Another annual grandest day in sport is in the can.
Not a good day to have JR as part of your name.
Although I’m not sure what the definition of a sport – or an athlete for that matter – is, for simplicity I’ll include auto racing for the time being. Memorial Day (more precisely, the day before) is always the greatest day in sport, but this one may have topped them all. I’m just guessing at that. I welcome input from any of you better versed in the history of the troika of races.
Not that either of the first two events were anything special except for an unprecedented restart after red flag at Monaco and the 4th turn crash at Indy. What’s so special – or “thrilling” as much of the media called it – about the pole sitter winning and leading practically every lap in an F1 race? Actually, I believe I heard Bob Varsha call it the “greatest’. It is, however, a very cool venue. And, other than what may be the biggest choke moment in sports history, it was pretty much just another Indy 500. And without the cool venue.
Then there’s Charlotte. Not only did it provide the best racing of the 3, it also gave us the only f-bomb of the day. (As far as I know. I didn’t see any of the PGA.) How fortunate we are to be Nascar fans. How fortunate I am to once again have the Stealth, after leaving the speedway, fly over my house.
Kudos to both JR’s on the way they handled their disappointments.
Now I need your help on 2 more questions. Charlotte, so far this season, is the fastest track. That honor usually swaps between Texas and Atlanta. So when, if ever, was the last time Charlotte was fastest? Maybe when it was repaved and Hoosier Tires was involved? Number 2: Was that Kevin Moss – the world’s greatest flagman – working the Cup race? Last I knew, he was still the Nationwide flagman.
5.29.83: @ Charlotte, Neil Bonnett gave Bob Rahilly and Butch Mock (RahMoc) their first win. Bobby Hillin Jr., 2 days after graduating high school, finished 11th.
5.29.88: In the Coke 600, Dave Marcis, staying true to Goodyear, was the only driver not on Hoosiers. Bud Moore suffered a broken leg when his driver, Brett Bodine, ran over him on a pit stop.
Ref: racing-reference.info, Greg Fielden’s “Forty Years of Stock Car Racing”, Richard Sowers’ “The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing”.
