Texas World Speedway - Field of Shattered Dreams

[NickHolt]

Texas World Speedway ~ Field of Shattered Dreams…. by: Matt McLaughlin

 

By Matt McLaughlin

 

Editor’s note: This article is part of a special reprise of Matt McLaughlin’s “50 Years of NASCAR Racing”, written and published in 1998 in commemoration of NASCAR’s 50th Anniversary celebration that year. In keeping with the RacersReunion mission of passing the history of our sport down to younger fans, Matt has kindly granted us permission to run the entire series. Please, sit back and enjoy as you take a journey back through the pages of history and perhaps relive a memory or two. Many thanks to Matt for his generosity in sharing. God bless you, my friend.

 

Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

 

The Texas World Speedway was designed and built with the best of intentions, with the promoter and investors believing that the track would be the site of one of the premiere Winston Cup races every year. Now three decades later, the Speedway lays unused, slowly returning to the earth, a monument to one man’s misguided ego, misfortune and chance.

 

The Texas World Speedway was a dream child of Larry LoPatin, the CEO of ARI, a publicly held company looking to make a big splash in the racing world. In addition to Texas, ARI built the Brooklyn Michigan track, and bought up Atlanta and the Riverside road course. They had plans to construct yet another 2-mile speedway in South Jersey as well. Bill France was one of the fans in attendance at the inaugural IndyCar race at Michigan. He was impressed by the facility, which was state of the art. LoPatin stated that it was ARI’s intention to make their tracks fan friendly, with comfortable seating, clear view lines, adequate, clean restrooms and other amenities, in an era most tracks still had bleacher seating and porta-potties. France arranged for a meeting with LoPatin and the two seemed to hit it off well. Larry wanted NASCAR events at his tracks, and France saw ARI as a company that could help NASCAR “reach the next level” as he tried to divest stock car racing of its reputation as a regional sport, of interest only to the Southeast. After the meeting, the pair announced that they had signed a long term contract to hold two Grand National events at Michigan. The Texas World Speedway was also given the highly coveted season finale date for 1969.

 

The honeymoon between France and LoPatin didn’t last long. France’s own new track in Alabama was hit with a driver’s boycott just prior to the inaugural Talladega event. LoPatin openly sided with the drivers, earning Big Bill’s wrath. In fact, it appeared that the inaugural Texas race might not take place after all. France decided that the purse ARI was offering was too small for a superspeedway race, and dropped the event from the calendar. LoPatin frantically went out and raised enough money to increase the purse to $100,000, and the race was returned to the schedule. That uncertainty as to whether the race would be held or not did not help ticket sales; neither did the weather. The College Station area, where Texas World Speedway was located, was hit with heavy rains for three days prior to the event. The torrential rains flooded the infield to the point they had to be closed to the public for the race. It turned out not to be a problem. Less than 24,000 souls showed up to see the race.

 

The race itself is best remembered for two separate incidents. Cale Yarborough was involved in the worst wreck of his career, a wreck that doctors were surprised he survived. Cale would be sidelined for the early part of the 1970 season. Buddy Baker was also involved in a wreck, and while he was not hurt, Baker was very embarrassed. He clearly had the fastest car that day and was dominating the race. While he was leading the race under a caution flag the pit crew held up a message board telling him to take it easy. (Two way radios were not in common use at that point.) Baker looked over to read the message and gave his crew chief a thumbs up. While he was distracted and looking away from the track, Buddy plowed into the back of James Hylton’s car, destroying the nose of his Dodge Daytona, and eliminating himself from the race. It had not been a great year for the Dodge Boys, despite the debut of their winged warrior, and Mopar executives were furious with Baker. Fortunately, Bobby Isaac stepped into the void and won the race in another Dodge Daytona. Chrysler got even better news that week when Richard Petty announced after a yearlong dalliance with Ford, he was returning to the Plymouth camp for 1970.

 

Not far into the 1970 season, Larry Lopatin was forced out of his position in disgrace after bad weather and the resultant low attendance at ARI tracks had put the company on the ropes. The 1970 event at the Texas World Speedway was canceled. A company spokesperson said the cancellation was the result of a strike at Goodyear that resulted in the company being unable to test the new tires developed for Texas. Low advance ticket sales probably made the decision a lot easier.

