Episode 222 -- Robert Pressley on Battles with Dad, Going Busch Racing with Brad Daugherty

Just one quick note before we begin ... pace car? Did somebody say PACE CAR?!?

In the first of what will be three blockbuster installments, Robert Pressley talks about the role moonshine played on racing in and around his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. The son of local stock-car legend Bob Pressley, Robert also remembers his father’s many on- and off-track confrontations and the impact they had on his own driving career.

Robert then takes us through a chance meeting with future NBA superstar and current NASCAR on NBC analyst Brad Daugherty, as well as the relationship they forged on the way up the racing ladder.

Hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid then dig into the August 17, 1989 newly renamed WINSTON CUP Scene.

For the second week in a row, we’ll take a look at a Rusty Wallace victory at Watkins Glen … but this one is MUCH different than the one we discussed in last week’s episode. Rusty scored the win despite several issues that day, including a lawsuit he’d filed recently against team owner Raymond Beadle.

Darrell Waltrip’s tire carrier was struck on pit road by Dale Earnhardt and fellow future NASCAR Hall of Famer Ray Evernham works either his first or ONE OF HIS FIRST races as a Winston Cup crew chief. Tom Cruise is at the track, supposedly thinking about a movie based on NASCAR.

Robert Pressley beats Tommy Houston and Tommy Ellis at Orange County to collect the first win of his Busch Series career. Winston Cup Director Dick Beaty shows his humorous side with a practical joke or two and Joe Whitlock shows us once again why he was the greatest writer ever to step foot in a NASCAR media center.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

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Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Hello. My name is Recusted,and welcome to the Scene Bought podcast,
your source for all things NASCAR history, presented by Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
America's racing show place. How comeI washed these cars every day and then
I come in next day and they'redirty? And oh, guy said,

(00:24):
best thing to do is wash thecars and keep your mouth shut. Seen
so many confrontations that he had thatThat's why I really started racing at a
late age, because I really didn'twant to live and go through what he
went through. Guy throw the tiresthrough the window of our truck coming up
the mountain and point the gun outthrough there and shot up above the cab

(00:48):
at the truck. It was moreor less a warning, you come back
to Greenville, you're gonna face someconsequences the day Nascart and all of us
associated. Anyway, when NASCAR forgetit's past, that's today, we don't
have any future. Hello everyone,I'm Steve Wade and my name is Rick

(01:12):
Houston, and welcome to the SceneVault podcast, presented by Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, America's racing show place inthe track that truly cares about NASCAR history.
Before we get started. This weekwe have a major announcement. Yours
work. Be serious, just beserious, just once. Okay. People

(01:34):
who have listened to this podcast forany time at all know for a fact
that I have some things that I'mvery passionate about. Accomplishment Number one,
there's the scene digitization project. Now, don't get excited. This ain't that.
They also know that I want tofly with the Blue Angels and or
the Thunderbirds. But this ain't thateither. But over and above, everything

(02:00):
except for the online archive, isdriving the pace car. And it's at
this point that I want to introduceMark Ebert, who will be promoting races
next year in twenty twenty three atLonesome Pine Raceway in my mama's hometown of
Coburn, Virginia. Now, Mark, what's going on, buddy o'paolo friend

(02:21):
of mine? Yeah, Mark,I have just one question for you.
What the hell does the matter withyou? Now? Steve, don't jump
on him yet. We've not announcedanything in mine. So Mark, what's
the big news that we're wanting toget out? So the big news is
we're, first of all, we'reexcited to get going here at Lonesome Pine

(02:42):
and sounds like we're gonna you know, we're filling dreams with peace cars.
Now, not something I've done before, but we've got we've got, we've
got. I don't know how gooda pace car driver is gonna be,
but this guy's about the most excitedpace car driver I've ever talked to.
Now, the agreement that I understandthat we have is that I'm going to
be driving the pace car as muchas possible next season. Now I live

(03:07):
about three three and a half hoursway, so I don't know that I'll
be driving it every week, butmaybe we can do it a couple of
times a month or something like that. That's my understanding. Rick. Whenever
you're available, we'll be happy tohave listeners. That is music to my
ears. Do you believe in miracles? Dreams do come true? I got

(03:29):
to know Mark when I did aseries of reviews on driving schools for Stock
Car Racing Magazine and Mark heads upthe Rusty Wallace Racing Experience. And not
only did I do that school atBristol several years ago, Mark and I
went door to door for a lapor two or three at Bristol. Sure
that's right. Yeah, and weakwalls at Bristol. I forgot all about

(03:50):
that, Rick, Yeah, that'sfine. Now it should be noted here
that Mark has seen me drive arace car, and after that he still
has enough confidence to turn the keysover to the pace car to me.
Well, I should also be notedthat I forgot about that. But yes,
well, yes, did I justtalk myself out of a job again?

(04:13):
I asked Mark, what the hell'swrong with you? So Leicesters,
In all seriousness, I am goingto be driving the pace car next season
at Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coburn,Virginia, in the beautiful mountains of Virginia.
So come on out. I visitedby many years ago when I think
they held a Grand National East Ragemight have been their debut race. Very

(04:38):
handsome race track. Thanks Steve.We're real happy with the work that's been
done there and we're excited to getgoing. There's some work to be done
for opening day, but we're gonnaopen up March eighteenth with Rick Houston holding
the wheel the pace Car. Whatcould go wrong? Don't get me started,
hold my diet PEPSI Well, Steve, I don't even know if we

(04:58):
should continue after that, because I'msure that all of our listeners are now
out dancing in the streets celebrate ournews. Well, Brick, I wouldn't
be too sure about that act.Well, let's go ahead and give it
a shot, Steve. This week, in the first of what will be
three blockbuster installments, Robert Presley talksabout the role that Moonshine played on racing

(05:20):
in and around his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. The son of local
stock car legend Bob Presley, Robertalso remembers his father's many on and off
track confrontations and the impact that theyhad on his own driving career. Robert
then takes us through a chance meetingwith future NBA superstar and current NASCAR on

(05:45):
NBC analyst Brad Daharty, as wellas the relationship that they forged on the
way up the racing ladder. Then, in our second segment, we're going
to go through the August seventeenth,nineteen eighty nine issue of the newly renamed
Winston Cup Scene. For the secondweek in a row, we'll take a
look at a Rusty Wallace victory atWatkins Lynn, But this one is much

(06:09):
different than the one that we discussedin last week's episode. Rusty scored the
win despite several issues that day upto and including a lawsuit that he had
filed recently against team owner Raymond Beadle. Daryl Waltrip's tire carrier was struck on
pit row by dal Earnhardt and futureNASCAR Hall of Famer Ray Evernham works either

(06:31):
his first or one of his firstraces as a Winston Cup crew chief Tom
cruises at the racetrack supposedly thinking abouta movie based on NASCAR. Robert Presley
beats Tommy Houston and Tommy Ellis atOrange County to collect the first win of
his Bush Series career. Winston CupDirector of Dick Batty shows his humorous side

(06:55):
with a practical joke or two.And Joe Whitlocke shows us once again while
he was the greatest writer ever tostep foot in the NASCAR media center,
and Joe Wart for Windston Cup sceneand Windston Cup illustrated we were proud to
have him. Week before last,we got beer rebate money from Paul Friedrich,

(07:16):
hid boy Paul once again. Yesright home, Steve, listen,
when are we gonna get your beerrebate money? We could build us the
greatest podcast studio and have company carsand high tech experts off of your beer
rebate money. So it's time topony up. Well, I will,

(07:38):
just as soon as I have enoughtime to make sure Margaret drink is enough
beer so I can get my rebates. It's gonna be Margaret jaking, okay.
We also have PayPal help from ScottWhittaker's Paul. Again, in all
seriousness, thank you. You areone of our most faithful contributors. Every

(08:00):
little bit helps and I appreciate that. Scott, thank you very much.
Listeners, you can support the podcastby checking out our t shirts over on
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(08:20):
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(08:43):
dot me slash the Same Bought podcastor Venmo dot com slash the Same Bought
podcast. And as a reminder,this show is not affiliated in any way
with American City Business Journals, ownerof the same brand. Well, Robert,

(09:09):
I don't know where to begin otherthan to ask, what is your
earliest memory of your dad been involvedin racing? Oh, guy, I
had to be. He starred racingnineteen sixty. I was born in fifty
nine, so I actually can rememberhim racing, probably at the age of

(09:30):
six or seven, and probably heardenough stories that I might not have really
remembered them, but I've just neverforgot the stories. But by the time
I was ten years old is whenI really realized what my dad done.
What was it at ten years oldthat made you realize that, you know,
you get up a little bit inage, and racing was becoming a

(09:54):
somewhat of a sport that people startedfollowing, you know, leaving the day
of drag racing or moonshine list.Don't say drag racon, just what racing
was brought up on. And herewe are in western North Carolina, you
know, one of the big capitalsof where the moonshine started. You mentioned
earlier while I was getting set upthat your family had been involved in moonshine.

