Episode 224 -- Robert Pressley on Winston Cup See-Saw, Daytona Truck Win

In the third and final installment of our interview, Robert Pressley takes us through the see-saw world of the Winston Cup division. A conversation with Bobby Hamilton led him to the truck series, a decision that eventually landed him in victory lane at Daytona following the 2002 season opener.

Still more career uncertainty brought about his decision to step away from the seat and enjoy retirement. Now … his life is all about hot dogs, politics and his family.

Hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid then take a deep dive into the February 21, 2002 issue of Winston Cup Scene. Ward Burton gets a win in the Daytona 500 … Dale Earnhardt Jr. drives a Richard Childress Racing number 3 Chevrolet to victory in Daytona’s Busch Series race … and Robert Pressley makes a splashy truck series debut.

Dave Marcis celebrates his final Winston Cup start, while both Joe Gibbs and Winston Cup Scene photographer Larry McTighe very narrowly escape disaster.

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

(00:00):
Hey, race fans. John Dodsonhere from NASCAR Technical Institute. Nascartek is
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(00:47):
as entry level automotive service technicians.Some graduates who take NASCAR specific electives also
may have job opportunities in racing relatedindustries. NASCAR Tech is an educational institution
and cannot guarantee employment or salary.Hello, my name is Rick Houston and

(01:07):
welcome to the Scene Bought podcast,your source for all things NASCAR history,
presented by Las Vegas Motor Speedway,America's racing show place. I don't regret
ever anything at going roush Petty HendrickNutton. I'm not looking out my rear
view mirror. I'm always looking outthe windshield. My dad just did not

(01:32):
believe that a pickup truck should beon the race track. And he said,
I'm tell you're gonna get in thereand you're gonna get killed. You're
gonna get hurting in truck. Itwas not gonna be pretty that Robert Presley
wins a race in a satellite Dodgetruck, and me and Bobby kind of
had hard feelings. From that dayon, I built my son a racecar,

(01:59):
and app was my salvation of beingat the racetrack and watching him the
day NASCAR and all of us associatedin anyway when NASCAR forget it's past,
yes, today we don't have anyfuture. Hello everyone, I'm Steve Wade

(02:22):
and my name is Rick Houston,and welcome to the Seine Vault Podcast,
presented by Las Vegas Motor Speedway,America's racing show place in the track that
truly cares about NASCAR history. Ihave mentioned here on the podcast a time
or two that I was able tohold the signboard for Mike Potter during the

(02:42):
nineteen ninety two Daytona five hundred,and that I also helped push the car
back up pit road after Mike fellout of the event with mechanical problems.
Here is why I love social media, sometimes for better or worse. Given
the events of the last few weeks, I'm not getting into all that nonsense,
but here is why I love socialmedia and Twitter listener Thomas Williams tweeted

(03:07):
us a photo of that very signboardlast week and asked if it looked familiar,
how about that It is a metalfabricated number seventy seven, which was
of course Mike's number in that race. It hung on a pole, and
it is the exact sign that Iused more than thirty years ago during the

(03:29):
nineteen ninety two Daytona five hundred,and Thomas now has it in his collection
after Mike, who just so happensto be Thomas's second cousin, died last
year. And yes, we havebeen in touch about the possibility of adding
that sign the collection in our NASCARTechnical Institute studio. Now, I don't

(03:52):
know if it's actually going to happen, but we have talked about it.
It would be a cool keepsake frommy own career, but it's also a
cool keepsake from Mike Potter's first andonly Daytona five hundred, and if Thomas
wants it to stay in the family, then I'm absolutely positively okay with that
for obvious reasons, right as youshould be. Rick. Now I have

(04:15):
a question for you, miss Wade. Oh, is there a particular artifact
along those lines from your career thatyou would like to have? Well,
oddly enough, Rick is pretty muchthe same thing. Back in the late
seventies, I was asked to bea member of Lannie Hester's pit crew in

(04:38):
a Baby Grand race later known asthe Goodies Dash Series at Daytona. Now
Lanny was a co owner of Bristolat that time, So when I was
down there, went out there,met up with the crew, and Lannie
told me what I was going todo. I was going to stand on
pit road and hold up the signboard letting him know where to pit and

(05:00):
win to stop. I was learyabout this. I did not exactly want
to be standing out on pit roadwith a signboard with a car rushing right
towards me. Nevertheless, I agreeto do it, but I thought i'd
have some fun with it. Iknow exactly what you're about to say.
I took the chalk and drew aone digit matches to Lanny and held it

(05:29):
up as he went by. Idon't know if here for saw it,
but that one digit chalkboard was inmy hands. When I stepped out on
the pit road and held up thatboard for Lanny to pit. You know
what happened. He misses Pitchons zippedright by me, missed me by by
five feet. That was close enoughfor me. I went behind pitt Wall,

(05:51):
dropped that board never held up again. Well, Steve, I'm gonna
be honest with you, in allseriousness. I now have a newfound respect
for you because when I held thesignboard for Mike Potter in the Daytona five
hundred, and then also had heldthe signboard for Jimmy Means at Northwalksboro the

(06:12):
previous fall, I was safe andsound behind pitt Wall. The signboard was
on the end of a long metalpulp didn't have much of those in the
seventies of that Daytona. I canassure you I'm standing out there and I'm
telling you the truth. I'm standingout there holding up that signboard and I
ain't don't even move as Landy justwizared right by me. I'm thinking to

(06:36):
myself after that, Lord had mercy. If I'd been a few feet the
other way, I wouldn't unfe here. Now, when you say a single
digit sign, you're not talking aboutthe numeral one. You're talking about the
single finger. So I've got apicture of it if anybody wants to see

(06:58):
it. But I'd like to havethat signboard, I really would. Well,
how about the finger? Oh,never mind, I've had that a
few times, Steve. This week, in the third and final installment of
our interview, Robert Presley takes usthrough the seesaw world of the Winston Cut
Division and then a conversation with BobbyHamilton led him to the truck Series and
Steve, that was a decision thateventually landed him in victory Lane at Daytona

(07:24):
following the two thousand and two seasonopener, which proves that Robert made a
very wise decision after all, bigbig creepers career. Still more career uncertainty
brought about his decision to step awayfrom the seat and enjoy retirement and now
his life is all about hot dogs, politics and his family. Hot dogs,

(07:47):
hot dogs. I trust you willexplain that layer, Yes, absolutely,
and politics, but we won't getinto politics. No, no,
no, can't do that. Thenin our second segment, we're going to
dig into the February twenty first,two thousand and two issue of Winston Cup
Scene. Ward Burton gets a winin the Daytona five hundred, Dellernhart Junior

(08:09):
drives a Richard Children's Racing Number threeChevrolet to victory in Daytona's Bush Series race.
And Yes, Robert Preshley makes asplashy Truck Series debut. Dave Marcus
made the final start of his career, while both Joe Gibbs and Winston Cup
Scene photographer Larry mctige very narrowly escapeddisaster. And I didn't know that.

(08:31):
Listeners, if you possibly can checkout our t shirt shop over on our
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(08:52):
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(09:16):
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same brand. Hindsight Van twenty twenty. You're talking to Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick

(09:50):
Motorsports at that time wasn't the HendrickMotorsports that eventually became, but Jeff was
making a lot of steam and makingit good there in ninety four. Has
there ever been a point where youthought to yourself, you know, maybe
I could have taken Hendrick and toldLeo that I'm gonna go with Hendrick.

