ron.brown11

Logan Bearden finished 3rd at Irwindale. Derek Thorn won, and it was his 10th straight SRL Series win. Owen Riddle was second, and he won the Summer Showdown race there at Irwindale. I think Mr. Bearden showed out nicely there. Chris Davidson finished 11th in the same event. I was wrong in my original post, as Chris did only run the SLM race. Here's hoping that they both have a great season.

My apologies, it's 4 race dates at HMS.

I sure hope that this is true. If he plans on it being in TX, I can only think of 2 places. HMS & SA. Now if he would consider my idea stated in a different post, COTA sure sounds great to me.. HMS is a great facility, but then you get into the conversation of renting/leasing the track on dates that don't interfere with current circle/drag racing dates. And with the circle track dates comes possible hurt feelings. If my memory is working right today, there were only 2-3 races nights at HMS for stock cars. Who knows, maybe they both want to integrate his SLM races into the already scheduled shows at HMS. I haven't been by Thunderhill in a couple of years. I don't know if there is anything left of it. I heard that if you were in the loop, that there was some "open practices" happening on the occasional Sat. nights, after about 9pm. There's something terribly wrong that we don't have asphalt SLMs racing in TX. Couple that with there only 2-3 asphalt racing dates missing SLMs, it's really heart breaking. I don't know Mr. Alverson, and I trust that this is all on the up & up. So I sure hope this comes to fruition. It would be nearly a 450 mile round trip, but I'd sure try and go..

That's good. We need hot shoe TX drivers to go there and show out. Back in the late 90s, TIDA late models would come out the NASCR Winter Heat Series held in Dec & Jan at Tucson Raceway Park. Unfortunately I don't believe any of the TIDA SLM drivers drivers made it to the main. I remember several would get wadded up during the B mains.I only remember the TIDA drivers coming in a group 1 season. After that bad experience, we'd see 1 or 2 show up after that. I don't recall any of them coming after about the second season. I was disappointed because I had been following them at San Antonio Speedway long before I had moved to Tucson. I wish them both well, and hope that there will be more TX drivers going. The All Star Showdown pays $25,000 to win; The Pro LMs will run for $10,000: and the Modifieds fun for $5000. GOOD Luck Drivers!!

I read that HMS driver Logan Bearden is going to run the All Star Showdown 200 lap race at Irwindale in 3 weeks. I've never got to watch him run before, but I'm hoping at TX driver can go there and have a good run. I also read that Chris Davidson is going to run in the Pro Lat Model show ($10000 to win). I might be wrong on that, as he may be running the SLM race, but it sticks in my mind that piece said he was running the Pro LM. I hope Chris does really good as well. Irwindale & Kern County are the 2 best short tracks on the west coast. They also draw some of the best SLM teams from across the country, and with $25000 to win, I don't expect that to change. Irwindale is a stretched version of Tucson Raceway Park. It's a wide progressive banked, fast track. Kern County is a mini Daytona. It's a D shaped, high progressive banking, very fast track. If you ever get a chance to attend a race there, do it.

Merry Christmas Everyone. God Bless!!

Jody Ridley showed up to race a 100 lapper at Try-County Speedway in Cincinnati a couple of times, before I left for the Air Force. He won the first time, and a couple of the locals made sure he didn't win the second time. I loved that blue & white 1965 Falcon body on his #98. I was shooting some photography at the track that year, so I got to talk to Jody a little bit both times I saw him race there that year. Almost 20 years later, I bought a blue (no kidding, the same color) '65 Falcon to drive around Tucson, AZ. I brought it back to Del Rio when I moved there. I ended up selling it to an AF pilot there in D.R. He got transferred to San Antonio, and then about a year later he got transferred back to Del Rio. He also had a 1970 Mustang Boss 302, that was just like Parnell Jones' #15 Trans Am car. He raced it in Vintage road races at tracks in TX. When he got stationed again in D.R., he sold the Falcon to a buddy, who said he was going to build it into a vintage road race car. Never heard anything else about the car, because I retired and moved to Buda. I still love that 1964-65 Falcon body style. The 1964-66 Mustangs were built on that Falcon chassis. So just about anything available for the Mustang, would work on the Falcon, and Falcons are a whole lot cheaper to buy than a Mustang from that era..

