to
peruse; others, perhaps not, but they are out there... in great numbers. If
you're looking for reading about racers, races and all related subjects,
Amazon.com is a fountain of information at your fingertips. Another great
source is http://www.coastal181.com/ If you
are not familiar with them, make it a point to investigate. I think you'll be
pleased with what you find. I've been on their mailing list for many years.
Be well
gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~
PattyKay
[email protected]