(10:13):
But we back up to nineteen seventyseven, seventy eight, and seventy nine.
My daddy's driving for Leo Jackson inlate model Sportsman and winning races from
Canada to Georgia, and Leo waslike family to us. And to be
able to drive the school bandit becauseyou know, a year and a half

(10:35):
earlier, they're mister September, youknow. And it's at my hometown and
I don't have to sell nothing,I don't have to move or anything.
And this question has been asked meon every interview I've done since two thousand
and six when I quit racing.Do you wish you would have went with

(10:56):
Petty Rouse? The Hendrick deal?Why you pass that up? Makes no
sense at all. A lot ofthe people that's interviewed me. Larry Hedrick,
you had operated Robert, you wasone of the three top drivers,
and you picked the Skull car.Yeah, I picked it two years earlier.

(11:18):
I'm loyal and I was not goingto break that contract with Leo.
They was no and Skull and goback to call Rick Mass and say,
Robert's driving your car. You know, there's no loyalty in racing, really,
but I felt good about it.And it even goes up to the

(11:39):
years when I left Skull, whenAndy Petrie bought it and me and Andy
had been rivals the whole time inmy late model, and I knew when
Leo said, you know, hewas gonna get out of it because his
father had passed away and Leo hadlost interest. You know, Harry Gant
was the greatest that they was.I mean he was Harry Gainst, a

(12:01):
better race car driver, and anybody'sever give him credit for except his fans.
He's good. And after that,right there, I decided, you
know what, I'm going back BushGrand National Racing and got up with Tad
gas Schuster and he was having sometrouble and went and drove for him in

(12:24):
the ninety seven season, and halfwaythrough the season, I missed Cup racing
to an extent, but not really. And Jasper called me and want to
know if I drive seventy seven cards. We missed fourteen of the last sixteen
races. We got Morgan Shephard drivingand he's getting old, and I said,

(12:46):
Morgan, Nate your problem. Yourcars are your problem. Because see
I didn't want to go racing.I was being asked to go, and
I was not going to go somewhereunless we was growing up race. You
know, we weren't going to runthis stuff. You got. We go
to Richmond and I'm double dipping theirbush car and drive seventy seven. We

(13:07):
make the race. We made everyrace my six seven years, eight years
whatever I was with Jasper and onlymissed one. We missed two. One
was rained out and didn't have points, another one myth and I felt like
then I had done something I hadimproved. I you know a lightsa's lights

(13:28):
skull was skull. They was alreadyestablished, which seventy seven Jasper was.
But me and them other two owners, Mark Doug and Mark, we've become
a family. Rows should ask meto come over and drive one of the
cars, and I said, hey, I'm happy because we're making headway,

(13:52):
and loyalty set back in again thatHey, Jasper believed in me. Jack
Roush or Petty or none of themcalled me when I was back in that
bush car, but they did andsaid will you help us? And I
wanted to finish my career out withJasper, and I actually did finish my
Cup career with Jasper. And theway it ended up was we had a

(14:18):
crew chief there that thought that theyhad a winning race team. We'd run
second at Chicago, we'd run thirdat Texas, we had run first race
at Kansas. We run fifth.You know, it was like all the
race tracks we went to our firsttime, we was top ten cars and

(14:39):
I mean that's over a couple ofyear period because we don't have that many.
But I felt so good inside thatwe took a car that was missing
half the races a year and ableto run with the best teams out there.
And they was family. They wasactually family. And when they said

(15:01):
that, my owner told crew chiefsaid, if you can't get along with
Robert, both of y'all are leaving. But Robert will be driving this car
because he helped us get where weare. To the day he tells us
he don't want to drive. Andthen two thousand and one, I guess
it was or two thousand and two, rumors going around that men the crew

(15:28):
chief ain't getting along and Bobby Hamiltoncomes up and says, hey, Robert,
how would you like come drive myDodge truck? He said, we
got the best stuff they are AndI thought about it for four or five
months, said, you know what, my kids are getting older. It'd
be a good way to back down. I don't need the money. I

(15:50):
said, hey, Bobby, whatwhat do I need to do? He
said, just tell me you'll driveand here's the money I'll pay you.
And I said, ah, yeah, I'll do that. I went to
Jasper and I said, you knowwhat, I may be holding y'all back,
and men, the owner and crewchiefs sat down and I said,

(16:11):
I'm gonna leave at the end ofthe year because you've got drivers that you're
wanting, and we're gonna see howgood this team is because I've got a
great opportunity to well, we madesome goals that we wanted. The next

(16:32):
year, Blaney drove the car that'swho crew chief was wanting, and they
did not even match the standards wehad the year before, and my owners
decided it was time for them toget out, you know, that they
was not going to go back tothe days of having different drivers in their

(16:53):
car trying to make races that itgot expensive. It was great for everybody
to see. And how it mademe feel is going out my very first
truck racing, winning Daytona in thefirst race I've ever run, you know,
and I felt they're out. Ican still drive, you know,

(17:15):
and I don't regret ever anything andgoing to rouse Petty Hendricks or nothing.
What would have happened. If I'dhave went to Hendrick, who could you
know? I'm not looking out myrear view mirror. I'm always looking out
the windshield, you know. AndI love what I'd done. I accomplished

(17:37):
more than ever thought I would asa kid. I got a great family.
I got to see my kids growup. I got to enjoy being
around great great I never drew fora bad owner, even getting fired from
Alliance. That man was family tome right there. When you went truck
racing, did you consider that astep down? Or was it time for

(18:02):
you to step back and spend timewith your family and let Jasper do what
they want, you know, letJasper see what they could do. Yeah,
no, you know, I wantedto race a couple more years,
but it was the time racing waschanging. Earnhardt had been gone for five
years. The sports kind of changing. Younger people are coming in, they're

(18:27):
bringing money in. It ain't likethe owners are calling you now, it's
like how much have you got tooffer you? And like sake, when
I signed a deal with Bobby Hamilton'sto leave Jasper, then Richard Children's called
and said, hey, three carsopen in the Bush Series because here you're
leaving the cup deal, how wouldyou like to come over here? And

(18:49):
or Richard's I'm going to drive forBobby Hamilton truck deal. Okay, well,
I guess I'm gonna put horn today. And it is And you know,
them was conversations, you know withJimmy Johnson and the petty talking to
Richard about coming is whenever I toldhim what I was doing. There was

(19:11):
no grudges ever helped, you know, and going through that, but going
back, it wasn't me and Jasper. It was me and the crew chief
that you know. We got alonggreat from the time. I remember whenever
the owners sat there and told menthe crew chief Robert's going to be here
when we're gone. If you don'tlike him, you can do something else.

(19:36):
And we went up and run fifthat Kansas, all of a sudden
we still. He was a greatcrew chief. I loved working with him,
but it was a point that hethought he could be better with somebody
else. But I knew he wasthe best crew chief I had ever had

(19:57):
at Jasper at that time. Hewas hardcore. He was a Rickey Pearson
type that one need to win,but you know, win are your single
car and Hindsight's twenty twenty. Singlecars don't stand a chance racing. You
know, you've got to have themother teams to feed off of. And

(20:19):
controversial was going on. Is whyI left Cup Racing. I wanted another
couple of years, but the opportunitywith Dodge come open and Bobby Hamilton's that.
You know what, I can havetwenty five races a year instead of
thirty six. I can be homeevery Saturday and Sunday just about. I

(20:41):
can go to my kids ball games. I can be normal after, you
know, twenty years of just racing, racing and racing. You mentioned the
truck win at Daytona. What doyou remember about that race? My dad
was battling cancer at that time,and I remember when I told him I

(21:03):
was gonna drive a truck. Hesaid, Robert, there's no way one
of them trucks handle at them racetracks. And you know, Bodna had
had the bad wreck there at Daytona, and my dad just did not believe
that a pickup truck should be onthe race track. And he said,
I'm telling you're gonna get in thereand you're gonna get killed. You're gonna
get hurting them trucks, and wheneverI won the Daytona race, you know,

(21:27):
I said, Dad, this isfor you. I can remember that
and picking my kids up because I'dwent through a year of not knowing what
was gonna really happen, because Iknew it's not gonna be a good end.
And at Jasper if we kept workingtogether and I didn't want to lose

