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1/22/2015 |
I
was atop the Wood Brothers hauler with Glen Wood on one side and Leonard Wood
on the other as they watched and timed driver Kyle Petty. We were particularly
watching the line the cars were taking going into the old turn 1. It was an
interesting exercise to hear Glen and Leonard point out when different drivers
backed off the gas - something easier to hear than see.
It was one of those frigid and windy March days as the cars hit the old Atlanta
track for the first practice runs leading to the Sunday, March 16, 1986 Motorcraft 500. It was the final race I worked for 7-Eleven
before moving from Dallas to Spartanburg to help open a rookie Cup operation
for Derrike Cope.
As
we waited for Kyle to come by, Dale Earnhardt's blue & yellow Wrangler #3
fielded by Richard Childress crossed the starting line heading to turn 1. In
1986, Dale would win the second of three Winston Cup Championships with
Wrangler on the car and the first of six for RC, his first having come for Rod
Osterlund. Glen
Wood suddenly leaned across me and shouted (if you could call the voice of the
soft spoken Wood a shout) at his brother, Leonard. "Have
you ever seen anybody drive as deep in turn 1 here at Atlanta before lifting as
Earnhardt?" Glen asked his younger brother. "Not
since Curtis," responded Leonard Wood.
That
led me to ask the two brothers who they considered the best driver they'd seen
in NASCAR. I didn't really expect an answer from the two veterans who weren't
known for a lot of small talk. I was sure if I got an answer, one brother might
select David Pearson, who was king of the superspeedways driving for the duo. Instead,
one brother said the best he'd ever seen was Curtis Turner, who'd wheeled cars
for the Stuart, Virginia clan. I was surprised when the other brother named
Earnhardt, just then on his way to the 2nd of 7 Cup titles. I've never shared
which brother selected which driver and don't plan to at this late date.
Earnhardt
was not known as a great qualifier. He'd only win 22 poles in 27 seasons. In
fact, much of the excitement in watching Dale drive came from observing his
marches to the front from deep in the pack. The words of the Woods dawned
prophetic that weekend, however, as Earnhardt scored his only pole of the 1986
season enroute to the title and raced to a 2nd place
finish just 0.29 seconds behind Morgan Shepherd. [*Editor’s note: The
“old” Atlanta track referred to in this article was not in a different location,
but was a distinctly different (and better) track than we see today. She was
what we proudly pointed to and called our “Perfect Oval.” That old girl
measured a perfect 1.5-miles, having exactly ½-mile in turns one and two,
½-mile in turns three and four and ¼-mile in each straightaway. Then, in 1996,
the track was sold to Bruton Smith, who by the
following year had torn up our perfect oval, swapped the back and front
stretches and added a hump-back to what then became the front stretch. He built
several condo-suites that seemed to reach to the sky, replacing those tall
pines with some folks’ idea of progress. The track name was changed to Atlanta
Motor Speedway and the transformation was complete. AIR, the Perfect Oval, had
become a Charlotte clone, or as most designate that configuration, a
“cookie-cutter.”]
I
miss that ole gal that used to be the Atlanta track - its turns surrounded by
towering pines. Back in the 80s, I'd be out in those pine groves at 5:00 a.m.
race day morning with an accomplice with an extension ladder, hanging banners
in those trees. Come TV time, those banners in the pine trees in turns 1-2 and
turns 3-4 were just as good as signs on the wall or billboards. There
used to be more than one way to stretch sponsorship dollars back in the day. So
long as I live, I'll never forget the Wood Brothers on that hauler with their
mouths open as they watched Dale Earnhardt drive into the old Atlanta's turn 1.