 

The Winston Cup season ended at Texas again in 1971. No doubt the owners had hoped the title race would be a close one, and that the championship would come down to their season finale. It was not to be. Richard Petty had sewed up the title several races beforehand at Richmond. To add some excitement to the event, the Texas promoters tried to encourage some of the USAC ( today’s CART) drivers to enter the race. USAC threatened any driver who entered with suspension. Only 18,600 people showed up for the race. Richard Petty beat Buddy Baker (who was driving a Petty Enterprises Dodge that year) by 18 seconds. Of special note, it was the last race the King won with backing from Chrysler. Chrysler had announced they would no longer support any NASCAR teams, and in 1972 Petty started his successful association with STP that continues to this day.

 

Texas had two dates on the 1972 Winston Cup calendar, with a new race scheduled for late June. Perhaps someone should have considered that it gets pretty hot in Texas in the summer. The temperatures were in the 90s, and closer to 140 degrees in the cockpits of the race cars. Richard Petty beat the field and the brutal heat to win again in Texas. The facility once again hosted the season finale, and going into that event there was actually a points battle between Richard Petty and Bobby Allison for the championship. That helped sell 33,000 tickets, well more than average for the track, but still nowhere near capacity. The championship battle turned out to be an anticlimax. Bobby Allison never got up to speed, failed to lead a single lap for the first race that year, and wound up fourth, a lap off the pace. Petty, Buddy Baker and AJ Foyt engaged in a spirited battle for the win, in the best finish in the track’s history. Baker redeemed himself for the blunder of 1969 by beating out AJ Foyt by a matter of feet to the line. Petty was inches off Foyt’s rear bumper. While Buddy won the battle, Richard won the war and clinched the championship.

 

NASCAR decided they wanted to hold their season finale back in the heart of stock car country in 1973 and Texas lost its season ending date to Rockingham. Richard Petty won the June race in Texas in convincing style, beating the second place driver by over two laps. The second place finisher, a brash new rookie, was a bit of a surprise. Darrell Waltrip, who owned and drove a Mercury at that point, was better known for his prowess on the short tracks than the superspeedways in those days. He raised a few eyebrows by finishing second that day.

 

The 1974 event at Texas had to be canceled for reasons well beyond the promoters control. In the wake of a humiliating loss to Israel in the October War, the oil producing Arab nations banded together in a cartel called OPEC. One of their first orders of business was to launch an oil embargo against any nation that had sided with the Israelis during the war, which included the United States. Overnight the lifeblood of the American economy, cheap oil, dried up. The nation was faced with skyrocketing energy prices, long gas lines, and a mounting recession. While it was just a blip in the grand scheme of things, the owners of the Texas World Speedway knew they could not hold a race. The track was located in the middle of nowhere, and with gas stations closed Saturday nights and Sundays, they were facing even worse attendance problems than usual. They canceled the event rather than facing a financial blood bath. The official announcement said racing would return to Texas, after the energy crises ended. In fact, the Winston Cup circuit would not race at the Texas World Speedway again until 1979.

 

A lot of things had changed on the Winston Cup scene during those years. That brash rookie, Darrell Waltrip was a star of the sport by that point. There was a new crew of talented rookies battling for the Rookie of the Year honors in 1979. One of them was Dale Earnhardt. Waltrip battled all day with Dale, until with 11 laps to go, Earnhardt lost control and slugged the wall a ton. DW cruised on to victory. After the race he was quoted as saying, ” It looks like after all the seasoned veterans retire, it will be Dale Earnhardt I will have to contend with.” Darrell’s words turned out to be prophetic. He and Dale would become fierce rivals, and during the eighties, they combined for 6 championships between them. In light of that sometimes bitter rivalry, it is somewhat ironic that these days DW is driving for a team owned by Dale Earnhardt. Only 11,500 fan showed up to see the race, the worst attendance figure ever.

 

The 1980 season in Winston Cup marked a changing of the guard. When the Winston Cup scene paid their annual June visit to the sun-baked plains of Texas, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt were locked in a fierce points battle. Earnhardt looked like he might open up a bigger gap on the King, as Dale battled for most of the race with another member of the Old Guard, Cale Yarborough. Earnhardt’s efforts were thwarted by an overheating problem late in the race, and he wound up ninth, while Richard finished second, though without ever threatening Cale for the win. While the Old Guard won that day, Richard Petty’s title efforts were hampered by a savage crash at Pocono that summer which left him with a broken neck. Earnhardt would go on to win the first of his Winston Cup titles.