(21:48):
a friendship with the owner and thengo Daytona and win the race. And
just like when I went back withTAGGI shifter in the Bush Series is Hey,
Robert Presley can drive. Robert Presleyhas just never been in a factory
back ride in here and here heis when again, and then I got

(22:10):
a couple more coughs, Hey wouldyou come over and drive my bushcar?
I was tired of the seesawing.Nope, I'm gonna stay here a couple
of years and I'll probably end upretiring. Well that kind of actually changed
too, because Bobby seen the funthat I was having in Cup I mean

(22:32):
truck series. He's driving the foreCar and the sports changing and towards the
end of the year Bobby told me, he said, Hey, Robert,
I'm coming back to the truck series, but I've got them other two seat
but we're going to put you overhere in a Jim Harris satellite truck deal

(22:55):
and we're gonna sell him whatever heneeds and do all that. It didn't
work out. We went to Daytonathat year, Bobby was racing. I'm
leading the race going in third turn, Bobby's drafting me. They're gonna give
a Dodge Viper away to whoever winsthe cup race in the truck race,

(23:19):
and Bobby leaves me, and that'sa three wide fantash or word Rick Crawford
and the sixteen truck. It wasn'tjealousy because me and Bobby was a good
friend. My wife and Debbie aregreat friends till this day. As if

(23:41):
you anybody knew Bobby Hamilton, youknow it was not gonna be pretty that
Robert Presley wins a race in asatellite Dodge truck when Dodge loved me too
and wanted to do everything, andme and Bobby kind of had hard feelings

(24:02):
from that day. I don't thinkwe ever really spoke that much after that
because I felt like that was abig turn, and then we didn't get
support that we needed from Bobby orDodge the rest of the year. And
I remember calling my wife in Julythat year. We was in Texas and

(24:23):
I said, Gene, I'm gettingon airplane. I'm quitting racing. And
she said, what's wrong. Isaid, I am the slowest struck here.
And I said, I'm not goingto finish my career like this.
And I said, I'm going toyou dealt with all that mess and cup

(24:45):
and now you were dealing with dealingwith it in Truck Series now and I
said, I'm coming home. I'mgonna get me a flight out. So
I come out of my bus thereand Jim was there and said, what's
this? You quit? And Isaid, Jim, I cannot continue to
race like this. This is notwhenever I am slower. And I'll not

(25:08):
mention anyone's name that was out therethat should have been the slowest. And
I was Robert, please, Igot new trucks coming. Please, just
finished the year out with me.And I said, Jim, you ain't
give me nothing. This is junk. Well, we run the ration,

(25:30):
run bad, and then we rana couple more races and I was sick.
I was sick and tired going tothe race track running twentieth in a
truck rate. Now, not sayinganything bad about the competition, but if
you wasn't in the top seven,you was bad. When you're twentieth,

(25:53):
you're terrible. We left Homestead,got out of the thing truck. I
said, guys, thank y'all.Jim, so you did finish out the
season? Yeah, I went andit's only like six races and just had
no interest in it. We hadno trucks. He never got nothing.

(26:18):
And I said, Jim think Heshook his hand, checked out and went
back. I was supposed to flyback with some of them. They chartered
a plane and I said, I'mgetting a commercial ticket back. I flew
back home November two thousand and six. Got a call a couple of days

(26:38):
after Christmas. Hey, Robert,Jim, how do you want to get
Daytona? Do you want to usto pick you up flying or for the
next season for Daytona? We nextseason, I said, Jim. I
quit. I will not get backin a race car. He shaid,
Robert, come on, we're goingto test January third, and let's go.

(27:03):
I got a new truck. Boy, it's a nice one, I
said, Jim. I'm dying.We had a conversation there and everything,
and I said, Jim, I'mactually going New Years up in the mountains.
We're going up and stay in thecabin. So I'm not going.

(27:23):
I'm gonna spend time in family.I quit. I'm not driving. Well,
I'll tell you what. Pick thatcabin up your ass. Hello,
I believe that January third, geta call cell phone, Hey Robert,

(27:45):
Jim, listen here, I gottruck in Daytona. If you'll come and
just test that truck and race forme at Daytona. Whatever you want you
have. I want to win Daytonaso bad. You won it two years
ago. You should have won itlast year. It's time for us to
revenge. I got the best ofeverything. There's a moment of silence,

(28:11):
and I said, Jem, Ican I'm in the hospital. What happened?
I said, I'm getting splinters outof my ass. Never talked to
the man again until three months ago. He come to Asheville and we sat
down talk like nothing had ever happened. Getting that cabin removed when you did

(28:40):
eventually walk away because I think youran a bush season for tad. Now
after that, no, I drovehe hired Marcus Ambrose and I qualified.
I would take the race car whenMarcus was running some cup and I qualified
Gateway and another race for him Indianapolisor the Raceway Parkers Them was only two

(29:08):
times I got in a race carafter that. What was your transition away
from the seat, like, didyou miss it? Was it a struggle
or were you satisfied that you hadleft on your own turn? I was
forty five years old, knew Iwas never going to drive a top notch

(29:30):
race car again. Truck bush cutnothing one need to build a late model
car, and Kala still had themmy blood. But then I thought,
why am I going to go racefor a couple of thousand dollars when I'm
being paid millions of dollars. That'skind of a disgrace to the people that

(29:52):
paid me to drive for them.So I built my son a race car
and that was my salvation of beingat the racetrack and watching him. Next
question, your son Coleman raced.What kinds of conversations did you have with
him about the sport being a longuphill climb or were you positive and saying,

(30:18):
hey, you can do this,let's go do this or was that
even an issue. We started outin a Bandaliro car and we was at
Charlotte running a Bandalio racing. Itstarted raining, and it's probably the only
time I ever got into any kindof father's son argument with him, is
his raining and him and Brandon McReynoldsand you know, the other kids that

(30:44):
was racing that went on started justhaving fun because they raced in the rain,
of spinning around, going through thegrass. And after he pulled in
there, I pushed it up inthe trailer shut. Doris said, let's
go. What can we not hangaround here a little while? I said,
no, if you ain't gonna takeracing serious, we're not coming race

(31:07):
track and you get out here likewe're old bumper cars. That's not what
racing about. Whenever you want tobe serious, we'll go racing again.
And we didn't talk all the wayback home. What would Bob Presley's reaction
have been to been playing around therain and everything? As they said,
it was an absolute waste that you'respending money like that right there to go

(31:32):
out here and play. Why don'tyou behind my doom buggy and let him
out in the fields and play.Yeah, yeah, what does it mean
to you to see him have thekind of success today from the spot or
standing. The thing is is justlet's characterize this. Bob Pressley is one
of the greatest short track drivers thatever sat behind the wheel of Morgan,

(31:56):
Harry Jack, you know, SonnyHutch and Rayhan. They was no better
short track driver. Not because mydad, but because of the stats of
what Bob Pressley accomplished on short tracks. He did not like superspeedways and that's
why he never went in the bushor anything else. Robert Pressley, I

(32:19):
considered myself a decent race car driver, one on short tracks, one on
superspeedways, one Darlington, one dovertough racetracks, yeah, daytime. So
I considered myself a good race cardriver. But I surrounded myself with good
people when I was successful. ColemanPressley is a driver that had my characteristics,

(32:51):
my dad's characteristics, his characteristics,David Pearson's characteristics, Kyle Coleman Pressley.
People lost out on that boy rightthere, had not giving him opportunities
drive a race car because all thepeople that's racing day that he raced against.