(10:18):
Tell me about the Duke's a hazardto here in Nashville. Well,
I mean it was like say,grandfather in them, you know, made
it, and that was their wayof living. But what people don't understand
dry here over a mile and ahalf up the road was a place,
a little old gas station, anda man built moonshine cars, took and

(10:43):
put Cadillac motors in him. Hewent and beefed up the rear springs and
was one of the best flathead forwardpeople that ever was. And you know
what was odd about that too,is Banjoe Matthews, you know, was
one of the local guys here thatkind of learned from this man here how

(11:05):
you take a moonshine car and makea race car out of it. And
it was up there. And oneof the funniest stories about it all is
Jack Ingram just lived about three milesaway. And Jack used to get on
his bicycle, he said, whenhe was ten or eleven years old,
and ride down Bavard Road and pullin and wanted to hang around that garage

(11:28):
because Jack was getting interested in itand said that. The man said,
Hey, I got a job foryou. I need you wash these cars
down here in the back and Jackand wash them. And Jack said,
after a while he asked the mansaid, how come I washed these cars
every day and then I come innext day and they're dirty? And the

(11:50):
old guy said, the best thingto do is wash cars and keep your
mouth shut. Okay, this areais such a hot bed for racing,
so many people that raced up aroundhere. Did those roots go back to
moonshining or was there something else thatplayed it made this such a big place
for stock car racing. You know, we have to say the roots was

(12:15):
for moonshining. And you know,by time Ashville Speedway was built in the
sixties, you know, we hada couple of dirt tracks Ashville. Weaverville
was in the rising to be built, and it was originally built by some
of the guys that made their fortunein that probably and wanted to start racing
as the Frances got it going.But really I don't think that we ever

(12:41):
contributed or the homestead people here evercontribute it back to moonshining, But like
say, Asheville Speedway attracted so manygreat race car drivers. And you know,
the best saying about Ashville Speedway thatyou'll hear in any of the archives
you read. If you could winat National Speedway, you could win anywhere

(13:05):
in the United States. As achild, what's the most heated confrontation you
remember your dad getting into and whatwas your reaction to that? Scared to
death? And that's probably about thetime I was ten years old, So
this had to happen around nineteen sixtyeight sixty nine and my daddy and man

(13:28):
named Boscolo got into altercation. Thenit turned into a demolition derby. They
destroyed their cars down at the racetrack right in front of everybody on the
main straight away, and then gotout and started fighting. And you know,
seeing that, you know that I'dseen some heated discussions and things and

(13:52):
heard it around the house, buthad never witnessed really just you know,
boxing match right there. And that'swhenever I realized, you know, this
is something I'm gonna have to livewith the rest of my life. And
what I mean live with is fromtime eight ninety ten years old all way

(14:13):
up to twenty one years old,a deady racing seen so many controversations that
he had. That that's why Ireally started racing at a late age,
because I really didn't want to liveand go through what he went through.
Really, I mean, we hadtimes. And you're here in Bent Creek

(14:35):
where I growed up and everything,and my dad lived here, you know,
since the thirties. Is you know, we would get home on a
Friday night after racing. You know, you have to know this area.
We're right in between the Biltmore StateLand the National Forest a Parkway, so
we're at the end of a roadhere, and Friday nights, if they

(15:00):
was confrontation at the racetract, Daddywas somebody or you know, Moll Presley
is like the King of Ashville Speedwayand people coming by, you know,
and Casson calling out all kinds ofnames, and you know, here we
all are and just wondering. Andit was like Daddy never was worried about

(15:22):
it. You know, he'd sitthere and say, you know, hey,
if if they were serious, theywould stop, they wouldn't be running.
Now. What was your mama's reactionto all that? My mama stood
by my daddy's side the whole time. I mean, I don't remember it,
but supposedly the night Daddy and Boscogot into it and Demolition derby the

(15:46):
fight that them two was fighting also, so this was free for all that
night right there. And that's probablythem too, my dad's wife, my
mom, and Bosco's wife. Soit was I mean, this was one
big confrontation that went on at ashellspeed, one of many you know that

(16:11):
happened down there. So you've kindof touched on it. At what point
did you start thinking about driving yourself? Did it actually? Did you actually
wait because of all the controversy andstuff that was going on. No,
I tell you, so, wheneveryou grow up like we did, and

(16:33):
there was five of us kids andhaving to go to Columbia, South Carolina
on Thursday night, rad Ashville Speedwayon Friday or Augusta George on Friday,
depending on if Daddy was suspended fromNASCAR or not, and then making Savannah
on a Saturday or Hickory, andthen Sunday Dad would pick us up,

(16:53):
you know, at the church uphere at twelve o'clock and we'd go to
Harris so here. It was fourdays a week. You know, we
was going to racing from March upto October and as I got older and
got to be sixteen seventeen, andDad started traveling up and down the East

(17:17):
Coast racing. I become a teenager. The Hatton never got to see a
high school football game, had neverbeen to a junior senior Hattan been if
it wasn't racing, we didn't knowit here. We were secluded here of
helping Dad or staying out of theway. A Dad and him make sure

(17:37):
we got an education and went throughschool and everything. So around twenty years
old, Dad did not want noneof us boys racing. Charlie was his
crew chief from thirteen years old.Mike was my next oldest brother, so
I was kind of always in themiddle of the five. So I was

(18:00):
with Mama a lot of the timesand never in the garage because Daddy said,
this is not something I want anyof y'all do. This is a
hard way to make a living,and you need to get out, get
an education and do something and makemoney. And it was up to us
about twenty two years old that myfuture brother in law was looking for a

(18:22):
race car and I found one,and I said, hey, I'll go
get it. I'll go get itfor you, and I'll help you out,
you know, because I'm getting alittle more material now that I went
through my wild stages or whatever beinga teenager. So I went and bought
the car. Didn't have a motorin it or nothing. Down in Dallas,
North Carolina. A lot of peopledon't know where that is. And

(18:45):
I took off the Greenville and Gastonia. Yeah. And the guy's name was
Larry's the only thing I can rememberabout his red car. And I said,
I'm gonna I'm Greenville. What's yourrace? And it was me and
another guy and we pulled in andis my first encounter with the black Walls,

(19:08):
and everybody knows how Greenville pickings andwhat the Black Walls was like down
there, and said, you're gonnarace that car? I said no.
He said, well why you gotit in my pit area? Said,
well, I just went bad.Ain't got a motor in it. He
said, well, we're gonna pushit out there. We needed another car
my first race. They put arecord behind it and it wouldn't start,

(19:34):
and I loaded it up and Icome home that night and I said,
you know what I'm gonna race.I think I'm going to race. So
talked to Dad and he said,you ain't racing here. If you're gonna
do it, you're doing it onyour own, because he wanted us to
see how hard it was and notto give us anything. And so over

(19:56):
the winter I built that car orrebuild it, and brother in law help
me. The best story is myvery first race with the motor in the
car was a Hickory Speedway and Igo down there practice qualify and back then
you run heat races, so oddnumbers in one, even in the other,

(20:19):
and they're going through the rundown andnow my dad's in the race.
Okay, he's racing two. Sothey call him out. He's either on
the poem the first heat or second, Harry Gant, Morgan Shepherd, all
them, you know. And theygo and they go to second heat and
they start calling out the names.And you would not think me and Daddy

(20:40):
was father and son, because hewas just standing there like I was another
race car driver, that's how serioushe was. And then they said and
number fifty nine, and I remembersaying, that is this way they do
that. He said what I said, they make your first race. You
have to starting to ri He says, no, son, that's where you

(21:02):
qualified. He said, you don'teven need to be out of it.
And I remember that that heat race, getting leapt in a seven lapt heat
race, and that's when reality setin and I said, you know what,
that was Daddy's way of telling meI didn't need to race, that
this ain't easy. So I gotCharlie, my brother, to start helping