Mr Thorn is never happy if someone touches him, but he doesn't mind moving someone. My friend Jim Pettit II raced against him for about 3 seasons in the SRL Series out west. Yeah, he'll lean on you, move you, or turn you for a win. He's a good driver that's for sure, and is always up front. The Campbell family gives him great equipment too. I think he won all but 1 race this season in the SRL series. Apparently he really likes 5 Flags Speedway too. From everything I've read, Thorn would have swept every thing he entered this weekend, if not for that late yellow. Unfortunately for Derek, he's 35 and not likely to get a chance to race on a national level in NASCAR. I think he has the talent to. do so.

I've been watching him since he started racing in ARCA. Really good driver. I'm not sure if the track series, or driving for Kyle Busch is a little intimidating, but this is definitely going to boost his confidence. I think he'll have a good career, or at least I hope so. Nice job Chandler!! Thanks Rodney for keeping us posted!

Thanks Rodney for the updates!!

Looking forward to your reports RR. That's my bucket list race to see in person. I'll get it done one day soon..

Yeah Nick, I really enjoyed driving that car! I never was able to get my mod to turn like that center off. When I saw how easy it was to drive it off the right rear, I could never understand why Greg didn't/couldn't. I'm pretty sure I was about a 1/10 slower than Greg overall, but if you remember I NEVER got turn 3 entry correct. That car was bad fast, but I believe he was afraid of it. I'm certain that if I would have been allowed to take it out a second time, I would have been a half second faster than him. Do you remember what I said when I got out of the car, I told you that I tried everything I could think of short of parking the car on entry. You said "that's what you need to do at Thunderhill". When crew chiefing for Greg, I was always amazed how quickly he could go from a top 4 starting position, to nearly tagging the field in just a couple of laps. After hot lapping that car that day, I know that was a top 5 car every week, with a decent driver. One other thing came from that day. That was the last time Greg ever let me behind the wheel. A lot of times I'd drive the car to tech, etc. He even talked about letting race it one night. No More. That's ok, it was his car. The bad part of that day was Greg saw that you were impressed with my turn 1 & 2 speeds, and lap times really close to his. No too bad considering that I had never turned a lap in that car, or on that track. Greg went out on the next 2 sessions and tried to change how he was driving the car there. He nearly wrecked it both times. The second time was when he spun into the grass and plugged the radiator with grass & dirt, and destroyed the radiator overheating it. After that first session, you and I took tire temps at the top of the exit ramp. As we were walking back to the pit stall, you said we needed to do something. I thought you were talking about doing another dual front spring change. We'd done that twice already, and I didn't think my knees would handle it. Then you said, "We need to talk Greg into letting me race the car". I said then that it wouldn't happen, as I saw/heard Greg's reaction to the laps I'd turned, and how you had responded to it. I was right, he was offended. Again, that's ok as it was his car. Plus there was a time in Tucson, when I was struggling with issues. I couldn't figure out if it was me, or the car. I had a Super Latemodel track champ friend race it one night, to try and sort it out. It was really hard to watch someone else drive my car. In my case, it turned out to be a little of both. He identified a chassis issue, and pointed out a couple things that I needed to change. Greg was never interested in that, he just wanted to be on the track, and that's ok.

HiTech, I've never avoided eating what I like, but I'm usually pretty good at limiting things I know are good for me. When I was heavy into weightlifting & running 5-10 miles a day, I was a little more selective regarding what I ate. Thankfully I've always been pretty good about drinking water. I got real good at drinking water after a 3 year tour in England. It does't get hot there, and the humidity is always 80% or higher. We left there in June, and arrived at my next duty assignment on July 1st. In Tucson, AZ. When I pulled onto the base at the temporary quarters office, it was 109 degrees!! Oh year, the humidity was 4%. You sweat like crazy, unfortunately you don't see it because it evaporates immediately. The only places you will see sweat is anywhere skin overlaps. You get dehydrated very quickly. We were out for days, every day, trying to find a place to live. The second day out, I stopped at a 7/11 and bought a 52oz thermal mug. Two or three times a day I was stopping at 7/11 to refill it for like $.49. The third day of doing that, I thought my kidneys were going to explode. But for the next 14 years in Tucson, I carried that mug filled with ice water. That was 1992, and I still have it. I know that they say you can drink too much water, but I don't believe that. It's what you're made of...

Hey, I'm absolutely for the vaccine, and was shocked that they could develop one that seems to work so quickly. Yeah, I'm about freedom too. I think they've scared more people out of getting the vaccine, by mandating it. I haven't been to a doctor for being sick in probably 2 decades. Unfortunately I've seen way more doctors than I ever imagined. I've had 24 surgeries over the last 15 years. If you work hard and play hard, things are going to break or wear out. I'm finding out the hard way lol..