(33:13):
He was a smart he was aggressivewhen he needed to be and he
was at the finish all the time. And that's the one thing that we
sat back and talk about as afamily day is he says he's up there
still driving a race car, butnot sitting in the seat. And he

(33:36):
loved working with Brad Keslavski. Himand Joy are best friends, so they
have a good relationship. And Idon't go to the races. I don't
listen to him on the scanner.My wife listened to it all the time.
But it's amazing for people that callme, see me out. Your

(34:00):
son is an amazing guy. Andnow he's doing a Fox deal, you
know, commentating. We never knewspotters done what they do. We thought
the driver drove. These days,there's nobody I'm more proud of than my
son or what he is accomplished.I would love to see him in a

(34:22):
race car. But it's like meand my wife sat back and say all
time, there's a reason God puthim where he's at, because what could
have happened. And that's something Inever thought about as a racer. I
don't think many racers think about itas a racer, but a parent thinks
about the safety of their kids.Most of the time when we conclude an

(34:46):
interview, will ask everybody what they'redoing now and how they're spending most of
their time. Well, orry,no, yeah, tell me about celebrities
hot dogs. How did that getstarted? Well, it goes back to
the USh Grand National Days. Everywherewe go coming loved hot dogs, and

(35:07):
so through the cup deal truck deal, we'd fly in places early and you
know, we's on the plane thereand we'd go find a hot dog place
somewhere and done it. So whenI was getting ready to retire, I
said, I own this building andstuff, just had some property, and

(35:27):
my wife and my mother in lawsaid they wanted ope my hot or a
restaurant. I said, hey,how about a hot dog place? And
they said, oh, they'd befine, have a little niche and we'll
go in here and sell a hundredhot dogs day and have fun and everything.
Well, they made it about fourmonths of selling six to eight hundred
thousand hot dogs at times a day, and my wife said, hey,

(35:52):
I'm not going to do this.Well me being someone that don't quit.
So I retire the next year afteropen the hot dog place and I go
up there and works and I realizedthis is fun I'm meeting all these old

(36:13):
race fans. We're talking racing upthere. I got pictures all over the
walls up there of the history ofthe Presley's and I enjoy it. But
then I don't want to be tieddown. So my daughter takes over the
place, and we've been there seventeenyears and it's a hobby to me.

(36:36):
It's a job for my daughter.But it's like what I said earlier,
going to the Jasper day. Meand Jasper built that race team back up
to what it was. Me andAlliance built from an ARCA to start up.
But Robert Presley built the hot Dogplace by hisself. All right,

(37:00):
So last question, what in theworld possessed you to get into politics and
run for county commissioner? What wereyou thinking? I was not thinking it
was one of them deals. Iretired in oh six, worked with Taggi

(37:20):
Schefter on, you know, withBobby E's Marcus Ambrose, just going to
some races doing that. Then Igot Keen Sports speedwaykers. I said,
I want to see what it's likeon the other side of promoting, and
went up there and done that forthree years and absolutely learned but loved it.

(37:43):
And took this racetrack and been closedfor ten years or so, and
become one of the premier racetrack oncar count crowds and making racing back normal
again, if you can say whatI call normal of the seventies and eighties.

(38:04):
And then the owner of the trackdecided he wanted to do something different
and wouldn't release give me a newlease. So I got out of it,
and Mike Friar, that built racingengines across from where our hot dog
places, Robert, please coming,he was a county commissioner, Please come
up and help me. I said, I don't know nothing about politics.

(38:30):
Well I need help, and youcan win, because Robert, every bank
Ashville knows you. And I said, well, so I went to a
couple of meetings and seeing what wasgoing on and where Asheville was headed,
and the cost of it and oureducation system we got here. Heck,

(38:52):
I'll try it. I'll probably lose, but you know they ain't nobody gonna
vote for a race car driver tobe a county commissioner. Two thousand and
sixteen election, I won by thelargest number any commissioner had ever won by
and got in and it was oneof them deals again, as in racing,

(39:15):
hot dog and everything ever done,I don't want to quit until I
have accomplished what I think I can. And here it is twenty twenty two,
I'm up for election after six yearsnow, three terms that if it's
not in for safe future to win, I can walk away. And I

(39:40):
don't know what my next adventure wouldbe. But I've heard people say this
quote here I've lived here all mylife. I'd never say that I've lived
here what life. I've been here, but not all my life because it's
not over yet. Well, youknow you mentioned Kingsport and running there and

(40:01):
being the promoter there. I thinkwhat you need to do is get involved
in another race track and hire meas your pace car driver. But I
wish I was ten years younger andyou had said that, because probably everything
I've done made money racing. Iloved it, love the hot dog business.

(40:25):
It's been very profitable. I lovethe county commissioner working to it.
But really, of everything I've doneand forget about pay is running a racetrack
was probably one of my favorite thingsto be able For me to talk to

(40:45):
twenty different race car drivers were whenyou're in cup Bush. You don't have
no friends. You might talk,but you're not talking to truth. And
to be able to hear what peoplewant and everything, and to bring someone
like you in you couldn't. Youcouldn't be a pace car driver. You

(41:07):
would be so great at helping promotethis and given ideas. Yes, when
you're in racing, you know aside that I don't know you and other
people like that is what makes ateam good. That you bring in people

(41:28):
from different avenues. Making one mancan't make it's successful. And Rick knowing
you all through the years and youknow stories you've wrote and everything. You
know so much that you don't evenknow. So what you're saying is no
chance on the pace car. Oh, you'd be multi Hey, I could

(41:52):
have you in multi role. Youcould be my announcer. You could be
Hey, wireless Mike in the pacecar starting a race. Yet I mean
and hey, you're sitting in thevisioning it now, Rick Houston in a
pace car on a cell phone lookingfor sponsorship. Holcome to the media telling

(42:14):
them what's going on here and promotingmy race track all from inside his office.
There you go think about it,taking the checkered flag and driving to
victory Lane is the goal for anyracer. It tells the competition My accomplishments

(42:37):
resulted in a trip to the winnercircle. It's no different as a business
owner, team leader or coach.Recognizing those deserving is what we do every
day at five Star Awards and engravinghigh race fans. This is Bob Laird,
director of Sales at five Star andformer jackman for Buddy Arrington back in
the eighties. Laser engraved and fullcolor corporate awards, as well as crystal

(42:58):
plaques, trophies, and promotional productsare just some of a sample of what
we offer at five Star. Withstate of the art equipment in our North
Carolina facility, let our experience graphicartists take you from idea to concept and
ultimately the finish line. If youare beautiful and unique designs, please visit
us at five Star Awards dot net. The entire project can be completed online.

(43:19):
Please reach out to me at Bobdot Laird at five Star Awards dot
net nine nine nine five four oneone three zero. As a thank you,
everyone who contacts me will receive atno charge, a collection of NASCAR
memorabilia featuring Richard Petty while supplies last. That's Bob dot Laird at five Star
Awards dot Net nine one nine ninefive four one one three zero. This

(43:52):
segment is brought to our listeners byLas Vegas Motor Speedway, America's racing show
place. I am the world's worstto second guess myself sometimes did I do
the right thing or did not?Should I have done this or should I
have done that? I can't dothat in a moment. I can't think
on my feet like that. I'mthe kind of person that's going to have
to take at the very least aday or two to figure something out,

(44:15):
and more often than not it's atleast a week. Well, sometimes that's
a very good thing, because sometimesimpetuous decisions are the wrong ones. Rick,
I think they're doing the right thing. We talked last week about the
possibility of Robert driving for Hendrick Motorsportsand how that deal didn't exactly pan out
for him, and even then,in the nineteen ninety three time frame,

(44:36):
Jeff Gordon was a rookie and hehadn't won an official points race just yet,
but still Hendrick Motorsports was considered oneof these rides to have, and
so I asked Robert, had heever second guessed himself and wondered what might
have happened over the course of hiscareer had he thrown in with Hendrick Motorsports
and signed to drive for them aslong as they wanted him to, rather