(21:23):
me, and I got serious.I put everything aside except racing like I'd
grown up and said I would neverdo again. And we got together,
went out, started winning races andeverything, and then you know, the
rest is history. Your dad wasobviously a legend in these parts, and

(21:45):
he obviously had his share of confrontations. As you've talked about, how much
pressure did you feel to live upto what he had accomplished, and also
did you pick up some of theleftover ill fillings that he might have had
with other people and them taking theirissues with him out on you. No,

(22:07):
I never did think that I neededto be like my dad. Yes,
there was a lot of singularities inus, the way we raced and
everything, but he was the bestmentor that I could have had because we
was at Ashville Speedway and it's yourdad, and he makes a living,
and I had a job at CocaCola, so it was kind of a

(22:30):
hobby, but I wanted to makea profession now this. And I remember
running second to him twice down atAsheville and could have beat him. But
if you raced by Presley, youknew you better be prepared whenever you passed
him. What the consequence is gonnabe called? I mean, he was
what everybody always called him, thedela Ear and Heart before dela and Heart

(22:53):
Senior was Delaar and Heart Senior.He was one of the toughest competitors they
ever was. And he come backto me after that second race, got
ala car, come back there andhe said, boy, you ain't He
didn't call me Robert. He said, boy, you ain't never gonna make
it in a sport. When you'reon that race track. You don't have

(23:14):
no friends. And I said,Diddy, I said, I'd had to
spend you out, son. Youdo not have no family or friends on
these race tracks. You give whatyou can get and you don't take nothing.
Two weeks later, I'm running secondand it I can't get by him,

(23:37):
and something behind my dad, Ohhere we go, and I turned
him and won the race. Goback two weeks earlier when he told me
they was no family, there's nofriends. He grabbed me and he said,
let me tell you something. Youever touched my car again. I

(24:02):
don't care if you're a mama orwhat. You don't do that, Dad,
you tall me, He said,son, you don't ever touch that
race car again. That started thefeud. It used to be Bob and
Bosco Low and it was Bob Pressleyjack Ingram, Bob Presley, ned Setzer,

(24:25):
Bob Pressley and somebody all the time. Because that was my daddy's mentality.
He was rattling cages before people rattledthe cage, you know. And
we stayed into it the whole year, me and my dad, and I
mean I won the majority of theraces because I had good help. I
had people that was coming on.I had a couple of sponsors to help.

(24:51):
But that was the hardest thing.And finally, you know, it
got the word. My dad wasgetting older and it was their people I
was racing with. And I keptthe same mentality racing everybody. I'll race
you the way you race me.And there was times that I might have

(25:12):
got them first before they got me, but it was a deal I had
to win, you know. Thatwas that was just drilled into me.
If you're gonna do this, youbetter go to win, don't go there
to make friends or anything. Andthat's one thing Dad really taught me.

(25:33):
He wasn't mad at me because Isuppose him out. He was mad because
he lost some money. He wasproud of what I'd done to not take
nothing off anybody. How did youfirst meet Brad Daugherty. We're at the
racetrack in nineteen eighty six. Iguess I have to check these dates,
and he is graduating from unc TarHills and you know, we're at the

(25:57):
race track and he's from Black Mountainsabout twenty minutes. What so he comes
down in the pits after a raceand I'd won, and I was not
a fan favorite. Okay, youloved Bob Pressley, or you loved Randy
Porter. You loved Bob Pressley,or you loved you know, Jimmy Doyle,

(26:18):
you loved Bob Pressler, you loveJack Ingram. I had no fans
except my wife, you know,because a lot of Bob's fans didn't like
me because the controversy we had.And said, I was disrespectful, and
I had no so I was kindof always a long sheep. So after

(26:38):
race, Brad and four or fivehis buddies around here come down there,
and you know, there ain't nobodyaround my car, and I'd won Ray
and he walked up. And mybrother in law, now huge basketball fan,
like say, I knew nothing aboutany other sports. It wass all

(27:00):
we knew. And it walks upand they start telling They said, hey,
this Brad Daharty. I said,well, hey, how you doing?
And it was small talk. Itwas I don't who is this guy?
You know, I don't know whoBrad Dharty is. I don't keep
up with basketball. So whenever hewalked off, they said, hey,
that's Brad Dharty, North Carolina tarHill, number one draft choice this year,

(27:26):
going to Cleveland Cavaliers. I saidwow. So he come walking back
by. I said, hey,Brad, like I've knowed my whole life,
you know, yeah, I said, man, I didn't know who
you was. I said, hey, I'm not much in the basketball or
anything, but now, what whyis somebody like you at this race track?

(27:47):
He said, oh, I loveracing. And we got talking,
just me and him and you know, his buddies was looking at the race
car. He said, God,I'd like to get into this. Now
I've met him for fifteen minutes andhe said. I said, hey,
I'm racing Greenville tomorrow night. Isaid, anytime you ever gonna go to
race track? Collar at me?Okay? He said, hey, I'd

(28:10):
like to what time y'all leave?And I said I will leave around twelve
o'clock or something. We usually getout in the garage or about ten load
up everything. He said, hey, I might go to Greenville with you.
Well, they leave, we comeon home. Tell my wife.
I said, Boy, wouldn't itbe something if I had somebody like that

(28:30):
to go to racetrack with? Youknow? I said, they could be
sponsors right there, That's what I'mthinking. And next morning I never thought
i'd see Brad Dardy again except onTV. Yeah. Next morning, about
ten thirty, he pulls in thedriveway at the garage is right upside of
my house. He's in a YallaCorvette convertible and there's his head sticking out

(28:55):
over and he's by myself and Isaid, hey, He said, am
I too early? Go to race? And he rode the racetrack with me,
and that was his life until hewent to Cleveland, you know,
in October for trading. And soonas basketball was over in March April with

(29:17):
pro ball, he was right backAshville. Go to every race track we
went to, we would come buddies, and that leads up there. At
about nineteen eighty eight, we're comingback from Greenville pickings and we'd won like
different numbers, is you look atit. And we didn't race every week,
but we won like thirty one ina row there, and we got

(29:41):
ambush coming home one night, meand Brad and another guy, we're right
coming up slew the mountain out ofGreenville, South Carolina home and I got
home and I said, you know, now you got ambush? What guy
throw the tithol through the window ofour truck coming up the mountain and point

(30:03):
the gun out through there and shotup, you know, above the cab
at the truck. It was moreor less a warning you come back to
Greenville. You know you're going toface some consequences. Well, next week
was funny. We had enough ammunitionin that truck. We went for war
and went down there, and islast time I ever went to Greenville.

(30:26):
No trouble down there. We wonthe race. Coming home and I told
Brad and my wife we got back. His girlfriend's here, and I said,
you know what I'm reminiscing of twentyyears ago, basically of what I
went through with Daddy, watching thatyou can't do anything. I'm fixing to
have my first son, Coleman,and I said, I'm not going to

(30:48):
do this. And we sit downthere in the house that night two o'clock
in the morning. Brad said,Robert, you can't quit. But you're
too good to be right here.I just won the mid Atlantic region for
the second time, won the GreenvilleChampionship, had won the national championship for
the fourth or fifth straight year ina row, and you know we'd want

(31:11):
it. Concord Anderson and everything justgoing different. Play. He said,
let's build a bush car. Isaid, oh, in this garage.
He said, I'll help you.I'll get us some money. So I
sold my late model stuff, builta bush car and nineteen eighty nine went

(31:33):
out run some of the tracks theirHickory, South, Boston, Lanier,
Georgia, Indianapolis, and we rungreat, but something always fell off the
race car. Something we was notprepared to run two hundred lap races.
You know there's a difference of yourregular fifty lap races everywhere. Jack Ingram

(31:56):
come by my garage and him andDaddy's rival and Jacket helped me through the
year, only to beat Daddy.He agitated me, because this is Jack's
way to get it Daddy, hesaid, Robert, let me tell you
what. You're a good race cardriver, but you got to finish these
races. Now, let me tellyou what you do. And if you
know Jack Ingram when he gets inyour face and starts telling you what to

(32:20):
do, he said, where areyou gonna go? And I said,
well, I think I'm gonna goto Charlotte and try to make the race.
He said, you don't need bitCharlotte Motor Speedway. Let me tell
you what you need to do.You need to get this race car in
here. You need to get theseboys to work on this car and get
ready. We got Hickory South Boston, Orange County coming up. If you'll

(32:44):
go down there and finish her raceand look good, he said, you'll
have an opportunity. Don't just goto every raceists say you're there. We
missed a couple of races went throughthat car all the way Jack Come by
Done a little bit, went toOrange County August of nineteen eighty nine and

(33:05):
won the race. What was specialabout the Ray was winning at Chapel Hill
with Brad Daugharty, Joe Wolf,played at Carolina and all them and Monday
morning get back Home Maiden. Ithink it paid eighty eight hundred dollars,
which was good money in eighty nine. And got three phone calls from different

(33:30):
owners. C. C. Wellfordthe thirty four car because Spencer was going
to move around, and then alights had called me where I ended up
at, and then this other guy. I wanted to start a team,
and I thought if I'd noticed thateasy, all you had to do is
win and they would be calling youand not looking for sponsor money anymore.

