ESPN - Deaths, retirements, transition signal demise of Old-School NASCAR - Nascar
Ryan McGee at ESPN has a great look back at the year that’s quickly passing. Not the normal racing stuff, but the end of Old-School NASCAR. Here’s a couple paragraphs from the introduction.
Dec. 15, 2007. The day Old-School NASCAR dies.
That’s the day the last truck is expected to pull off the lot at 311 Branson Mill Road in Randleman, N.C. The last trailer packed with the possessions of Petty Enterprises, turning right and rolling down the same road on which Richard Petty first learned to drive a car. The same path where The King’s father, Lee, first earned a little extra cash running ’shine (although he always denied it), then earned even more by racing his tricked-out cars against other local hot rods. Eventually, the dirt road became paved, and the Petty family used it as a test track to get cars prepared for Daytona, Darlington and Charlotte. The same road where Richard’s great-grandfather had lost his life a few decades earlier trying to push the envelope in a Model T Ford. He was 98.
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Here’s a look back at the goodbyes you might have missed in the blur of the season’s final few months, when the headlines were dominated by the Chase, the Hendrick dynasty and the Earnhardt family feud. As you read along, feel free to put on Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” and burn a tire in your backyard in honor of everyone on the list.
I had forgotten how many great people NASCAR lost this year, both to death and retirement. It’s some good reading.