(44:58):
than just for the one year nineteenninety four, as we discussed, and
then take over harry Gans ride innineteen ninety five. And Robert didn't even
take time to consider what he wantedto say. His reaction was immediate.
And that's what I respect about RobertPreston, the good debator, the indifferent.
He did not second guess himself,and he stands by his decision even

(45:22):
after all these years. His daddyBob had driven for Leo Jackson back in
the nineteen seventies, and together theyhad basically won all over creation and Leo
was like family. And so youdon't turn your back on that, No,
you don't. I respect Robert's decisionas well, but I have to
under still if somewhere in the recessesof his mind he might have thought twice

(45:46):
about that situation and gone ahead andtaken that ride with Hendrick, because as
you mentioned, Hendrick had not yetwon with Gordon, but had won many
times in the previous years, andlook Gordon did with that ride. Now
you have to meet this somewhere alongthe line. Robert might have said to
himself, I could have had that, but the fact that he did not

(46:09):
because of reasons that were very personalto him. I admired that they had
not won a championship, but theyhad won basically everything else there was to
win. They had won what twoDaytona five hundreds won with Jeff Bodin,
won with Daryl Walters, Aryl WalterReal and then there was the whole Tim
Richmond shooting Star in nineteen eighty six. So I would be second guessing myself,

(46:32):
you know it, because the coverdid right, no question about it.
I just have to wonder if thatmade the choice even more difficult for
Robert. But again, I'll saywhat we've said all along, We respect
Robert's decision. So no, Ithink Hendrick Motorsports was always going to be
just another option for Robert to bridgeat the gap between his jump from the

(46:52):
Bus series to whenever Harry Gant decidedto retire. And like you say,
a lot of people might look atthe two sides of the scale and go
Hendrick Motorsports Leo Jackson, Hendrick MotorsportsLeo Jackson, and I would say a
majority of people would say, youknow what, We're gonna go with Hendrick

(47:13):
Motorsports. With all that being said, nineteen ninety five was right. Robert
had his brother Charlie as his crewchief, so there was definitely some bigiarity
there, but they're best finished.That season was a tenth in the spring
at Bristol, two laps down.Andy Petrie returned to the team in nineteen
ninety six and plans called for himto buy the team from Leo at the

(47:37):
end of the year, and Robertand Nandy had evidently had a rivalry going
back to their late Model days.Things just didn't click, and Robert moved
on to Diamond Ridge Motorsports late inthe nineteen ninety six season at Rockingham.
Robert starts nineteen ninety seven with DiamondRidge, but it's a struggle. The

(47:57):
team misses some races and then it'son to Jasper Motorsports, and Jasper had
struggled to make races with Bobby Hellenand Morgan Shephard, And if nothing else,
Robert feels like he helped get thatprogram on the starting grid. And
I'm going to be completely honest withyou, I did not remember Robert driving
the seventy seven Jasper car for aslong as he did from late nineteen ninety

(48:21):
seven through the end of two thousandand one, so that's a little more
than four full seasons. Well,I didn't remember being with that team that
long either, but that does giveyou is however, one indication of what
Robert brought to that team, andI think it was stability. You remember,
before he came on board, they'dgone through a couple of drivers,
had trouble making races. Robert comeson board and they're together for four years.

(48:45):
You don't last that long with theteam unless you're contributing something. Here's
why I think that. I didn'tquite realize that I took over as Bush
series editor in nineteen ninety seven,so my focus was almost entirely on keeping
up with the Joys and the Joneses. See what I did there? Yeah,

(49:07):
Oh, come on, give mea little bit of credit. Winston
Cup was that other division. It'sdrivers were always coming over and picking under
Bush to his kid brothers. Butback to the seventy seven card, just
like with Leo Jackson, Robert cameto see Jasper Motorsports owner Doug Bobble as
family. But then again, justlike with Leo, Robert came to a

(49:29):
place where he and the crew chief, which just so happened to be Ryan
Pepperton. At the time, theyweren't exactly singing the same tune. They
weren't even in the same hymnoid timesnot good. So, just like Johnny
Benson and Toy Bodin and Ted Muskgraveand whoever else that we've had on the
show talking about it, Robert gota chance to go truck racing with Bobby

(49:52):
Hamilton, and Robert was looking forwardto getting away from the drama with his
crew chief. He was looking forwardto spending more time with his family and
competitive on the track and top flightstuff with Dodge but Steele. Bob Presley,
his daddy, was not in favorof the movie. Jeff Bodine had
had that terrible wreck in the firsttruck race at Daytona, and Bob was

(50:16):
convinced that trucks did not belong onthat big of a race track, and
he told Robert in no uncertain termsthat if he drove a truck at places
like that, he would get hurt. Yeah, Bob wasn't the only one
who felt that way. After Jeff'sterrifying accident where he was throwing up against
the catch bench and a lot ofdebris from his truck went into the crowd,

(50:38):
that was very, very frightening.Several members of the media, along
with the competitors said, trucks donot belong on these superspeedway They go too
fast. It's much too dangerous.That was a real issue after that crash.
But they did remain on the speedways, and of course Robert won in

(50:59):
one of those truckways. He wentout and he won the two thousand and
two season opener at Daytona. Thatwas a big deal. With all that
being said, Big Bobby decides thathe's tired of the Winston Cup right race
two, and he decides that hewants to race full time in the Truck
Series beginning in two thousand and three. He moves Robert over to a satellite

(51:20):
team, and at Daytona, Bobbyis pushing Robert to the lead on the
last laut and going into turn three, it looked like Bobby maybe be let
off to see if he could getsome help from behind, and Robert felt
like he was just kind of lefthanging there. And Robert said, he
just left me. And afterward heand Bobby apparently had some pretty hard feelings

(51:43):
and never really talked him through beforecancer took Bobby's life in January two thousand
and seven. Well, a situationlike that will make competitors very mad at
each other. We've talked about thismany times before, how one competitor was
getting some help from another convetitor andthen the help those away. After that,

(52:05):
Robert found himself right back in thesame situation as he'd been in at
the Winston Cup level, fighting andclawing just run in the top twenty,
and Robert calls his wife Gina andtells her that he's quitting, and his
team owner, Jim Harris convinces himto stay and finish out the season,
and he tells everybody after the seasonfinale at Homestead, see y'all later,

(52:27):
I'm out. We have talked manytimes about what makes drivers retired, and
there's all kinds of reasons, butone of them is it just exactly what
Roberts going through when a driver who'sused to winning a race every now and
then can't even crack the tip twenty, and he feels the competition is gone.
There's no hope for him to getany better. That's one reason why

(52:49):
he steps away. He gets acall the day after Christmas, Hey,
how do you want to go today Tony. You want to fly?
You want a charter of plane?Do you want to fly with us on
our plane? Do you want tobuy ticket? You want to drive?
And Robert says, I told youI quit. Oh, come on,
I got a brand new truck forDaytona. Come tested. Nope, I'm
going to the cabin out in thewoods to spend some time with my family,

(53:14):
to which he's told, well,you can stick that cabin up your
hind in. I don't think thereare phrasing there. Of course you are.
I didn't think they'd say in Januarythird, hey I got a truck
in Daytona. Just come test it. Come on done, And Robert says,
I can't. I'm in the hospital. What I'm having splinters removed from

(53:36):
my hind in from the cabin flickinto conversation, I would think. So
he goes back to the Bus seriesin two thousand and four with Tagishichter.
He returns to trucks in two thousandand five, and after that he has
done racing other than qualifying Tad G. Shichter's car for Marcus Ambrose time or

(54:00):
two in two thousand and eight.And we have talked to so many who
struggled with the emotions of being outof the sport. But Robert said that
he went out and got his sonColeman a car to race, and that
was his salvation was to see Colemancontinuing the family's legacy in sport. And
now Coleman Pressley is Joey Logano's spotterand they are evidently as tied as brothers,