(33:51):
So through the week I said,hey, Brad, listen, man,
I know me and you started thisrace, but I've got an opportunity to
go drive for other people. Butyou want brought me here and I want
to make sure you know. Hesaid, huh, listener, already ain't

(34:13):
spending my money all my life.You get an opportunity. So we went
and run two more races that yearof my car with the Lights name,
and then we rebuilt a Lights becausethey was an ARCA team, and I
talked them into running Bush Grand Nationaland we went out and you know,

(34:34):
a lot of success in the BushGrand National the three years I was with
them. I want to go backa little bit to the deal coming back
from Greenville and the everything, andyou how close were you to quitting?
Oh, if Brad Daharty had notsaid I will financially help us build a

(34:58):
Bush car, I was. Iwas to the point I was done because,
like say, my son was gettingready to be born. I was
not going to bring my family upthrough that. And whenever Brad said Bush
that men, I wouldn't be racingNashville Hickory Greenville Local because, like I

(35:19):
said earlier, I didn't have nofans here. I mean, but once
I went Bus bush Gren National racing, I mean I got people coming around
the garage. Oh yeah, Ipulled for you, you know, and
I said, hey, I rememberseeing you booing me up there whenever I
wreck Daddy and everything. So itwas like all of a sudden, everybody

(35:44):
that did not like the Pressley's oreverybody did like the Pressley of Bob Pressley
is. I got such a hugefan base around here that everybody, oh,
we're a family now, or youknow, hey Roberts, you need
a thing, I can help you. That's why I've always stayed here in
Nashville, North Carolina, cause thisis home to me. I didn't want

(36:06):
to be in an area in Charlottewhere I couldn't be myself get out here
on the farm tractor, or getout here and do what I want to.
I was secluded here and I didnot want to move. And when
the Harry Gallant retirement come just rightafter road was a Skoal Bandit team,
and that's why I chose to gothere. The alliance deal with that team.

(36:30):
Was that a continuation of the teamthat you and Brad had started or
was that a completely separate operation,completely separate operating. They had a ARC
team with Johnny McFadden driver, andit was close to here, right here,
right beside the Skoal Bandit shop,a mile away from where the so

(36:52):
see. I had my race teamhere, I had my Alliance team here.
I had my Skoal Bandit team,so I didn't have to go to
Charlotte. I kept Ashville going,and Banjo Matthews was here, but the
Lions team they wanted me to runArca. So the deal I made with

(37:13):
him. Yeah, I'll sign acontract with you. We signed the contract,
We got everything done, all thelawyers done. So then I sat
down with the owner and I said, hey, have y'all thought about running
Bushgrad National? Oh? Yeah,but we want to stay in arcacause we
want to go cup racing. That'sour goal is to go cup racing,

(37:34):
and I think you can help usget there. I said, okay,
I said, where's ARCA race at? And they started naming some of arc
race. Oh, now, y'allhave got a tractor trailer training plays in
mcdonnah, Georgia, next to Atlanta. Right, you got one in with
will Virginia next to Pulaski, Virginia. Right. You got one in Ashville

(37:55):
that's right here near a Hickory Speedway. And got one in Lebanon at the
National Speedway. You know, boy, wouldn't it be smart that we could
tie that in them because that's wherethe Bush Grand National cars race at.
Wow? Let us you know what, Well, we ain't got no Bush

(38:17):
cars. I said, Well,I happened to have one. So we
go the very next week in orderto brand new banjo Matthew Bush cars that
Jack Ingram, Larry Pearson and themwas getting at the time. And whenever
we run our first race at Daytonain a brand new car, they never

(38:40):
ever wanted to go Arca or cupracing after that. They found that at
that time that man they were servingwhat they were and people wanting to learn
drive tractor trailers, their business justskyrocket and whenever you hear the sponsorship versus

(39:00):
what can NASCAR do for you?They was a prime example of how they
marketed the training center. And Iremember whenever we went to Hickory and it
was a second or third race ayear. They're in the tractor trailer training
business. So we was the firstBush Grand National team to have a tractor

(39:21):
trailer and they said we couldn't parkit a Hickory Speedway. Well, they
got a hold of NASCAR and said, they say, we can't bring it
in here. Well, no,you're not going to be able to bring
them in these short tracks. Wellthere's not room in the pit, And
said, hey, do you thinkit looks good that we're spending all this

(39:42):
money on racing and NASCAR to bepulling with a dooley, but we're teaching
people drive a tractor trailer and theysaid, yeah, we'll make sure we
got spots there. And you know, within a year everybody started to leave
and the King of the Road totorhome and here come the tractor trailers in.

(40:04):
So it's all Daniel Welch's fault sayingthat. You know, they were
still cup teams that Steele had.You know, Dave Marcus had the bread
truck we called it, you know, and some of the JD McDuffie,
and here all of a sudden,the bush starts going, and hey,
if you ain't got a tractor trailer, you ain't nothing in this sports.

(40:27):
You know, taking the checkered flagand driving to victory lane is the goal
for any racer. It tells thecompetition. My accomplishments resulted in a trip
to the winner circle. It's nodifferent as a business owner, team leader
or coach. Recognizing those deserving iswhat we do every day at five Star

(40:52):
Awards and engraving high race fans.This is Bob Laird, director of Sales
at five Star and former jackman forBuddy Arrington back in the eighties. Laser
engraved and full color corporate awards,as well as crystal plaques, trophies and
promotional products are just some of asample of what we offer at five Star
with state of the art equipment inour North Carolina facility, let our experience

(41:13):
graphic artists take you from idea toconcept and ultimately the finish line to If
you are beautiful and unique designs,please visit us at five Star Awards dot
net. The entire project can becompleted online. Please reach out to me
at Bob dot Laird at five StarAwards dot net nine nine nine five four
one one three zero. As athank you, everyone who contacts me will

(41:36):
receive at no charge, a collectionof NASCAR memorabilia featuring Richard Petty while supplies
last. That's Bob dot Laird atfive Star Awards dot net nine one nine
nine five four one one three zero. This segment is brought to our listeners

(41:59):
by loss ve Guess Motor Speedway America'sracing showplace Moonshine it up in the mountains
around Ashville, North Carolina. Here'sthe kind of impact that had on racing
up in them bar Hills, RobertPresley's granddaddy made liquor. A lot of
people's granddaddy's made liquor up in thosemountains. You're exactly all right. The

(42:22):
racetrack Ashwell, Weaverville was built byfolks who might or might not, but
more than likely might have been involvedin the moonshine business. Well, this
is a priming example of how moonshineplayed such a role in the birth of
NASCAR. Think about it. Yougot moonshine Asheville. Of course, we

(42:42):
know it's in Wilkes County, andalso in North Carolina. It's up in
Franklin, Counter, Virginia. Weknow that in Henry Canter, Virginia,
and even North Georgia. Now lookat how many great NASCAR competitors came out
of those areas. There was alittle old gas station just a mile and
a half or so from where Robertlives now that specialized in hopping up cars

(43:04):
to haul moonshine. Banjo Matthews,he starts hanging around that service station and
he learns the tricks of the tradewhen it comes to converting a car used
for haul and moonshine into one thatwould haul the mail on the race track.
Jack Ingram was a kid at thetime, and he starts hanging around
as a kid, and he eventuallygets put to work washing all these cars,

(43:27):
and I can just imagine him asthe karate kid wis on whits off.
But then he shows up the nextday and the same cars are all
dirty again, and he asked,what's up with that? And he is
told, boy, the best thingyou can do is do what you're told
to. Keep your mouth shut.Now we know how those cars gotten dirty,

