Cazzie
SOH-CM-2024
I am as usual in the middle of another busy, beautiful day. Just finished all laundry and house cleaning duties, must shave and shower to get the kids at school. Oldest turned 17 yesterday, but he still has no interest in getting his driver's license! Rules are different these days and he still lacks 3 hours of night driving before he can apply for his driving test. In our day it was a rite of manhood to get our driver's license on our 16th birthday!
Anyhow, I took the kids to school this morning and gave the wife a sleep-in, as she had to go into work early to cover for the other pharmacist, who had an eye appointment. So, I came back and fixed a brunch for her and it's been rock and roll all day!
Tomorrow, I shall have a lighter day, wife's off work. I'll go with her to take the kids to school tomorrow morning and we'll have a breakfast and get groceries afterward. Then I am driving down to Hillsboro, NC and trek along the site of the old Occoneechee/Orange County Speedway, a 1-mile dirt oval that was one of the first two speedways (the other being Darlington) built in 1949 by Bill France, Sr. It ran two NASCAR Grand National (same as Cup today) races each year from 1949 through 1968. It was the first NASCAR GN race I ever attended in the Spring of 1961 with my father and his friend Morris Wiley. We never missed a race right through the end in September 1968, when "The King" Richard Petty took the last checkered flag. It was a track set apart, it remained dirt when all other tracks, including the short dirt tracks, were being paved. There was only front stretch seating, the back stretch was bordered by the Eno River and the trees along its banks. Many a young redneck and black kid would wade the shallow Eno and watch the race for free perched upon the tree branches. And there was no guardrail on the back stretch. many a race car wound up along the trees of the Eno and some even made it to the river.
It was not removed for lack of popularity, but by the increasing torment that the track was receiving from religious groups, who did not like the races being held on Sunday, very Fundamental Baptist crop down there.
So Bill France, having purchased some land in Alabama, built Talledaga and its two dates took over the Occoneechee Speedway dates. The rest is history. But a group of Historical Society people from the North Carolina School of Science and Engineering (NCSSE) got funding and have been cleaning up the old track as a walking trail only (no cycling). The entire trail is 3-miles, just right for a day's walk, especially when one will be stopping and reminiscing all along the way.
Here's a link for y'all, especially those who might remember NASCAR when it was "really" stock car racing. Yours truly saw all this live and in color. Somewhere among these photos are my father, his friend Morris Wiley, and moi. Memories, how quick they depart, yet how long they linger.
http://www.historicspeedwaygroup.org/index.php?album=PICTORIAL%20HISTORY%20%201960-1968&id=&dir=1247777891&action=display_gallery
Caz
Anyhow, I took the kids to school this morning and gave the wife a sleep-in, as she had to go into work early to cover for the other pharmacist, who had an eye appointment. So, I came back and fixed a brunch for her and it's been rock and roll all day!
Tomorrow, I shall have a lighter day, wife's off work. I'll go with her to take the kids to school tomorrow morning and we'll have a breakfast and get groceries afterward. Then I am driving down to Hillsboro, NC and trek along the site of the old Occoneechee/Orange County Speedway, a 1-mile dirt oval that was one of the first two speedways (the other being Darlington) built in 1949 by Bill France, Sr. It ran two NASCAR Grand National (same as Cup today) races each year from 1949 through 1968. It was the first NASCAR GN race I ever attended in the Spring of 1961 with my father and his friend Morris Wiley. We never missed a race right through the end in September 1968, when "The King" Richard Petty took the last checkered flag. It was a track set apart, it remained dirt when all other tracks, including the short dirt tracks, were being paved. There was only front stretch seating, the back stretch was bordered by the Eno River and the trees along its banks. Many a young redneck and black kid would wade the shallow Eno and watch the race for free perched upon the tree branches. And there was no guardrail on the back stretch. many a race car wound up along the trees of the Eno and some even made it to the river.
It was not removed for lack of popularity, but by the increasing torment that the track was receiving from religious groups, who did not like the races being held on Sunday, very Fundamental Baptist crop down there.
So Bill France, having purchased some land in Alabama, built Talledaga and its two dates took over the Occoneechee Speedway dates. The rest is history. But a group of Historical Society people from the North Carolina School of Science and Engineering (NCSSE) got funding and have been cleaning up the old track as a walking trail only (no cycling). The entire trail is 3-miles, just right for a day's walk, especially when one will be stopping and reminiscing all along the way.
Here's a link for y'all, especially those who might remember NASCAR when it was "really" stock car racing. Yours truly saw all this live and in color. Somewhere among these photos are my father, his friend Morris Wiley, and moi. Memories, how quick they depart, yet how long they linger.
http://www.historicspeedwaygroup.org/index.php?album=PICTORIAL%20HISTORY%20%201960-1968&id=&dir=1247777891&action=display_gallery
Caz