Sounds like you had a pretty early start in racing.I got to hot lap a late model at Tri-County at age 17. I ran about 1.5 seconds off the team driver qualified. That's a big difference, but I had never been in any race car, so I also hadn't been on any race track either. I started racing straight out of the gate in an asphalt modified, at the ripe old age of 42. Mine made about 620 hp on 8" wide Goodyear racing slicks. I have never raced anything else, always a mod.I'm pretty sure that's not the smartest way to do it, but it's what I did. I was whining to a very good race car driver, car builder, and friend one night. Pissed off that I should be getting better results more often. Keep in mind that the first couple of seasons I was usually running 12th to about 20th. Then I started consistently running the top 5-10, and I still was whining. So he asked what I thought was the problem. I said it was my old, (used when I bought it) Harris "Combo" car. Harris used to sell the same chassis that could run both dirt & asphalt by shifting the fuel cell and a couple other things, and wa-la a dirt car. They just weren't good cars because they were a compromise(not great on dirt or asphalt). I raced that chassis for a decade. He said "Well, how many of the guys that you are racing & running with every week are driving the same car as last year"? I said that over the last 3 seasons there were only 4 teams, including myself, that were still driving the same chassis, and three were 3 were mid pack or worse consistently. That's when my light finally clicked on. I was still running top 5-10 consistently in a car that was 15 years old, and I'm running in the top 5 now consistently. I never had to replace a clip on either end. He then told me that I was doing really well, with that chassis, and impressed with the results while still using it. That really cheered me up, for a while anyway. Then my next frustration well how much better could I be if I could have bought a good newer chassis. That was short lived though, because I knew I'd never have to money to buy it. So running top 5 consistently wasn't so bad when I looked at what I saved. Plus, I already knew I was moving back to TX, and I know that I couldn't afford to race then. I couldn't earn enough in that small town.

Well HiTech, I didn't have to wait until I was 65 to be called Senior, as I earned that rank in the Air Force. My wife and I are coming up on 45 years, and I still don't know why she said yes. I've been blessed more than I ever deserved, that's for sure. Our son is 35, and his wife is 38, so we were really starting to sweat that grandchild thing. I've seen, done and been some places that I probably shouldn't have come back from. I'm Thankful.. Most of my friends are long distance friends now since we moved to Liberty Hill 19 months ago, and COVID didn't help since then. People still seem to be nervous about meeting new people still. Sorry to hear Radical about the loss of your wife. It's strange how COVID has affected, or not affected our population. I had no family members lost to it, and none got sick, But my wife's family had at least 15 deaths and many sick. Both sides of our families have some underlying health issues, so why the disparity?? I've spent a lot of time trying to get some understanding. Nothing yet. But I have found out a couple of things that I think are important. Even that dingbat Fauchi finally said it I believe yesterday. We are going from the pandemic into the endemic stage, even with the new strain recently discovered. That just means that it will be just like the annual flu season, and they will be trotting out a new variant, followed by a new variant vaccine to treat that variant, just as they now do for the common flu. The public is basically being led to believe that science and medicine will end COVID, it won't, at least not in my lifetime. Something nobody ever talks about is a very easy to find fact. In the history of man, science and medicine, only 2 viruses have ever been eradicated, Smallpox and one that affects cattle, ox, yaks, bovine animals. They have only 2 things alike. They are both viruses, and neither can transmit to the other. Smallpox won't live in bovine animals, and the bovine virus can't live in humans. They were both eradicated from the world in the early 90s, although the US had defeated Smallpox in 1979. I can't remember to name of the bovine virus, but is was like 15 letters long. Please Radical, don't think that I'm making light of your wife's loss, I'm not. One life lost is 2 too many. Heck, I should have been terrified of the thing. It's a respiratory disease, that is incredibly hard on the lungs of those who's lungs have issues. Both my parents smoked while was growing up, strike 1: I spent 30+ years working around running jet engines (jet fuel) and usually with several jet engines running at once, & race car engines both on gas and ally, strike 2: I have asthma strike 3: I've had pneumonia twice strike 4; I have sleep apnea strike 5; and finally I had the Swine flu (another Chinese gift to us) back in 1976 strike 6 Oh, and I didn't get the Swine flu for somebody, no I got it from our US government via a vaccine. that they mandated. That vaccine is very different from the current vaccines being given out today. That 1976 Swine flu vaccine was a live virus. That means the our government intentionally injected us with a live swine virus.I spent 2 days in the hospital, and another week on quarters to get better. I was lucky. At the base I was stationed at we had 3 guys die, ands it was a small base. I started talking to a couple of doctors that worked on me, because that wanted to be pulling my blood to see if I was building up any natural resistance to the virus.That allow me to also ask about how the military as a whole was having deaths as well. Between the 4 doctors I spoke with I go 2 number for fatalities.Two of the told me about 2700 GIs worldwide had died. The other 2 gave me 3400-3500 deaths. You can actually goggle up the CDCs report to find out some hard hitting facts from that study of the 1976 Swine flu vaccine, but they hide the most important one. How many GIs died from it. That is not in their report. The reason why is because if they would listed them, they would be responsible monetarily for them, because they made it mandatory while it was still listed by the CDC as an Emergency vaccine. That vaccine at that time was just like the new vaccines that came out this year for COVID, and were listed as an Emergency med, and therefor they couldn't mandate it to the military again. Once the FDA approved it for routine use, now all military have to take it or leave the service. With the 1976 vaccine we were't given a choice. The 1976 Swine vaccine was still listed as experimental. From what I'm hearing, they aren't giving many waivers to the GIs for the new vaccine. I do have to say that 1 good thing came out of my bout with the Swine flu in 1976. That was the last time I had the flu, 45 years ago. I've been though 24 surgeries over the last 14 years, most are of there orthopedic variety, so with that volume of surgeries my systems are always heavily tasked. Yet, if not for those grand daughters, I would not hav taken a COVID vaccine. Hang in there Radical, God does have a plan for you! And then 1 day you and your wife will be reunited, this time it will be forever. God Bless!!!