(43:50):
and I'm pretty sure that after ashort bit of time Jack, you
two. That reminds me of aGenie story. When she was a kid,
she and a buddy of hers wouldgo play in the creek while the
other girls daddy did whatever it wasthat he was doing with these big old
copper pots with the squiggly tubing.But then when that buddy and Janey started

(44:12):
recognizing the road where he turned offto go to that site, that was
all she wrote for playing in thecreek. I'm not surprised about that.
That men, if they knew theway in, they could show the way
to somebody else with back. Sohere is Robert Presley. It's the late
nineteen sixties and he's ten years oldor so, and Robert's daddy, Bob,

(44:37):
is in the process of building hislegend as a race car driver in
and around Ashville. Bobb and aguy by the name of Bosco Lowe,
who we mentioned a couple of timeshere on the show. Once when he
got in a pretty bad wreck atCharlotte and was involved in a big fire.
Also a couple of episodes ago,he was complaining about the number of
Winston Cup drivers in the race atCharlotte. Bobby Bosco got to race in

(45:01):
each other hard at Ashville Speedway.Then they got to run in into each
other. Then it's an all outdemolition derby, and then after that they
get out of their cars and commencedto throwing haymakers at each other. That
sounds like Wailer Saturday in a shorttrack racing to me. Rick. Imagine

(45:22):
that you're a young kid like Robertwas at the time, and just think
about the kind of impact that thatmust have had on him. Seeing his
daddy in an all out brought Thatcould have one of two impacts. Number
One, if Daddy does it,that means I gotta do it, or
I get to do it. Oryou can imagine him just being scared of

(45:46):
something like that. Well, ontop of that, the scrap with Bosco
that night was far from the onlyconfrontation that Bob ever got into. People
knew where the Presley family lived,and if Bob had found trouble at the
track that night, if yeah,exactly, or if trouble had found him,

(46:06):
people would drive by their house andraise all kinds of holy heck,
hollering and cussin. And Mama Presley, Bob's wife, and Robert's mama,
she was right there by Bob's sideand she didn't back down from anything either.
Bob and Bosco were fighting at Nashville, and Robert's mama and Bosco's wife,
they're evidently getting their licks into andthat is nothing new in NASCAR.

(46:30):
There's a story about the fight thatRichard and Maurice got into, and Mama
Petty right in it, swinging herhandbag. The version of the story that
I heard was that she was knockingpeople out with her purse, which would
just so happen to have a pistol. And don't let the facts get in

(46:51):
the way of a good story.This is jumping on tiny lund. I
think they were, and Tiny saidafterwards, Man, you facked one petty,
You got to fight them all,even Mama. Racing was live for
the Pressley's four nights a week fromMarch to October. There were no high
school football games or dances for Robertbecause he was gone. He was on

(47:13):
the road racing. And here's thething, according to Robert, Bob didn't
want his boys to follow in hisfootsteps and go racing. But what do
Robert and Charlie do. They followingtheir daddy's footsteps and they go racing.
I gonna understand why Bob might notwant his boys to go into racing.
I mean, we just talked aboutall the scraps and arguments that he got

(47:35):
it into. He might not havethought that was a kind of life he
wanted his sonstand. And that's exactlywhat why he waited until he was older,
quote unquote twenty twenty one years oldbefore he actually started driving himself.
His future father in law wanted tobuy a race car. Robert goes to
pick it up and on the wayhome, decides to stop at Greenville Pickings
to see some racing. The ownerof the track sees Robert and tells him

(47:59):
that he does doesn't have enough carson the line that night, so he
promptly pushes the car Robert has ontothe starting grid. It doesn't even have
an engine in it's just man's like. Over the winner, Robert decides that
he does, in fact want togo racing himself with cars that actually have
engines in them. Robert finally startedracing himself, but now he's got to

(48:22):
contend with his daddy Bob on theracetrack. He's running behind Bob in a
race and he's being a little toocautious for his dad's liking. Bob tells
him so and in no uncertain terms, that you don't have any friends or
family on the racetrack period, Soyou go after whoever you need to go

(48:42):
after, and if their friend orfamily, they'll just have to get over
it. A couple of weeks later, Robert has learned his lesson and he
turns Bob around racing for the lead, but Bob does not like it.
He goes up to Robert after therace. Don't ever touch my car again,
Daddy, you told me I didn'thave any friends or family on the
race track. Don't ever touch mycar now. Rick, This isn't nothing

(49:07):
new. Fathers and sons on therace track, Okay, their fathers and
sons off the race track. Onthe race track, We've seen it so
many times. It's every man forhimself, and sometimes the results what happens
on the track don't sit too wellwith either one of them or both of
them. Not only bothers and sons, but brothers. So Robert gets added

(49:30):
to a long list of Bob's racingrivals. Enter Brad Dahardy. Brad is
from Black Mountain, North Carolina,just twenty miles or so from Asheville.
He is a legend on the Universityof North Carolina men's basketball team, and
he is about to be taken bythe Cleveland Cavaliers as the number one overall

(49:52):
pick in the NBA Draft. Bradand a few friends of his they come
up and they start talking to Robertafter Roberts won a race at ash Wool
and Robert has no idea who heis because racing is the only sport that
he knows. That tells you thekind of television Robert had when it came
to racing, not to be awareof other major athletes in his own home

(50:15):
state. I don't know how youdo that, except, like you mentioned,
just say, concentrating on raising onme. The fact is Brad Daherty
is what seven feet tall, that'scorrect, So it ain't like he's not
gonna stick out in the crowd.Brad and company move on, and Robert
is informed very quickly who he hadjust met. Brad wonders back by,

(50:38):
and Robert's like, hey, Brad, buddy pyl, do you everyone to
hang out and go to a racewith us? Just let me know.
One thing leads to another, andBrad goes with Robert's team to a race
at Greenville Pickings the next day,in the next week, and the next
week and the next, all theway up until he leaves for Cleveland to

(50:59):
start his rookie season in pro basketball. Well, Brad finishes up the basketball
season and he comes home and hegoes right back on the road racing with
Robert. Brad was a major NASCARfan before you ever met Robert. As
a matter of fact, the storygoes that his favorite driver, Richard Petty,
of course, for the number fortythree, and that was the number

(51:22):
that Brad used with Clipland it wasat this point that things got very serious.
Robert had been dominating at Greenville Pickingswhinning however many races in a row.
He's not a local, He's fromNorth Carolina and not South. Coming
home from a race there, somebodycomes up alongside Robert's toe rig and they

(51:43):
evidently throw a tire at the truck, and they fired a gun over the
cab of the truck. You're kiddingme, man, That is dangerous.
Robert Presley and Brad Dougherty are thisclose to becoming one of those truly heartbreaking
thirty for thirty documentaries on esp You'reright about that, Robert. He is
right there in basically the same positionhis dad had been in all those years,

(52:07):
with all those controversies and all hisfights and so on and so forth.
He and his wife, Gina,and Brad and who all ever else
were there. They have one ofthose truly life changing late night or even
all night heart to heart conversations,and Roberts actually talking about walking away from
racing. I can understand that,Rick, How can you not think about

(52:28):
walking away from racing when somebody's justfired to gotch you? I mean,
come on. Brad tells him thathe can't quit. You're too good a
driver, let me help round upsome money. And that first season in
the Bush Series in nineteen eighty nine, it's pretty rocky getting up to speed.
But then they go to Orange Countyin August and Rousemont in North Carolina
is less than thirty miles from ChapelHill and UNC, so it's a perfect

(52:52):
place to win for Brad Daugherty andRobert Presley. And that's exactly what Robert
does. He won his first BushSeries race in his first season of competition.
We will open a lot of bodiesright. Almost immediately afterward, Robert
gets no less than three phone callsasking about his availability moving forward. One

(53:15):
of them is from Daniel Welts,the owner of Alliance Training Centers. Daniel
has an ARCA team. But Robert'slike, you know, you've got schools
near all these different Bus Series tracks, and he starts naming them off,
and wouldn't it be cool if wetie the training centers into the Bush Series
races? And since we're attractor trailerdriving school, why not all our cars

(53:36):
to the racetrack with a tractor trailer? Why not? Indeed, Robberty being
pretty smart there, they were oneof the very first Bush Series teams to
haul their cars to the racetrack withattractor trailer. According to Robert Preston,
makes perfect sense to me. RickHey race fans John Dodson here from NASCAR