 

The writing was already on the wall when the Cup circuit returned to Texas in 1981. The promoters had been losing money in vast sums due to the horrendous attendance at the races. The facility had been allowed to fall into ill repair, and the track surface had some major problems. The 18,000 fans who showed up to see that race saw a good one, and certainly they had plenty of elbow room. Benny Parsons and Dale Earnhardt scrapped for the lead for the entire race, with Benny prevailing in the end by about three car lengths.

 

After the event Bill France Junior said the track and the facility needed to be improved if NASCAR was going to stage another event there. The promoters loudly protested there was nothing wrong with the track. When the 1982 schedule was released Texas was not on it. It would be 1997 before big league stock car racing returned to Texas.

 

Of course the new Texas Motor Speedway is also owned by a gentleman who has gotten on a member of the France family’s bad side. The first event was plagued by bad weather, and the weather also caused a lot of problems this year. NASCAR has said they want to see repairs done to the track before they return. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

 

History repeats itself; first as tragedy and then as farce. - Karl Marx

[NeilTPS]

There were a couple of noticible errors contained in Matt McLaughlin’s otherwise well written article. He wrote, “Texas World Speedway was also given the highly coveted season finale date for 1969.” The initial name of the 2 mile superspeedway in College Station was Texas International Speedwayin order to match other ARI owned properties Michigan International Speedway and Riverside International Speedway. The trademark name of Texas World Speedway happened several years after the track had started operations as Texas International Speedway. The name change was suggested by the original NASCAR President, the late Bill France Sr.

 

Mr McLaughlin also wrote: “Bill France Junior said the track and the facility needed to be improved if NASCAR was going to stage another event there. The promoters (the late TWS President Dick Conole) loudly protested there was nothing wrong with the track. When the 1982 schedule was released Texas was not on it. It would be 1997 before big league stock car racing returned to Texas” (as TMS).

 

This statement is basically incorrect and misleading because it is incomplete. When NASCAR President, the late Bill France Jr. and TWS President Dick Conole discussed the 1982 season during many telephone conferences, France emphasised “NASCAR would require Texas World Speedway to be repaved before any further racing would be sanctioned at TWS”. Mr. Conole said, “we will pay the half million repaving cost if NASCAR will guarantee by contract at least one cup race at TWS for the next 10 years”. Bill France Jr. replied “NASCAR doesn’t guarantee dates” and insisted “first TWS must repave, afterwhich NASCAR would inspect the racing surface and then decide if NASCAR would approve and issue any race dates”. TWS President Dick Conole rejected the NASCAR offer as unbusinesslike and declined any further NASCAR races without contractually guaranteed dates to justify his repaving costs. Bill France Jr. replied “I can’t believe TWS is refusing a NASCAR cup race. Nobody has ever turned down a NASCAR race date”.

 

While USAC Championship Indy Car and USAC Stock car races (with several NASCAR drivers and cars in the field) were held in addition to many Texas Race of Champions at Texas World Speedway were contested over many years, NASCAR cup racing had ceased forever in College Station, Texas due to the disagreement between France Jr. and Conole.

 

One other note in Texas World Speedway’s past. An auction was held to sell TWS. A North Carolina lawyer attended the event. He represented a group of four investors. His bid offered to go into private negotiations. Three weeks later the deal fell through when the lawyer and TWS could not agree on an acceptable sales price. Only a few people know the names of the group of four investors the lawyer represented. Dick Conole told me they were Bill France Jr, Dale Earnhardt Sr, Richard Childress and Roger Penske. It is reasonably assumed that if this group had been successful in purchasing Texas World Speedway, there would not be a Texas Motor Speedway in existance today.

 

These are the facts as told to me by the late TWS President Dick Conole.

 

 

Neil Upchurch

 

Race Director, Texas Race of Champions at Texas World Speedway, Founder and Retired Former Driver, Race & Administrative Director, Texas Pro Sedans & TIDA-LM Series

[RodneyRodriguez]

that's great info Neil. Indeed that would have made for an interesting situation. Penske a long time track owner himself along with the others would have steered TWS in the direction it needed to keep major league action happening there. I have always hoped for TWS to resurface as a major force in racing. I know location seemed to be an issue in the past but now with the growth of the sport I think College Station could indeed be a hot-bed for major league motorsports. Lots more to it than location that's for sure. The place sure is a jewel sitting there but a sad story how the history has played out. I will never forget the first time I walked up the hill and looked down to the speedway... all I had ever see was Speed-O-Rama and HWY 16... talk about being blown away!

[tommyo]

I was there at all those first few races - it was really a nice facility with a good view of the track from everywhere on the frontstretch...really a shame the promoters had the problems they did, it could have had a great future, other than the location.....