(54:25):
and so Coleman's got a championship ringcoming to him. Also, I
believe Coleman won a race just recentlyin Hickory, Right, yes, sir,
that praise They's continued to win.You wanted to know the deal about
the hot dogs. Evidently you havenever had the pleasure of going to celebrities

(54:45):
hot dogs in Ashville. Yeah,I appreciate right now, What have I
missed? You cannot mention Robert Preshleythese days without mentioning celebrities hot dogs.
It is a Pressley Family Museum withgood food. Honestly and truly, I'm
not that big a hot dog fan, but the hot dogs that Robert serves,

(55:06):
they will just about melt in yourmouth. They're that good. Really,
Yes, absolutely, he's been therefor years. Come on, man,
man, I missed your daughter livesin Asheville. I know, I
know, I know, but Ihaven't just celebrities hot dogs, But I'm
going you got to come down outof that ivory tower. Man. You

(55:29):
gotta eat with the common folk.Yep. But let me know him for
once in a while. Huh.Robert's wife, Gina and her mom started
the place and they figured, youknow, maybe we'll sell a hundred of
hot dogs a day and this willbe a nice, relaxing, fun little
gig. But from the outset theyare at six seven, eight hundred hot

(55:51):
dogs a day, up to athousand hot dogs a day, So this
is a business, oh man.He was also a county commissioner for three
terms, but he lost in thismost recent election. So he said it's
time for another adventure. And Iasked him, I said, what possessed
you to get into politics? Now? We're not going to get into Republican,
Democrat, conservative, liberal whatever heran for office. But then stick

(56:16):
of course, since he promoted racesat Kingsport for a few years, I
pitched Robert on the idea of himgetting set up at another track and hiring
me as his pace car driver.What what do you say? He said?
That would be a perfect idea.He said, not only could I
be the pace car driver, Icould be the PR guy. I could

(56:37):
be the radio guy. He wasall over this deal, Steve. I'm
going to be in demand as apace car driver. No, you're not.
You're here. You're not a PRdirector. You're not a pacecard driver.
There, you're not in it aradio. Come on, you're here,
Rick, Steve, thank you forthe support, my friend. This

(57:08):
segment is brought to our listeners byLas Vegas Motor Speedway America's Racing show Place,
the February twenty first, two thousandand two issue of Winston Cup Scene.
First things first, the two thousandand two Daytona five hundred is probably
one of my favorite races ever becauseSandy E. Step was there. Anybody

(57:30):
who has ever listened to this podcastfor any length of time has heard of
Sandy and my longtime friendship with herand her son, Joe, my best
friend, and Sandy's daughter, Joe'ssister, Jennifer, And I'll always say
that Sandy going to that race isone of my very best memories in this
sport, if not the best.When Adam and Jesse graduated from high school

(57:51):
back in two nineteen, Joe,Sandy and Jennifer made the trip from Nashville
and they were basically guest hosts forepisode forty four. And here's a clip
from that episode in which we sharehow Sandy wound up making that trip to
Daytona. One of my findest memories. I know what you're going to say,

(58:12):
one of my finest memories. Youknow how you're having a conversation with
somebody and you get towards the endand you say something to the effect of,
well come and go with me,okay and bye, okay. Well,
we were having this conversation. Ihad called you, you had called
me. I was in the office. I was sitting in my cubicle in
the office at Charlotte and we weretalking about me going to Daytona and got

(58:35):
to the end of the conversation andI said, well, just come on
go with me to Daytona. Seeyou later, Love you by. Ten
minutes later, maybe thirty, Youcalled me back and you said, you
said come and go with me.So I've made my plane reservations. Pick
me up at the airport the daybefore you and you at to Daytona with

(58:55):
me for two weeks. Okay,now let's back up. So you had
asked me several times to go toDaytona. Okay, I never I never
really cared about going to Daytona.I don't know why. I don't like
Sam for one thing, Florida justdidn't interest me. But on this particular
occasion, I thought, oh,well, you know he's begged enough,

(59:16):
we'll do it. Oh go,I beg Okay, I called work range
my vacation. So you went toDaytona as a favorite of me. I
went strictly as a favorite of you, and I loved every minute. Okay,
okay, that's what he asked meif if I would be his godmother.

(59:38):
He adopted me his godmother. Andthat was in February of two thousand
and two. And that was whenI was the Bush series editor at Winston
Cup Scene. So I had afew connections in the garage now tell him
what happened on race day. Igot to ride in a pace car.
Yes you did, Yes, IAnd to this day I can picture you

(01:00:01):
sitting on pit road and then standingon pit road and then circling the pace
car because I had talked to CarlSimmons, who was the NASCAR official who
drove the second pace car on thepace laps, and I had talked to
him about getting you in the pacecar. He said, if I possibly
can, it's a done deal.Okay, if I possibly can, didn't

(01:00:24):
know for sure, right so,I can remember being in the press box
and I could see you down onpit road you were circling. He told
me to stand near that car,don't let it leave without me. Right
before they fired engines, he motionedyou over. You got in. That
is my fondest memory of being involvedin that sport. I could see the

(01:00:49):
grin on your face from the pressbox and I've got a photo of that.
I do too, And yeah,you can see yourself sitting in that
pace car, and I believe itwas Linda Amick on the road behind you,
and also Greg Biffle, We're rightbehind you. Yep. I got

(01:01:10):
done with the race that was twothousand and two. I believe Junior won
the race in the number three RichardJordier's card. Yeah, del Junior won
the race. I had to dothe post race interviews and sit in on
all that. I did some runningafter the race. So after the race,
it was probably three hours, goodthree hours until I got back to

(01:01:31):
the car. It was well afterdark. You had already gone to the
car, and you were still asguddy as a schoolgirl. You got it.
I got in that. I gotin that car. I got to
do this, and I got tothat and Lindon Amick I thought he was
gonna reckons. Sorry Linda, Hey, I was having a good chat now

(01:01:55):
and Steve in all seriousness, andI truly mean this. Here is one
of the reasons why Sandy being atthat race meant so much to me.
I really struggled in a lot ofdifferent ways during the years two thousand and
two thousand and one, after thelosses of Adam and Kenny and Tony and
Dell and Blaze, with everything thatwent on those two years, in particular,
being around all that controversy was notfun. Steve, I think a

(01:02:20):
lot of people looked deep those twoyears before those two years I looked at
working in the sport Galigi was thisis really cool. I looked at it
with completely rose colored glasses. Butthen beginning with Adam at New Hampshire in
May or two thousand, it causedme to have a much different look on
the sport. And then with allthe controversy, but then Sandy each step

(01:02:43):
goes to Daytona and to see heras excited as she was that entire week,
it really rekindled the passion for thesport for me personally. So that's
one reason why that race meant alot to me. But also in all
the years that I worked for seeingI got to be in the press box
for one Daytona five hundred and itwas this one. Now, the press

(01:03:07):
box for cup races that was typicallyyour domain, and usually Dad Williams is
because she typically called the race onthe radio for our photographers. But at
the time we were doing a lapby lap account of the race and the
person who did that also got aseat in the press box, and I
just so happened to do the lapby lafe report for the two thousand and

(01:03:30):
two Daytona five hundred. That wasa big deal. To me the Daytona
five hundred press box. How aboutthat, Rick, Well, you earned
it. You had an assignment todo. We put you up there to
do it. As far as Iknow, you did it. Another reason

(01:03:51):
the Daytona five hundred was special thatyear was because of who won it.
Now, not because it was warBurton necessarily, but because it was unext
No decent journalist is going to rootfor one driver or another. They're just
hoping for a good story, andthe unexpected happening typically makes for a really
good story. And Ward Burton didn'tmake a good story out of that Daytona