(54:01):
Technical Institute, Nascartek is opening enrollingwith classes starting every three to six weeks.
In our forty eight week Automotive Technologyprogram, students learn everything from vehicle
electronic technology to diagnostics and driveability,and as our exclusive educational provider for NASCAR,
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(54:24):
aero dynamics, pit crew essentials,and more. Nascartek also offers thirty
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get started, visit UTI dot ETUslash NASCAR Today. NASCAR Technical Institute prepares

(54:45):
graduates to work as entry level automotiveservice technicians. Some graduates who take NASCAR
specific electives also may have job opportunitiesin racing related industries. NASCAR Tech is
an educational institution and cannot guarantee employmentor salary. This segment is brought to

(55:12):
our listeners by Las Vegas Motor Speedway, America's Racing Show. Placed August seventeenth,
nineteen eighty nine issue of Winston CupScene. This is the very first
issue of Winston Cup Scene ever.Well, there was a reason for that.
NASCAR came to us and said theywere going to apply the Grand National

(55:35):
name to the Bush Series. Now, Rick, am I not correct?
That's for a time that series wasknown as the Bush Grand National Series,
right, yes, sir, NASCARto others they were going to make the
change and said you're going to haveto do something. We said, okay,
we know that we can't be calledGrand National Scene because that name is

(55:57):
going to be applied to the BushSeries. We made one phone call the
R. J. Reynolds and said, would you particularly care if we called
our paper Winston Cup Scene. Well, you know what the answer to that
was, I mean R. J. Reynolds was a static yes, go
ahead, you have our permission,and that's why we changed it. Steve,

(56:20):
I understand that explanation fully, butall I really heard was you didn't
want to call the paper Bush GrandNational Scene. Why was that we were
a little bit more than the BushSeries? Paper Rick the Bush series was
important. My end realized that,but it's not We're at all right,

(56:43):
all right, okay, I'll moveon. On the cover of this issue,
the words Winston Cup simply replaced GrandNational on the previous scene masthead,
but just a couple of issues laterthat was replaced with a really bold look
with the words Winston Cup and smallertype above a really big and stylized scene
and checker flag logo. And I'vealways wanted to ask why placed the new

(57:07):
name on the old logo for acouple of issues rather than going with the
Boulder Winston Cup scene logo from theoutset. We had to make the switch
very quickly. I mean, it'sjust like one issue apart before Grand National
scene became Winston Cup scene, andwe sure didn't have enough time to design

(57:27):
a new logo to do that nowafter we did it a couple of times
during that time, we had somepeople working on a new design for the
new lego, which appeared about threeyears later. Our issue of the Week,
in our last episode featured Rusty Wallacewinning at Watkins Lynn, and this
issue covered Rusty winning up there atthat very same track. But this victory

(57:49):
had a much different feel. Rusty'swin last week at Watkins Lynn was just
the third of his career, andthis win was the fourteenth of his career,
and that season. Rusty had sucha large lead last week he pitted
on the last lap for gas andstill won by nearly twelve seconds. This
time around, he and Ricky Ruddwere battling for the top spot, but

(58:13):
then Rusty lost a lot of trackposition when a caution came out on lap
twenty six, just after he hadpassed the start finish line. And that
race, the pits were open.You could pit anytime you wanted to.
You didn't have to come back aroundunder caution and follow at the pace car
in so that meant that he losta lot of track position. He worked

(58:35):
his way back through the field,then suffered a flat tire just after passing
Terry Lemani for the lead. WinstonCup director Dick Baty said the day before
the race that he had been toldby Bill France Junior that there were plans
for Pitt Road at Watkins Glen tobe widened and lengthened, most likely before
the following year's race. Ricky Ruddblew an engine to bring out the caution

(58:57):
on lap seventy and after what happenedon it road moments later, those changes
couldn't be made soon enough. Andrick I do remember that pit road.
It looked mighty dangerous to me.It wasn't very long, it wasn't very
wide either, so you had toexpect sure later something not good was going
to happen. Tony Cassanova was atire carrier for Darryl Waltrup when he was

(59:21):
struck by Dale Earnhardt during the cautionfor Ricky's engine problems. Dy'll cut the
pit close and he hit Tony andsitting him flying. Tony was seeing in
the infield care center and diagnosed witha possible Bruce kidney and was then released.
The forty five year old Cassanova said, I was carrying two tires around
to the left side. Earnhardt didn'tsee me. He hit the tire I

(59:45):
was carrying in my right hand andit threw me into our car. The
left side tire got me in thekidney, but I'm okay. I got
to the pit wall and then thecrew pulled me over. I don't know
if I'll keep doing it or not. I'll have to think about before deciding
I've been spun around before, butthis is the first time anything like this

(01:00:06):
has happened to me. And atthe time, Tony was the full time
parts manager for City chervle A inCharlotte, Rick hendricks first dealership, and
I wondered what happened to Tony afterthat, so I asked on Twitter if
anybody remembered him, and our friendChristopher Herbert from New Zealand, Yeah,
how about that did a little diggingon the internet and he found an obituary

(01:00:30):
for Tony, who died in twentyfifteen after a brief illness. According to
the obituary, carrying tires for DWwas his last job in NASCAR, but
it also added that he had retiredfrom Rick Hendrick's dealership in Columbia, South
Carolina. Steve Pitt Road is sucha dangerous place and in those days,

(01:00:51):
especially, just that one moment intime appears to have changed the course of
Tony Casanova's life. It wasn't seriouslyinjured from what I was able to discover,
but he did apparently walk away fromthat gig, and there were some
that did not Rick, as youwell know, one of the things that
contributed that in some racetracks was thesize of Pitt Road. But I think

(01:01:15):
during all of that kind of biggerproblem was allowing the car to speed in
and out of Pitt Road. Thiswas before NASCAR started slowing him down.
Dal Earnhardt said, the tire manmust have gotten out there too far.
That's all I can say. Bylap seventy five of the ninety Laugh event,
Rusty was back up to third place, behind leader Michael Waltrop in second

(01:01:37):
place and road racing specialist Tommy Kendall, who was driving the unsponsored number eighteen
Chevrolet for car owner Rick Hendrick.Michael and Tommy got together going in to
turn one the next time around onlap seventy six, and Michael spens there
was no caution and he made hismove for the lead again going in to

(01:01:58):
turn one. Then Tommy spun atthe entrance to the long backstretch on lap
eighty one, which brought out thesixth and final caution. In your race
lead, mister Wade, you wrotethat this was the first Winston Cup start
for Tommy Kendall, who was thena twenty two year old senior at UCLA.

(01:02:21):
It was in fact Tommy Kendall's thirdWinston Cup start. He'd run riverside
in both of the previous two seasons. Deb Williams got it right in her
sidebar. Then you wrote that therestart from Tommy spin took place on lap
eighty five, which was correct.However, you wrote that the green flag

(01:02:45):
came out on lap eighty five,five laps from the end of the race.
Technically there would have been six lapsleft in the event. Call mey,
Sasquatch one more time, Bubba,I got neary for this sort of
thing up. I'm gonna call yousomething a whole. The nineteen eighty nine

(01:03:07):
event at Watkins Glenn was what numbercareer Winston Cup start for Tommy Kendall.
Okay, okay, three, okay, all right, okay, all right,
so maybe just maybe I've learned yousomething I think you have. Sasquatch.
Rusty was in the lead on thatrestart, and he jumped out to
a big lead, but then everythingstarted happening behind him. Bill Elliott dropped

(01:03:31):
out his third place and into thepits with no brakes. Jerry Lebanni faded
out a second place with a flattire. Jeff Bodin and Deal Earnhardt were
babbling for third place on the lastlap. Bodine versus Earnhart last lap.
Doesn't that just have an awesome Northversus South civil war war between the states

(01:03:52):
bring to it? Yeah, kindof that is rich, especially when you
consider Bodine and Earnhardt didn't not likeeach other. It wasn't the first time,
and it wouldn't be the last.The last ye, they are going
down the back stretch and this wasbefore the bus stop was put in when
a brake rotor on Jeff's car explodedas they approached that sharp right hand turn.