[King237]

When the 1982 schedule was released Texas was not on it. It would be 1997 before big league stock car racing returned to Texas.

 

I do believe there were two ARCA races in 1993 + 1994 (I might be off on the years but I believe they are correct). I went to both races and they were great races with TIDA cars in a pre-race both years. I believe Eddie Bierchwale won one year and Darrell Waltrip the next. The track was owned by a Japanese company and they are said to have sunk $6M into repaving and new infield suites and garages. Bob Kesilowski ran the 29 Chrysler there as I recall it. Clifford Allison and one of the Petty boys ran but I don't think it was Adam. I recall a snowstorm in Atlanta that year that kept Dale Earnhardt from being there since they held the date over and he couldn't come. He sent a replacement driver instead. On the TIDA races, can't recall his name right now but he drove a Red T Bird to victory w/o problems (yeah, I know, I should know it but his name escapes me) The one thing I recall about the last race was that it had rained, the parking lot got flooded and it took us about 3hrs to get out of there. Great times and great memories of the race. Neil, help me out here, you are the statistician around here!

[HiTech]

THE RED T BIRD I THINK WAS SLICK .I MAYBE WRONG ..93 WAS THE WET RACE .ARCA WINSTON RACE .WALTRIP LAP THE FIELD ON FUEL ...KENNY SCHRADER HAD SHIFTER PROBLEMS AND DALES CAR WAS TIGHT ALL RACE LONG ..AS FOR THE MUD .YOU MUST HAVE BEEN PARKED IN TURN FOUR WHERE WE WERE .THREE HOURS PLUS IS RIGHT ..THAT BACKHOLE OPERATOR STUCK THAT TRACTOR AND COULD NOT DID HIMSELF OUT OF A WET PAPER BAG .I STARTED TO WALK OVER THERE AND SHOW HIM HOW TO CARRY A BACKHOLE OUT OF THAT MESS BUT SOMEONE BEAT ME TO IT ..

[CorcoranSuperMod]

The biggest racket from the stands that day came when sixty six year old Hershel McGriff ran down that black # 3.

[King237]

I recall now it was Slick Yoemans...number 24 red tbird and he had a stout engine and handling package. The TIDA's ran a half and half. It was an infield road course (half) and you came up onto turn 3 and wrapped around 4 and down the front stretch (half) and then had to transition back to the infield. There was a big drop off between the track and the infield road course which disrupted the cars handling greatly. And Hi-Tech, you are correct on me being parked in the parking lot by turn 4 as well as that guy pulling peoples cars/trucks out. I believe I still have a program I bought from that day and will take a look at it to see if I can jar up some more memories.

[NeilTPS]

In 1996, two Texas Race of Champions (TROC) events of 25 laps each were run on the 1½ mile modified oval. The first race was won by David Starr of Houston, Texas in the #87 Chevrolet Camaro owned by Al Mallory. The second race was won by Tommy Grimes of San Antonio, Texas in the #22 Chevrolet Monte Carlo when the leader David Starr crashed hard out of the lead into the turn 4 wall. Both races were sanctioned by TIDA, the Texas International Drivers Association Late Model Series which I founded and served as the President and Race Director of the organization sanctioned these two races.

 

Regarding the red Ford in 1991 the 13th TROC was won on the 2 mile road circuit when Slick Yoemans of High Point, North Carolina drove car #24, a Ford Thunderbird. It was Slick’s only victory of a Texas Race of Champions at Texas World Speedway.

 

Regarding races known as the Texas Grand Prix. On September 21, 1991, at that time from Corpus Christi, Texas and on April 11, 1992 Slick Yoemans, then from High Point, North Carolina at the controls of the #24 Ford Thunderbird won both events. He drove the same #24 T Bird to the checkered flag on the 2 mile road circuit at both Texas Grand Prix’s on these succeeding years.

 

These statistics were compiled by Neil Upchurch, former Race Director, Texas Race of Champions and Texas Grand Prix, at Texas World Speedway.

[NickHolt]

King237 asked me to post these for him:

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the original PDF files of the above.

 

TWS1.pdf

 

TWS2.pdf

[King237]

Thank you Nick for posting these!!! I hope your readers enjoy looking at it as much as I did

[Danielsen Motorsports]

Wasnt this the race the Dale Sr., Ken S., and D.W. came to and on the pace lap they all opted the back of the field prior to the green flag dropping?

[NeilTPS]

In my memory are a few interesting side notes about this March 21, 1993 race at Texas World Speedway.