I consider myself very lucky to have grown up where I did in Cincinnati in the 60s & 70s. The Reds were perennial champs, and Tri-County (later to be called Queen City) Speedway was located in Sharonville, just outside of Cincy. It was a bad fast 1/2 mile in dirt or asphalt configuration. Forty miles up the road was Shady Bowl, and 65 miles was Columbus Speedway, both asphalt. A 100 miles away was Indianapolis Raceway Park. When Bill Redwine owned and operated Tri-County, they had what was called the Spring Series. It was 4 shows in March, it lasted for 4 years, until Bill decided he didn't want to be a promoter anymore, and leased out the track. If you have ever spent a spring in the midwest, it's not that warm in March usually. I had a little secret that I kept quit from Bill. I dated his daughter Dawn, to get free pit passes. Hey, I worked hard for that $1.85 I got paid, and pit passes were pricey back then too. One Sunday I was sitting in the control tower with Bill talking. It was snowing so hard you couldn't see the back stretch. He was certain they would have to call the show. Me being ever the optimist, no really just 17 and hopeful, said "no, we're going to race". And no kidding, we raced!! Good thing too, it was the largest car count we ever had for a Spring Series race, with 98 cars. It was for late models only, and it was normal to have 80-90 show up, for a 24 car main, with 2 promoter optional cars, usually reserved for a local hot shoe that had an issue in their heat race. The heat races were wild, but amazingly/thankfully not that many cars destroyed. Also, these were usually the teams' brand new cars for the season, because Bill always paid a good purse. In those days, short of being in the Carolinas, the midwest probably had the largest supply of great racers. Names like Trickle, Mike Eddy, Bob Sennaker, Mark Martin, Rodney Combs, Larry Moore, Jim Sauter, etc. I'm not kidding, nearly every race was like watching an All Star race! My last year in Cincinnati, I was lucky enough to work on Gary Bowsher's late model. He was one of the last to win at Texas World Speedway in a NASCAR/USAC/ARCA stock car, on the full oval. His dad Jack, was wild to be around, as he could be very hot headed and moody at times. And I've also seen him be the exact opposite, you just never knew. One thing was certain, he was incredibly competitive. I found out a couple of years ago that Jack never worked for anybody from the time he was discharged from the Navy after WW2, in 1948. He always earned his living racing. He also funded Jim, Gary, Bobby & Todd Bowsher's racing careers from racing. His race team operated from 1949 until his death in 2006. He raced ARCA, when it only had 1 series, unlike now with the NASCAR ownership. If you ran ARCA it was against the best ARCA drivers at every race. No East, West or main series. No kidding, pretty much everyone not named Bowsher was glad when he moved on to USAC stocks. Jack won over 50 races in 3 years, and held the title of the most series wins for a long time. It took Frank Kimmel 2 decades decades of driving to surpass Jack. In USAC, Jack ran fairly regularly, but his main focus was providing USAC stock cars to many of drivers for the annual Indy 500 field. They were usually given by Foyt, the Unser brothers, Parnell Jones etc. Jack hadn't been behind the wheel in USAC stock car for over 10 years, and at the dirt Springfield Mile, if I remember the track correctly (if not Springfield it was DuQoin), Jack's driver didn't show. Jack qualified on the pole, and finished 3rd. He was a wheelman. Gary had some wins in late models (none while I is was with them unfortunately, but he was just starting out), and some in ARCA & USAC. His little brother Bobby won the ARCA championship a couple of times. Bobby actually made the cover of Stock Car Racing magazine. At Daytona for the season opener one season, he and another car got together off 4, and the other car got upside down, ON TOP OF BOBBY'S CAR! It looked the the scene from Top Gun, where Maverick is canopy to canopy with the MIG, only he was literally resting on Bobby's roof. The photographer snapped it perfectly. Some how that car stayed up there for a couple of seconds. Still don't know how at those speeds. When I lived in Cincy, Tri-County Speedway was 4 miles from the house. That was great for me because I was there almost every Sat night. When they went to racing on Wed nights too, I was there. When I joined the Air Force out of high school, I truly went through withdraws. When I worked on Greg Baber's team, I lived in Del Rio, and Greg lived in Uvalde. I'd drive to Uvalde and off we'd go to either San Antonio or Thunderhill. I worked nights, and usually got off work a little after midnight. I'd get up at 4:30 to get to Greg's, and I'd usually get to bed about 24 hours later. That's a really long day on 3 hours of sleep. So when I bought our house in Buda, Thunderhill was just 8 miles away. I went as often as I could, and loved to stop in and say hello to Nick in the booth. Once I retired I had plans to try and find a team to help a little with. Of course they closed the track then. As I said back when the NASCAR weekend races were happening, I'm tired of seeing race tracks close. So Yeah, I'd love to see another asphalt track open for a change, instead of closing.