(01:04:17):
Jeff spun and he went hard intothat catch fencing and Steve I watched
this incident on YouTube and it lookedvery eerily similar to JD McDuffie's accident a
couple of years later in that verysame spot. But fortunately this time Jeff
was unhurt. Yeah, I've seenJad's wreck as well as Jeff's, and

(01:04:40):
they are very similar. Fortunately forJeff, they did not have the result
that it gave JD. Finally,Daryl Waltrop was running in fifth place on
the last lap when he spun andturned seven, the victim of a flat
tire, but wait, We're stillnot done. There had been just a

(01:05:01):
wee little bit of controversy that weekat Watkins Land after news broke that Rusty
had sued Blue Mike's Racing team ownerRaymond Beatle, claiming that his contract had
been broken due to a payment delinquency. Yeah, Raymond Beatle at this time
is having some real financial problems.There was even word that Rusty was gonna

(01:05:21):
be teaming up with Roger Penske.Rusty one with all that hanging over his
head. But how did it turnout with Pinskey? That particular rumor turned
out pretty during good over the years, didn't you? And Steve? That's
amazing to me how many times adriver is involved in some kind of controversy

(01:05:42):
and the very next week they win. The best way to ensure a Tony
Stewart victory on the racetrack was tosomehow some way tick him off. You're
right, Rick, I think it'sa matter of motivation, Rusty said in
this issue, it feels good toprove that this team isn't dead. My
problem is with my team owner andnot with this race team. Barry Dotson,

(01:06:06):
the crew chief, and Harold Elliott, the team's engine builder, and
I sat down and talked the otherday. We all got a better understanding
of what is going on. Wedecided that we were a team. I
love the guys on this team andwe are going to go out and try
to win races. I'm going todrive my guts out to get back in
the Winston Cup points thing, andthe boys aren't going to lay down.

(01:06:30):
A lot has gone on that's madeus mad, and we've had a lot
of setbikes, But today I'm gladI won for the crew and everybody else
on this team. Rick, Thisis a perfect example of motivation. The
guys on that team knew that therewere problems, but those problems were not
of their own making. Therefore theywanted to show they were better than those

(01:06:54):
problems. They get pushed those problemsaside and go out and try to win
races, which is called motivation.And not only did they win a couple
more races that season, they wenton to win the Winston Cup Championship.
Correct here's one for the ages.Dick Johnson, who heils from Brisbane,
Queensland in Australia. He qualified eighteenthand ran as high as eleventh before he

(01:07:19):
crashed in turn four on lap fiftyseven, after his second cut tire of
the day, Dick was taken tothe infield care center and then transported to
the hospital in nearby Corning, NewYork, where he was diagnosed with a
break in the lower part of hisright shoulder blade and toward ligaments in his
left knee. Dick's crew chief,Ray Everingham, said, we had to

(01:07:44):
shift some ballast this morning in theback of the car in order to change
some things. We didn't get apiece tightened down and it cut the tire.
We didn't see it the first time. We thought he had just cut
it down, so it cut again. Steve, did you recognize his crew
chief's name, Ray? Ever?No one did. No one did.
I'm sure there were people in thekaragio who knew Ray Amberingham, but when

(01:08:09):
you got up into the press box, zero knew Ray Amberingham. According to
his cumulative career stats on Racing Reference, this was Ray's first race as a
Winston Cut crewchie. However, DickJohnson's cumulative stats as a driver list Ray
as his crew chief earlier that sameseason at Riverside, So whether this was

(01:08:33):
Ray's first race as Winston Cut crewchiefor not, It was definitely his first
job in that role was as DickJohnson's crewchie. That's correct, and it's
a real shame. Ray Abrenham's justsort of faded away and no one ever
heard of him again. There wasa shot of Tom Cruise in this race's
photo spread. He was at WatkinsLynn tinkering with the idea of doing a

(01:08:57):
movie based on NASCAR. Now youwere wondering why happened with Ray Evernham.
Whatever happened to this Tom Cruise NASCARmovie? I have no idea, no
idea whatsoever. Ready, Robert Presleywon at Orange County after a late race
battle with the Twin Tommies, TommyHouston and Tommy Ellis. Tommy Houston got

(01:09:18):
under Robert and they made contact comingoff turn four with eight laps to go.
Both of them bobbled, which allowedor forced Tommy Ellis to make a
move to the outside and grab thelead. Robert went back after Tommy Ellis
and they went door to door fora couple of laps. They got together
on the front stretch on lap oneninety six and Tommy got into the wall

(01:09:42):
and was not happy about it.Afterward, in an upset Tommy Ellis is
something to behold? Is that true? He ran into Robert on the quote
unquote cool down lap. Tommy Houstonmade a move and turned forward to get
alongside Robert coming to the checkered fly, but Robert beat him to the stripe
by about a half a car length. Robert said after the race, Tommy

(01:10:05):
Ellis used me for a while thefirst fifty labs. Why not use him
for one lap? We were battlingfor position and with four laps to go
it's any man's game. Ellis wouldhave done the same thing to me,
to which Tommy replied, I reallydon't have a comment except that I'd like
for everyone to just call it asthey saw it. Oh, I tell

(01:10:26):
you one thing, Rick for RobertsPresley any kind you're racing against Tommy Houston
and Temmy Ellis and get the bestof both of them, you have done
something. I'd tell you that Zilly'sseason was in full swing. According to
a news article in this issue,it was announced that Ricky Rudd would be
joining Hendrick Motorsports as the driver oftheir number five car. It was also

(01:10:50):
reported that, and I'm quoting directlyfrom the paper here, Alan Kuwiki is
wrestling with an offer to drive forJunior Johnson as a replacement for the departing
Terry Lebanni. The job is Quickiesif he wants it now, Junior said
repeatedly he wanted Alan to drive forhim, because if you had Alan Quickie

(01:11:11):
as your driver, is what hesaid, then you don't need that general
manager. He can help you runthat team. You don't have to hire
a general manager. Alan just stubbornlyrepute any offers to drive for anybody,
much less Junior. Terry was leavingJunior Johnson and he was in the process
of forming his own team, butconfirmed a rumor that he had been approached

(01:11:34):
about staying with Junior. He said, I didn't speak with Junior. He
wasn't involved, but it was someonewith authority, so it must have been
Flossy. I have no doubt youhad a roll with it for sure.
If Alan had taken the ride withJunior, it was said that Rick Wilson
would probably have stayed with Morgan McClure, that Jeff and not Brett Bodine would

(01:11:59):
have landed with Bernstein, and thatSterling Marlin would stay with Billy Hagen.
Now this was a particularly silly thatyou had a great commentary on Dick Baty
and the pranks he would sometimes pullon competitors in the garage. He got
Bud Moore the weekend of Riverside's lastrace, and he said in your commentary,

(01:12:23):
all Bud Moore was always late.I mean, he was always the
last guy to arrive at the trackall the time. So we decided to
steal his car. We took itout of its stall in the garage area
and hit it at the far endof the place, covering it with a
tarp. We then put a rentalcar U Ponty at Grand Prix right where

(01:12:44):
Bud's car was and covered it withhis own tarp. Well, sure enough,
here comes Bud late. He goesover to his car and stands there
for a bit. Then he bendsdown a bit, then a little bit
more, and then a bit more. Bud bent into five different positions looking
at the tires of that car.I swear he could have touched the ground

(01:13:05):
with his head. He said,what the hell? Who stole my wheales?
There he was confused at seeing littlebitty thin wheels on his car.
I'd love to have seen that.And then there was Harold Elliott, the
engine builder for Rusty Walls. Didcontinued, Harold had sold a couple of

(01:13:28):
engines to some other guys, andI reckon they were right close to being
over the legal size. One time, we had this big cutting tool at
the track. When it was coveredwith a tarp. It looked just like
a covered engine. Harold walked byand looked at it, and Jerry Parks,
one of our inspectors, picked rightup on it. He said,
you better get your fanny away fromhere. Baby's got one of your engines.