 

It was a rare event which was co-sanctioned by NASCAR Winston West and ARCA. That is the reason that the car numbers were shown with a W for West and an A for ARCA.

 

A few Texas drivers were #36A H.B. Bailey from Houston and #23A Eddie Bierschwale of San Antonio. Both drivers raced occassionally in ARCA events during this time frame.

 

Other nationally known names of note which were not listed in the starting line-up, but were prominently shown on the cover of the souviner program. They were #3 Dale Earnhart Sr, #17 Darrell Waltrip and #9 Ken Schrader. The event had some unusual pre-race occurances. These three drivers were to have driven in a NASCAR Winston Cup race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway one week prior on March 14th. That race was snowed out and postponed until March 20th. The three drivers were therefore absent from qualifying time trials at Texas World Speedway on Saturday, March 20th and had to start rear on Sunday.

 

Three other drivers subsituted for the NASCAR Winston Cup drivers Earnhart Sr, Waltrip and Schrader because they missed qualifying and arrived late in College Station late Saturday. They started at the rear of the grid on Sunday. One subsitute driver was Neil Bonnett. Never-the-less, Waltrip won the race when he and his NASCAR crew figured out how to run the race with one fewer pit stops than all other finishers.

 

The fastest qualifier was #50A, Page Jones. His dad was one of the best Indy, NASCAR and TransAm drivers to ever compete in these type race cars. His name, Parnelli Jones. Page’s fastest time was 185.071 mph.

 

A few other recognizable drivers were #29A, Bob Keselowski, the father of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, Brad Keselowski. Also #25A Bill Venturinni is the father of Wendy Venturinni. She works as a pit reporter for the Speed Channnel on shows like NASCAR Race Day.

 

A couple of TIDA Late Model Series drivers who got one race deals in ARCA cars were #96A Greg Davidson from Pearland and #07A Johny Walker of Houston.

 

In the TIDA-LM race on Saturday, March 20th, the winner was Howard Willis III from Pasadena, TX in his #23 Chevrolet Lumina. The event was held on the two mile oval and road racing circuit and was called the “Texas Grand Prix”. It was Willis’s first race on a road course.

 

 

Neil Upchurch

Former Race Director at Texas World Speedway

Founder and President of TIDA-LM Series (Texas International Driver’s Association)

[RodneyRodriguez]

And the Western Auto Shootout II was broadcast that night on tape delay on ESPN led by Bob Jenkins. Still have it on VHS.

Track looked great and was cool to see on TV.

[outlaw]

Outlaw22 you need to get that VHS tape put on CDs and put it up for sale.

[HiTech]

And the Western Auto Shootout II was broadcast that night on tape delay on ESPN led by Bob Jenkins. Still have it on VHS.

Track looked great and was cool to see on TV.

. LOOKING FOR A SEATING AREA MY WIFE AND I WANTED WATCH TO THE RACE FROM JUST TO THE RIGHT OF THE PRESS BOX I TURNED IN TIME TO SEE THIS SHORT MAN STANDING THERE .NED JARRET WAS GETTING READY TO HEAD UP UPSTAIRS . WE VISITED WITH HIM HE WAS STILL GLOWING FROM DALE BEATING DALE AT DAYTONA . [ HENCE THE DALE AND DALE SHOW ]. COUPLE OF MINUTES LATER HIS SIDE KICK BENNY PARSON JOINED US COULD NOT BELIEVE OUR LUCK TWO OF THE GREATEST TOOK THE TIME TO TALK WITH US .. .THAT ALONE WAS WORTH THE TRIP .AND YES BENNY HAD FOOD IN HIS HANDS .LOL.......

[Whitey741]

One thing I seem to remember. (could be wrong)

 

This was the first time Neil Bonnet was cleared to race/compete after his head injury a couple years earlier. He only qualified Dale Sr's Car. Childress fielded cup cars for him a couple times later in the year and the following February at Daytona was when he died during practice.

 

Something I didn't realize till i saw this program. Jeremy Mayfield was listed in the entries as an ARCA driver.

[HiTech]

One thing I seem to remember. (could be wrong)

 

This was the first time Neil Bonnet was cleared to race/compete after his head injury a couple years earlier. He only qualified Dale Sr's Car. Childress fielded cup cars for him a couple times later in the year and the following February at Daytona was when he died during practice.

 

Something I didn't realize till i saw this program. Jeremy Mayfield was listed in the entries as an ARCA driver.