(01:04:15):
five mondon. I can't make upanybody in the garage air who didn't like
Ward Burton, especially with that slowbut union drawl. Yet so unliked brother
Jeff. I asked Jeff one time, how did this happen? As he
talked his way and you talk yourway? He said, Well, that
boy was born in the southeast cornerof the house. I was born in

(01:04:36):
the north end of the house.That's right, And I repeat, though
everybody liked Ward, here's a questionfor you. If Ward had known that
he was going to have to spendthe next week or so doing pr,
doing press and going to New YorkCity and taking him out of the woods.
Are you surprised at all that maybehe didn't lift? It gives some

(01:05:00):
else the win, because if youtake Ward out of the woods, you're
taking him out of his element.Oh, I'm sure Ward was nine happy
with all he had to do upthere in New York. And he wasn't
the only one. Bill Elliott wasnot a big fan of going up in
New York either, so he andwarred if they stayed back home, they'd
have been perfectly happy. Ward Burtonsaid in this issue, I had a

(01:05:21):
bunch of tears in my eyes.Nothing I've ever done before reminds me of
this being a part of it,being in that victory circle, actually being
able to make that lap, gettinghigh five by all our different team members
coming down and joining our team invictory circle. There's nothing that you could
experience that's going to top that.All of us started in the Weekly Racing

(01:05:44):
series, wherever we started at alwaystook Sunday off to watch the Daytona five
hundred to win this race, Truly, I can't think of anything more special.
We've had so many people help usover the years, me personally,
Bill Davis getting to where he's at. You know what makes it so much
fun. All of us have doneit together. We've all come from different

(01:06:05):
backgrounds, but we were all likefamily. Through the good and through the
bad. We see the worst ofeach other and the best of each other.
And that's what makes it so enjoyablefor us. That right there is
the most that Warburton has ever spokenabout anything, anywhere, at any time
period, no matter what end ofthe house he grew up in. Right

(01:06:28):
and they did it all of thatVirginia drawl. There were at least a
couple of multi car crashes in thisrace, and afterward there was a lot
of talking about blocking. At Daytonaand Talladega lap one forty nine, Kevin
Harvick threw a block on Jeff Gordonas they entered turn one and eighteen cars
were swept up in a huge pileup. Kevin said, I tried to

(01:06:49):
block him. I tried to pulldown. There's fifty laps to go in
the damn Daytona five hundred, andwe've got to protect our ground. I
figured I get that much ground fromJeff didn't get anything, so we all
wrecked Jeff said, on the otherhand, I was trying not to pass
him, and so many guys wereslamming me from behind and pushing me.

(01:07:12):
I didn't have a choice. Igave him a heck of a run,
and then he went to go tothe outside of Sterling. Then he thought
twice about it, and I wasalready committed to the bottom. I even
backed off, but he just keptcoming down. That was a shame because
he had a good car and Ihated to see a big wreck like that.
Now, Rick, I'm not sosure that blocking is very kosher these

(01:07:34):
days at Daytona and TWA THEGA.Now, sure, you're going to do
most anything you can from the lastlapportunity to try to win the race.
But I'm thinking that's taped off abunch during other points of the race.
Mike Skinner spun in turn two tobring out the caution on lap one nine
two. Is getting down to thetrunch time literally. Yea. The green

(01:07:58):
flag came back out on lap onenine five and it was still waving Steve
when trouble struck again. Rusty Wallace, Terry Lebonni, Michael walterp Jeff Green,
and Jeff Burton they kind of gotinto one of those accordion crashes.
They crashed on the front stretch,and then as everybody else piled in to
turn one, Jeff Gordon blocked SterlingMarlin and Jeff spun the contact, dinged

(01:08:24):
Sterling's left bender, and that isgoing to come into play. You're in
just a moment. There was nogreen, white, checkered rule in place
at the time, and so ratherthan end the race under caution, NASCAR
stopped the field on the backstretch.Sterling Marlin was shown as the leader at
that point, But while everybody wassitting in their cars on the backstretch,

(01:08:46):
Sterling decides that he's going to getout of his car, stretched his legs
a little bit and check out thedamage and maybe if nobody's watching, pull
it off the tar. But thisis the day Taul of five hundred,
and everybody's watching all this unfold.The reaction in the press box and basically
everywhere else, I'm sure, was, what in the world is Sterling doing?

(01:09:11):
They can't do that, I tellyou. There was dead silence in
the press box, a lot ofwide eyes when we saw that. He
had to know he couldn't do that. There was even silence coming over the
television until Benny Parson said, youcan't do that, Sterling. Racing reference
does not show that the race wasred flat. What you're going to do?

(01:09:34):
Get out under caution while the carsmoving and pull the thing out.
No, it was stopped. Well, I know it was stopped, but
racing reference does not show there beingan official red flag period, official or
not. It was stopped and hecouldn't do it. Oh, sure enough.
Sterling was sent to the end ofthe longest line of traffic on the

(01:09:55):
restart, and he was credited withan eighth place finished. L said,
I saw Earnhardt do it at Richmondone time. He got out and cleaned
off his windshield, so I thoughtit was okay. I don't guess it
was, And I'm sure what Sterlingwas referring to. There is that infamous
video clip of Dale sitting in thewindow of his moving race card at Richmond

(01:10:18):
and trying to clean it off,and a lot of people felt that Sterling
runned his chances to win the raceby getting out of the card and pulling
the fender off. But I'm nottoo sure that's exactly the case. I'm
gonna play devil's advocate here. I'mgonna play Sterling's advocate here. The fender
was rubbing on his tire, sowho's to say that he didn't salvage that

(01:10:43):
eighth place shot? Well, avery good point. And Sterling knew that
that mentor was rubbing on his tire, and he knew he probably could not
last until the end of the raceif he didn't do something, so he
did it very quickly, but unfortunatelyit cost teams someone whould Elliott Sadler finished
the race in second place, withJeff Bodine, who was running a limited

(01:11:08):
schedule with team owner James Finch thatseason, finishing in third place. And
Jeff, of course, was justtwo years removed from that terrible truck wreck
there at Daytona, and Jeff saidafter the race two years ago, I
was in the hospital listening to thisrace. I heard those guys over here
running around. I watched TV whenI was awake. It was a little

(01:11:30):
tough there. I had a lotof morphine in me back then. I
guess I did prove that the wreckdidn't take anything out of me. From
day one, I wanted to getback in the race car. I'm not
over the heel yet I haven't lostmy nerve. I still want to run
up front, and I think Iproved that today, and I think Jeff
did indeed prove it. There area lot of drivers who would never set

(01:11:54):
foot in another race car or Trumpafter what happened to Jeff at Daytona that
year. He came back from andproved a lot about himself. Two things
here. First of all, JeffBodin finishing third in that race was a
cool story, but imagine what thereaction would have been if he had actually
won it. That would have beena Disney feel good sports movie, no

(01:12:16):
doubt about it. Oh you're rightabout that. And also, let's just
say this, I would love tohave seen Sandy e STEP's reaction if Jeff
Bodin had won her one and onlyDaytona five hundred. Let's just put this
away. She was, is,and never will be a Jeff Bodin fan,

(01:12:38):
No way, no, how wouldn'tnot have been a good five hundred
for her, That's for sure.For him to have won the Daytona five
hundred with her in attendance, therewould have been some fussing going on on
our trip back to North Carolina,not to mention perhaps some language. Dave

(01:12:59):
Marcus made the final start of hiscareer in the two two Daytona five hundred.
He got an engine from Richard Childressand it was a stout one.
He finished seventh in his qualifying raceon Thursday, and he started the five
hundred in fourteenth place. Dave saidin this issue, right after they called
about two weeks ago, I sentsomeone down to pick up the engine.