I like Mr Higdon's idea, but with a little twist on it. I know that some (Nick) wouldn't like it though. How about a nice 3/8 mile, progressive banking asphalt track on the grounds at COTA? Got to be progressive banking, no follow the leader, or running over each other racing. Great side by side racing is very fun, and you sure tear up a lot less cars when you don't have to wreck someone to pass. Almost all freeway miles from OK, Houston, Dallas, SA, Laredo, El Paso, and not too many backroads from Corpus. I bet you could draw some from Mobile and Pensacola too. Especially if you run some Super Late models. Because it's already a racetrack, permits shouldn't be an issue. All the basic infrastructure is there. Who knows, maybe they could negotiate 1 race a season on the big track, a la Texas World Speedway. It would also make a great prelim for a cup weekend. But we all know the reality of it. Whoever wants to do this (or any asphalt track), must have deep pockets to start, and be willing to not see a profit for at least 3 years. I personally don't know anybody with those kind of pockets. However, I really believe that if something could be worked out to partner with COTA, maybe just maybe, it would take only 2 years to break even. I'm also pretty sure that COTA would like to have another revenue stream too. I know that it's not worth 2 cents, but that's the best bet I see to having another asphalt track in the heart of Texas. I'd love to work on that project!

Nick, you are the glue that's held this together. A lot of people know this, and many really appreciate it. I am one of them.You have been a great friend to all the racers in TX, whether they know it or not. I've always enjoyed talking and working with you when I was involved here in TX. Your knowledge, and your "want to" in keeping TX racing going has been incredible. I hope that you are able to continue to do so for years to come. I miss being able to pop my head in the booth at Thunderhill, while you worked. I pray that 2022 will be a better year for you and your family. 2021 wasn't a good year for me, so I am very thankful for our now 2 year old identical twin grand daughters. AS we only have 1 child, our son has held the key to grandchildren for us. They had said on many occasions that they only wanted 2 kids. They REALLY weren't expecting them at the same time. SURPRISE!! But that also means they these little beauties will probably be our only grandchildren. Still beyond grateful!! WE Nick, like you are a mixed family. My wife is Hispanic too. So our son is half & half. His wife is first generation Taiwanese. These girls are just 24 months old, and they are already speaking some words in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Hell, I'm still working on English, and I turn 65 in 1 month. Lordy, I'm getting old. Hang in there Nick, God has a plan!!