(01:13:55):
All weekend, every time Harold gotnear me, he would walk away.
When he it's nervous. He washeshis hands with a cloth and he
had to be rubbing the skin off. I must have seen him a dozen
times, and every time he wouldjust walk away from me. Finally we
got the word out that I wantedto see him. When he got to
me, I just handed him therule book and said, hey, a

(01:14:17):
twelve weeks suspension is a mighty longtime. Harold didn't say much, he
was sort of babbling. I said, come here, I want you to
look at it. And then Itook the cover off that cutting tool.
He said, usob you had mescared to death. I reckoned Harold knew,
we were aware that he had someclose engines out there. Now it

(01:14:41):
may just be me, Steve,but the way Harold was acting sounds to
me like he had a little bitof a guilty conscience. And he would
not have been the only one hadDick Pools that seemed done on them.
You know, you knew and Dickas well as I did. Rick,
and he had a marvelous sense ofhumor, he really did. Finally,
there were a couple of letters tothe editor about a column written by Joe

(01:15:03):
Whitlock and published in the July twentieth, nineteen eighty nine issue of Winston cup
Scene. Joe's column in this editionwas also about reaction to that earlier piece,
which was entitled his Flag is Unburnableand Steve. To this day,
I have a copy of that columnon my desk. I really and truly

(01:15:25):
consider it to be one of thefinest pieces of writing I've ever seen in
any publication, much less one thatwas Nascar related. Joe said in his
column that his Flag is Unbarnable hadbeen reprinted in at least three church bulletins
of VFW newsletter, and it hadbeen tacked to the message board of two
police stations and taped to the boardof at least one eighteen wheeler. A

(01:15:50):
TV newscaster in Orlando, Florida,read the column on the air. A
copy had supposedly been sent to theOval Office, and he had heard that
it was going to be read intothe Congressional record. Rick, I own
you part of that. I hadno idea about the over office or the

(01:16:11):
Congressional record none. Ways, However, Joe wrote in his column in this
issue, I sincerely appreciate your responses, and I want each and every one
of you to know that you've mademy job much more difficult. If that
many watchdogs are reading my material,then I've got no choice to make it
the best I possibly can. Thanks. I think Joe was always very concerned

(01:16:35):
about his writing. He was anear perfectionist when it came to things like
that. He in a great talent, though, of running about just about
anything. Scene wasn't indeed rating newspaper, but we ran comms that Joe wrote
about his father about preparing special foodsfrom the South Is other adventures as outdoorsmen

(01:16:58):
on Lake Norman Ahead. Nothing todo with racing, but they were so
good were just could not ignore.You didn't tell him not to write first
person columns. That's okay. Here'show much I've always thought of that column.
I actually put together a video forour YouTube channel a couple of years
ago, and I lined up MarkWhitlock, Joe's son, to read the

(01:17:21):
column in its entirety. And believeme, every time I get a chance
to mention that column of Joe's,I'm going to take it. So here
is Mark Whitlock reading Joe's his flagis unburnable column. I'm not on the
Supreme Court, so I didn't geta vote, but it is my unanalbill

(01:17:42):
right to express my opinion. Ohsay, can you see by the dawn's
early light, warm summer rain ona fresh mode lawn, the distant roar
of thunder and garden fresh roses,Curtis Turner, Babe Ruth and Hank,
Aaron, Joe Weatherly, Fireball Robertson, Earless, Fred Lorenzen, Arnold Palmer,
and Bob Kozy sun dried bedsheets,a puppy, squeaky, innocent bark

(01:18:08):
what so proudly we hailed cousins,sisters, brothers, parents, aunts and
uncles, grandparents and kids, playgroundlaughter, the Morning Paper and the Evening
News. Dale Earnhardt, Darryl Waltripand Rusty Wallace head to head on Bristol's
banking. The shrill cry of anair inch as it anticipates a pit stop

(01:18:30):
at the twilight's last gleaming faded jeansand well worn sneakers, silent falling snow
logs crackling in the fireplace, andbacon sizzling in the pan. A wood
chopper on a nearby hill, BigBill France, Oh Yes, whose broad
stripes and bright stars. The concertof a springtime bird at sunrise suddenly startled

(01:18:55):
chipmunks, the white tailed deer atPocono doors that only creek when It's dark.
And Halloween Ribs on the Grille withFriends and Tucker's Music, Ned Jarrett
Junior, Johnson, Banjo Matthews andTiny Lund, David Pearson, Cotton Owens
and Jack Smith, Jim Hunter,Richard Petty and Bobby Isaac. Gentlemen,

(01:19:17):
start your engines, playball through theperilous fight, lonesome laboring, midnight trains,
firm carrying handshakes, Chinoki oysters onthe half shell God Bless America and
Anybody's Alma Mater. Jet trails aloftbent by the wind, beautiful, playful

(01:19:39):
crutch and his love, the goldengate bridge, the gusty roar of finely
tuned racing engines, pit stops withballet precision, the white flag and one
lap to go over. The rampartswe watch were so gallantly streaming by and
Wright Tomatoes, silver, clean cornand Vodelia onions Sunday morning church bells waves

(01:20:03):
against the sea wall, the metallicwine of a distant troll bike, the
Darlington Stripe and the Southern five hundredBristol, Martinsville and Richmond Daytona in February,
Little Bud Moore and the rockets redGlare, the bombs bursting in air,

(01:20:24):
The undinning hanks of a southbound wedgeof geese, Largemouth basp cracking the
water surface at daybreak, top waterfishing Santee Cooper, the rustle of leaves
beneath boots in the fall woods,Richard Petty's hat and sunglasses, his smile
tire Mouners who never seemed to finishworking. The look alike Elliot Brothers hot

(01:20:48):
dogs at Martinsville, Glen and LeonardWood. The crisp, clean smell of
Rockingham. In October, My olddog otis gone but not forgotten. Gave
proof to the night that our flagwas still there. Pickup trucks and golden
retrievers. Turkey dressing and giblet gravingat Thanksgiving New York City. In December,

(01:21:13):
military color guards, Good Night,Chet, Goodnight, David Strawberry shortcake,
driver's meetings, Bobby Allison Spunk andJudy Allison Spirit, Junie Don Levy's
smile, Humpy Wheeler's pre race shows, Riverside and Ontario now gone, Darrel

(01:21:35):
Derringer's giggle, Ageless Buck Baker,Fans who care, Scores who worked?
Tiresslee, Oh Say, does thatstar spangled banner yet? Wave? Silent
night? Teenage shrills on an amusementpark, adventure Batman, the inside smell

(01:21:56):
of a brand new car, ElectionDay, Easter Eggs, the Rocky Mountains,
little smiling babies, Davy Allison andCarl Petty winning their first races.
The meaningful beauty of the hay Ridefive hundred. Harold Kinder on the flagstand,
Give a more more lat to Go? Harold Uncle's pit crew, competition

(01:22:20):
at Rockingham, or the Land ofthe Free. HUD's fried chicken drummets,
an incredibly delicious Coleslaw, the crackof a bat when it strikes a well
hit ball, people who share thethud of a horse shoe when it rings,
the steak Napa Valley honesty, Ditto'sexuberance and intelligence, engine builders,

(01:22:45):
tire changers, fabricators and Jackman truckdrivers, Phoenix crowded infills and Pat Graham
stands, press box, banter,vetter drivers spending their time with eager rookies,
friendships that never fade, and thehome of the brave. Nobody can

(01:23:08):
burn my American flag. The cloththat is made up from perhaps might yield
to a flame, but not myflag. It will forever wave. Steve.
There's just not much more left tosay other than that was an awesome
piece of rotting. I agreed thatpercent Rick, and tell you what seen

(01:23:30):
with Proud to Print. I canremember us all saying there was something very
spacial. Hello, this is TimBrewer. Hey, I'm Larry Pollard.
Hi, I'm Huppy Wheeler. Hieverybody, this is Jimmy Means, Hi'm

(01:23:51):
Robert Presley and you're listening to thesame Vault podcast. Hello, Seen Vault
fans. This is Brian from SpeedwayScreens and if you're enough of a NASCAR
historian to be listening to this podcast, there's a good chance a piece of

(01:24:12):
the past you've been on the huntfor is in my shop. I'm constantly
on the hunt for apparel and collectiblesfrom all genres and eras of motorsports.
So whether it be cup cars,dirt modifieds, dragsters, or monster trucks,
I've probably got something for you.Check out my inventory at Speedway TSJ
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at Speedway Screens for the newest itemsas soon as they drop in for a

(01:24:35):
peek at what I keep from myown collection. As a special thank you
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Dot com. This podcast has beenbrought to our listeners by Las Vegas Motor

(01:25:01):
Speedway America's Racing scrow place. SoSteve now that I'm gonna be driving the
pace car at Lonsome Pine next season, and we please stop. You will
ride shotgun with me at least once, correct, I want you're going to
pay me. Listen. It's aprivilege for you, son, it's a
privilege. Privilege. Okay, fine, listen. If you don't answer me

(01:25:26):
now, we're just gonna have tonegotiate on future episodes. Oh ready,
listeners. I think Steve's reaction istepid at best. Seen with proud kfriend,
I can remember us all the thingsthat with something very facial. Alright,

(01:25:47):
cool, good deal, All right, let's go ahead and knock us
out. Ready. Yeah. Thispodcast has been brought to our listeners by
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a