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      01-11-2020, 09:06 AM   #16
jimbobiggens
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Drives: 2013 335i xDrive
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: jackson tn

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My dad worked for Bud Moore when I was a kid. '65, '66. I remember the roar of those big blocks, the smell of the racing fuel and the muddy grounds. Oh, yeah, and the fights, all the time, Lord have mercy, them boys would throw down over anything. This was waaay before TV got interested. No drivers arriving in helicopters, no extravagant semi trailers loaded with anything and everything. We would drive to the races in our own cars, sleep in the cars, bring everything we needed (food, water, etc.) with us. The tracks were barely paved and winning meant you got a trophy and maybe a paycheck if you were lucky. One step above your local dirt track today. The rules were simple. It had to have the same type of engine that came in that car from the factory, and not much more than that.

The cars were real production cars, heavily modified for racing. Part of daddy's job was to turn the cars Ford would send to Bud Moore into race cars. Sometimes he would sneak one out of the shop and take us boys for a ride. They were 2 door, bench seat, 4 speed, no carpet, no heater, no radio, 2-4v 427 Galaxies. One of my favorite memories is the roar of open headers at full throttle in a stripped down big 'ol car. And the torque! My little six year old arms would be stretched out, pinned to the back of the seat, I couldn't move, when daddy let out the clutch.

TV totally transformed Nascar. Some of the changes TV brought were not all bad. Watching Ned Jarrett announcing his son just won the Daytona 500 was epic. So was watching Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt duke it out during the early 90's. By the 90's the cars were getting sanitized and scrutinized. The death of the Intimidator was, in my opinion, the end of Nascar and the arrival of Toyota was just confirmation of a transformation into another series. They ought to rename it. International made-to-the-same-template-so-we-all-look-alike racing. Something like that.
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