From what i understood .neil bonnet drove all three cars .waltrips .dales and kenny's cars .. i think neil was on hooziers when he died .....

[NeilTPS]

Whitey 741: I believe that you are correct. On Saturday, March 20, 1993, Neil Bonnett substituted for Dale Earnhart Sr. As the qualifying chart shows, he posted the 5th fastest time with a 183.421 mph.

 

Hi Tech: By rule each car was required to have a different substitute driver. The Schrader #52 car qualified 3rd fastest by Jimmy Hensley with a speed of 183.720. The name of Waltrip’s substitute driver in #17 was Jeff McClure. He was 4th fast with a 183.425 mph.

 

On Sunday, Dale Earnhart Sr, Darrell Waltrip and Ken Schrader returned to their respective cars, #3, #17 and #9 which they started at the rear of the grid after participating in the parade lap in positions 3rd, 4th and 5th and then, by rule, retired to the rear of the 44 car grid to start the race.

 

I had the honor of being the guest of the NASCAR Winston West and ARCA Race Directors in the race control tower and recall their adherence to driver change rules, which were the same for both sanctioning organizations.

 

Researched by: Neil Upchurch

[HiTech]

Whitey 741: I believe that you are correct. On Saturday, March 20, 1993, Neil Bonnett substituted for Dale Earnhart Sr. As the qualifying chart shows, he posted the 5th fastest time with a 183.421 mph.

 

Hi Tech: By rule each car was required to have a different substitute driver. The Schrader #52 car qualified 3rd fastest by Jimmy Hensley with a speed of 183.720. The name of Waltrip’s substitute driver in #17 was Jeff McClure. He was 4th fast with a 183.425 mph.

 

On Sunday, Dale Earnhart Sr, Darrell Waltrip and Ken Schrader returned to their respective cars, #3, #17 and #9 which they started at the rear of the grid after participating in the parade lap in positions 3rd, 4th and 5th and then, by rule, retired to the rear of the 44 car grid to start the race.

 

I had the honor of being the guest of the NASCAR Winston West and ARCA Race Directors in the race control tower and recall their adherence to driver change rules, which were the same for both sanctioning organizations.

 

Researched by: Neil Upchurch

so the rumor is cleared ...

[NeilTPS]

Whitey 741: Thank you for participating in this Texas World Speedway racing “memory trip”.

 

You posted, “Something I didn't realize, Jeremy Mayfield was listed in the entries as an ARCA driver.”

 

Yes, Jeremy Mayfield was about 24 years old when competed in one of his first ARCA races which preceded his NASCAR cup racing venture.

 

There are a few other notable names in the qualifying list. I listed a few of them in an earlier post. Let’s see who can identify more of the notable names.

 

Neil Upchurch

[Whitey741]

Seems to me Tim Steel was a fairly dominate ARCA driver at that time. Don't know if he ever went anywhere beyond ARCA

 

Jeff Purvis, Busch and Cup driver till injured about 10 years ago

 

Butch Gilliland, Cup/Truck driver and father of David G

 

Jeff McClure, crew cheifs and own cars that pop up every now and then. Don't know why his name stands out to me. (Maybe Morgan McClure racing just rings the bell) I don't know if there is any connection. Come to think of it, I really don't know why Morgan Mcclure rings a bell. Time to Google I guess.

[CorcoranSuperMod]

Tim Steel was impressive when on the track that day as far as the ARCA guys were concerned. I seem to remember him pitting several times and losing a lot of ground in the pits. He did go on past ARCA , running Busch, some trucks and even { according to Mr. Google ) four cup races. It says he was a three time ARCA champion, Won twenty four ARCA races and won twelve times in 97.

 

In 97 he suffered a major brain injury. He did make a successful return, but retired ten years later after a late model wreck at Toledo.

[NeilTPS]

CorcoranSuperMod - A non-TWS comment about Tim Steele:

 

He earned the nick name “Man of Steel” when he endured the entire weekend of NASCAR racing at a superspeedway while he suffered the pain of a kidney stone which refused to pass.

 

 

Neil Upchurch

[CorcoranSuperMod]

That story is certainly testimony to his constitution Neil. He has needed it to overcome the things in life that he has. Like many of us, he probably never reached the level that he and many others expected of him, but sometimes in life the stars just don't quite align. I will tell you, after a thirty some year partnership with kidney stones the only " handle " they gave me was " crybaby "

 

Thank you for your postings on here, it is nice to get the printed facts. I know most of us try as hard as our memories allow, but sometimes the names , numbers and dates tend to run together.