Hey, I'm not knocking dirt racing, or dirt racers but asphalt was my favorite. I really wish that I could have run a season or 2 on dirt, as I feel it would made me a better driver on asphalt. I know that I hated a loose car especially upon turn entry. I didn't mind a push on entry, because as my modified had more that enough engine to drive over the push. But that's not the fastest way around. It seems that I never had a neutral car very often. I still love racing, and I still miss racing, However, I'm pretty certain my body will ever allow me to compete again. Couple that with the fact that I am now retired and living on a fixed income, I can't afford to anymore. I ran some laps at Thunderhill and at San Antonio in 2 of the cars that Greg Baber had. I really liked his orange and white car that he raced at Thunderhill the best. That car really liked being driven off the right rear, and was fun to drive it that way. I wasn't really wilde about Thunderhill or San Antonio's track layout. I would loved to have had a chance to run some laps at HMP. It was pretty similar to the track that I raced most often, Tucson Raceway Park. So, barring at least 2 major miracles, bench racing & spectating is about all I have left. Nick, I really hope that somebody (person or company) will step up with whatever you need to keep it going.

Enjoyed the show! Dave Moody is a pretty smart guy when it comes to racing. Man, I'd love to see the Texas asphalt racing make a comeback. I started out attending races at a great 1/2 mile high banked dirt track, that had the pits in the infield. I loved it. Then they paved it. Fifty years later, I still remember that first race after it was paved. As I started to cross the track through the crossover gate, I was nearly rear ended by the ramp truck that was hauling the late model that I helped on. As I crested the road, and started to cross the track, I just stopped. I had an epiphany, this was where I was supposed to be. It took 20 years before I saw the next dirt race in person. I still love a good dirt race, but it has never held the same feeling as a good asphalt race. I'm certain that there are just as many race fans that feel the opposite, and that great. There's no such thing as too much good racing!!

The thing that really bothered me about NASCAR's no penalty to Hamlin was this. For the life of me I can't remember who, but I believe it was the 00 Houff got into someone intentionally, under caution. They parked him for a 5 lap penalty, because there was a safety truck driving on the track near them. Well, when Hamlin pulled that stunt on the frontstretch, there was a camera crew on foot getting ready to interview the 48. Nobody was outside the safety truck when the 00 did his stuff. I'm certain those on foot would have been much more at risk for injury than anyone riding in a full size pickup. NASCAR should have treated both incidents that same, I don't care that Hamlin was trying to get to the championship 4. I've always thought that Hamlin is an incredible talent, and I've followed him since back in his late model days. He did an awful lot in family owned equipment, and Mr Gibbs was bold enough to hire him straight into Cup. But he does some things that make you go huh? He's never been as blatant as Kyle Busch (until that day), but he's getting closer. I doubt that we'd see anywhere near as much carnage, if these drivers were also having to fix or pay to have the cars fixed. It's pretty easy to crash somebody else's stuff. If you're pissed at a driver, go see them. It costs too much to fix them, I know from not even being the target of someone's anger. Way to often more people's stuff gets torn up, that weren't involved with said anger. Plus, it's really unfair to those that work for free trying to help someone get to the track to race, have to work that much more to fix a car for no reason. That kind of stuff isn't good for anybody, teams, tracks or fans.

I'm sorry, I left out Janette's name in a sentence from my first post. I never had the pleasure of meeting Janette.

WOW, what a broadcast crew. Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons in the booth, and Dr Jerry Punch doing the pit reporting. There was more than 1 occasion where they carried a poor race or a long rain delay, and they did it with class and dignity. For those that were lucky enough to see them do their job, it sure is hard to watch a lot of these announcers over the last 10-15 years. I met and talked to both Benny Parsons & Bill Weber during ESPN's coverage of the Winter Heat Series, throughout the late 90s. What an honest and sincere man Benny Parsons was. All I'll say about Bill Weber is, karma is a bitch. The way he treated people there I guess was his MO everywhere. It's what got him fired. I would have loved to meet Bob Jenkins. He always struck me as a class act. God Bless Bob Jenkins

I met James once, and he struck me as one of the good people. Never had the pleasure of meeting. I hope that you will accept my condolences and prayers. We're not supposed to out live our children, let alone our grandchildren. I can't imagine the grief you all are experiences. God Bless