(01:13:21):
About nine they called back and askedif I could get hold of the guy
I had sent down and tell himto turn around. They had another engine
on the Dino and had found somemore power. They wanted to redo it
before I picked it up. Itis those kinds of people that have helped
me over the years. So manypeople have helped me over the years that

(01:13:42):
I hate to quit. I wantto keep trying to pay them back.
Sure, there have been times whenI would have been close to having to
quit, but every time I wouldget the help I needed from other teams,
the fans and sponsors like Bill Jordanof Real Tree to keep going and
Steve those last few sentences are prettymuch exactly the way that I feel about

(01:14:04):
doing this podcast. We've had somebumps in the road, and there have
been sometimes when at the very leastI felt like taking a break for a
week or two just to collect myselfand try to get over whatever disappointment or
whatever we'd experienced. But with thekind of encouraging support that we have received
over and over and over again,how can we not keep doing whatever we

(01:14:26):
can to bring folks this show.Well, Rick, I feel exactly the
same way. The encouragement we doget just really drives us. I'm amazed
to hear what some of our listenershave to say. A retirement party for
Dave was held that week and heracked up Buddy Bill Jordan presented Dave with

(01:14:49):
a check for fifty thousand dollars anda replica of his first race car.
He got two Rolex watches, afishing boat, a four wheeler, a
camouflage golf cart, and a twoweek hunting trip. The trip, of
course, came from Richard Childres.I bet you there are times when Dave
racing as an independent didn't earn thatkind of Looton one year, in the

(01:15:12):
race itself, Dave completed only seventynine laps before trash on the grill of
his car caused it to overheat,and he wasn't going to take a chance
on blowing that motor that he hadhad on loan from Richard, and he
was credited with a forty second placefinished in the forty three car field.
Dave concluded, I don't want toretire, but I guess I need to.

(01:15:34):
Della Earnhardt Junior won Saturday's Bush Seriesrace at Daytona in a number three
Chevrolet owned by Richard Childrens. HowI run it is that, Dell said,
a lot of people wanted to makethis out to be a tribute to
my father and to sensationalize the factof us coming back and running this race.

(01:15:58):
What it boils down to is it'smore politics than anything else that got
this started. We had an agreementwith Nibisco and we just followed through with
a big bang at the start ofthe year like my father did last year
in the Bud shootout with the Oreocar. Without him here, we were
able to fulfill some contract agreements aswell as making it fun and enjoyable for

(01:16:21):
us. I'm just glad that itworked out like it did that we ended
up running the Bush car and Igot to drive it. They could have
done something different with Kevin Harwick ora number of other things. Obviously,
Steve, there are a lot ofexpectations on anybody who drives the three card.
Just asked Austin Dillon about that.But when it comes to Dellenhardt Junior,

(01:16:42):
that's magnified times about a million.Junior had driven the three card during
his full time Bush Series days,of course, but after Dell Senior's accident
this race, and only a handfulof others have seen Dell Junior with the
number three on the doors and roof, and Dell said, I think,
now this was a good idea,and by that me personally, I kind

(01:17:04):
of take that to admit that therewas also a time when he didn't think
that it was a good idea.And Dell continued, of course, I
didn't have any idea that we'd winthe race, so I didn't want to
make a big deal out of it. There's a lot of pressure on me
to put me in a car witha number three on the side. It's
a huge amount of pressure. ButI'm glad that I'm here. I'm glad

(01:17:26):
me, Richard and all the peoplethat were involved got to enjoy this because
it really was a cool thing.Really a neat day. Well that's all
I wash that Dale Jr. Aneat day. He felt very good about
it, everything that went on.I found it interesting that he said it
was more or less politics and economicsto fulfill sponsorship requires that brought them to

(01:17:48):
run that number three. At Daytona, Robert Presley won his very first truck
start in his very first race withBobby Hamilton Racing. Rick Correlli led the
field to a restart which two lapsremaining, and Robert got a push from
Ted Musgrave going down to the bikestretch and then to Turn three to capture
the top spot and a little morethan a lap later the win. Robert

(01:18:11):
said, it's my first win atDaytona and the first in the truck series.
I never thought we could win thefirst race out. We were thinking
about June or July when we gotused to these trucks to have a shot
at winning. We just wanted tobe around at the finish of all the
races and in the second half reallybuckled down and go after a championship.
Rick Correlli said it was just amatter of win. They got lined up

(01:18:34):
and ganged up on me. Weneeded some nitrous ockside to stay up with
them. Well, Rick was theypicked him. Of what has happened at
Daytona and TWA they got many timesover the years. If cars getting behind
the driver and hook up, theyhave no problem passing him. Here is
a story that will flat get yourattention. Pilot Michael mcnallis and passenger Robert

(01:18:59):
lead Them died when their helicopter crashedon the morning of February sixteenth, the
day of Daytona's Bush Series race.They were on their way to pick up
Joe Gibbs for a speaking engagement.That's one thing. But Robin and Michael
were friends with Larry mctie, oneof scenes very best freelance photographers ever.

(01:19:23):
You know him and I know himas being girl. When he got the
shot, he would come on theradio and say, BINGO, I've heard
it. Michael and Robin had invitedLarry to fly with them from Orlando to
the track that morning, but hewasn't staying the night in Orlando and had
a rental car, so he justdrove to Daytona. Just the year before

(01:19:45):
he had flown with them when hehad taken this just amazing aerial shot of
the start of the Brickyard four rick. This story is a perfect case of
fate being kind to sell them andvery cruel others. Hey, I'm David

(01:20:10):
iff Hey, I'm John Dodson.Hello, this is Pete Wright. Hey,
this is Michael Fatmat McSwain, andyou're listening to me on the Scene
Vault podcast. Hello, Seen Vaultfans. This is Brian from Speedway Screens
And if you're enough of a NASCARhistorian to be listening to this podcast,

(01:20:34):
there's a good chance a piece ofthe past you've been on the hunt for
is in my shop. I'm constantlyon the hunt for apparel and collectibles from
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 dot etc dot com, and be

(01:20:54):
sure to follow me on Instagram andTwitter at Speedway Screens for the newest items
as soon as they drop in fora peek at what I keep from my
own collection. As a special thankyou to listeners of this show, just
enter Scene at checkout for ten percentoff Speedway TSJ dot etc. Dot com.
That's Speedway TSJ dot etc. Dotcom. This podcast has been brought

(01:21:23):
to our listeners by Las Vegas MotorSpeedway America's racing show Plays and Steve and
I just wanted to remind everybody ofthe schedule for the next couple of weeks
and then into the new year.Next week's episode, which is scheduled to
drop on December seventh, which isPearl Harbor Day. That will be a
pretty special episode. Yeah. ThenDecember fourteenth we will have our best of

(01:21:48):
twenty twenty two episode, which isalso a pretty special episode. However,
all of this is subject to changebecause we have an interview planned actually day
after tomorrow Steve, that may changeeverything and may well. Indeed, if

(01:22:08):
it goes off as a week planRick, if it goes off as well
as I expected to, it maybe the best thing that we've ever done
here on the Same Bought podcast,or it may end us forever. I
don't know right now. A specialepisode December seventh, then a best of
December fourteenth. Again, all thatsubject to change. We'll just have to

(01:22:32):
wait and see. Well, listenersthink about it this way two to go
and then two weeks off. That'sthe only one I've missed, isn't it.
I mean I don't necessarily listen jointhe same week. You're pretty good
editing, by the way, Steve, I could not I could not tell

(01:22:53):
you how many times I listen toeach week's episode. Very conservatively, it's
at least three time. I postedon Patreon on Monday, and then I
listen to it all the way tryto listen to it all the way through
to hear if there's any mistakes,and then if there is, I'll go

(01:23:14):
back and fix it and then postit to wide release.