Tales from the Lighter Side ~ Another Round of Quotes
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I bid
you welcome gentle readers, and our usual cordial greeting to that person
assigned to read everything written here and keep your scribe honest… or
something like that. For those in need of a smile, here are yet more quotes to
add to your collection of witty or reflective statements by the luminaries in
NASCAR. I truly hope that you all are having as much fun with these as is your
writer.
Quotes
are in Italics and my comments are in parentheses.
"If somebody was building
another Dover today and the word got out, I'd bet at least three of four
drivers would chain themselves to the bulldozers in protest.''
Kyle
Petty discussing Dover Downs
(Aw
Kyle, I love the Dover race)
"I told Joe a month ago
that winning is like sex. The more you do it, the more you like it."
Felix
Sabates to Joe Nemechek
(Felix,
here’s hoping that you get one more often than the other)
“There’s no bigger surprise than
to be tooling along at 200 mph and suddenly getting hit from the rear”
Darrell
Waltrip
(Yep!
Sounds right to me)
“When today’s race is over, it's
over. The only race that matters is the one coming up.”
Harry
Gant
(Miss
you Handsome Harry)
“The good Lord doesn't tell you
what His plan is, so all you can do is get up in the morning and see what
happens next.”
Richard
Petty
(By
Jove, I knew there was a reason to get up in the morning)
“Why did I take up racing? I was
too lazy to work and too chicken to steal”
Kyle
Petty
(Sure!)
I would like to thank everybody.
You know who you are and your last names.”
Ward
Burton after winning at Loudon
(Maybe
just a tad overexcited)
“After nine laps at Dover
several years ago, Ken Schrader got hit from behind and spun out. I had to go
back to the garage and interview him. The team was working on the bent-up
racecar so I asked him, ‘Kenny, can you get back out on the track?’ And he
said, ‘Yeah, I'm afraid so.’"
Steve
Byrnes
(I
remember that interview. It was funny then and it’s still funny now)
"The playing field has
never been level, and it sure ain’t this time. NASCAR looks at it different
than racers. NASCAR looks at it like a show: ‘We need to throw the checkered
flag at the end of 500 miles, and 43 cars need to be running side by side.’ We
want to try to get the edge. This year they’ve been jacking around with the
rules, like they do every year. It’s going to be good for somebody, and it’s
going to hurt somebody. There’s no way of making it even all the way through.”
Richard
Petty
(The
more things change, the more they stay the same)
"NASCAR has proven time and
time again that they’re willing to change the rules at any time for any or no
reason. I don’t get too excited about rules anymore because they could change
at any time."
Tony
Stewart
(We got
rules?)
"We had the wrong gear,
wrong springs, wrong shocks and wrong car. We had the right beer, but other
than that, we got stomped."
Sterling
Marlin (Coors Lite)
(Sounds
like a bad day)
"We’re having chassis, aero
and motor problems. Other than that, things are great."
Ward
Burton
(And
yet another bad day)
"I’m not quite ready to
kick a** and take names, but I am taking names."
William
C. France, recovering from illness at Daytona
(Sincerely
wish you never had to leave us Billy. You’ve no idea how much you’ve been
missed!)
"Oh, great! He’s killed a
bear this morning, and he’s back there eating it."
Rev.
Dale Beaver (On his first meeting with Dale Earnhardt, when he was told
Earnhardt was having lunch.)
This is
more of a story than a quote, though it ends with one. Back in the early 1980s,
Junior Johnson was having a banner year as a car owner. Actually, he was doing
so well that some publications, which normally thought they were above auto
racing, wanted to interview him. When a writer from one such newspaper in the
Carolinas seemed disdainful while conducting an interview, he didn’t realize
with whom he was dealing. When he sarcastically said to Junior, “I’m sure that
you go to engineers in Detroit to learn a lot about motors, right?” “No”
replied Junior, without missing a beat, “they come to
me.”
(And
they really did you know)
“I don’t think our system of
provisional starting spots is right. The nature of this sport is competition;
to me, you’re either fast enough or you don’t make the show. Do the Green Bay
Packers get a free spot in the playoffs just because they won some Super
Bowls?”
Dave
Marcis
(Dave,
that just makes too much sense)
“A lot of people give me advice,
and I realize they mean well. Like, they’ll tell me, ‘You ought to hire an
engineer.’ But you know, you’re talking about $150,000 a year to do that, and I
don’t make that myself.”
Dave
Marcis
(File
that one under “painful truths”)
“My dad’s pretty special. I
still remember the day he told my mother I was gonna race at NASCAR’s fastest
speedway. Daddy was spearing a piece of meat at dinner. Looking away from her
he said, ‘Pass the potatoes Eula Faye. Sterling’s running at Talladega this
weekend.’”
Sterling
Marlin
(That
story has been retold by every broadcaster that’s ever covered a race)
"What makes the Monte Carlo
so good? ME!"
Dale
Earnhardt
(You’ll
get no argument from this old fan)
"I felt like the track came
to us, but then it went beyond us."
Dale
Earnhardt Jr., on California Speedway
(And
yet another bad day)
“I don't feel I'm a step above
anyone on this team. I'm just another link in the chain.”
Jeff
Gordon
(Well,
maybe, but I think he was the strongest link)
I hope my boys make good in
racing cause they'll starve to death if they don't.
George
Elliott, father of Bill, Ernie and Dan
(George,
I don’t think you ever had a thing to worry about)
And for
our last quote today, here’s some more fatherly advice, which was obviously
heeded well:
“There is only one lap you want
to lead, and that's the last lap.”
Ralph
Earnhardt, advising Dale on racing
(Teach
your children well)
That’s
all for today gentle readers. Time now for our Classic Country Closeout and
this week features one of my all-time favorite Country Crooners, Gentleman Jim
Reeves. Please enjoy:
Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling.
It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay 