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Rick Mast Shares Vintage NASCAR Stories! · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation, brought
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to you by Jags, the leader in high performance aftermarket car
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parts. Remember to go to jags.com for
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everything and anything you need for your car, truck, whatever it
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is. This next guest is most likely
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my longest friend in NASCAR. Great.
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Now don't hide Rick Mass. I'm not.
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I'm not. Hey, man, let me tell you
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something. Back in the day, I spent more
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money that Jags catalog. That Jags catalog was like a it
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was like a Christmas wish. Remember the Sears Wish book?
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We used to get it Christmas. Well, the Jags catalog was like
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that to me for me, you know what I mean?
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I used to get stuff for those guys.
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Never could afford to buy stuff. But I'd scrambled up money
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together and I'd buy me something that that UPS package
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would come. I'd be the happiest some bitch's
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side of the of just side of worry, man, when that stuff
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would come. You're making me happy right
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now. Along those same lines, do you
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remember when we would run to the mailbox to read the Speed
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Sport to get racing news? Did you have that?
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We had speed sport we had here where I live, it's called
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tri-state, OK? And it was just like speed
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sport, but it was regionalized from Virginia, North Carolina,
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Maryland, Pennsylvania in the Northeast, that deal.
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So I get tri-state and speed sport, you know what I mean?
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It was it was the same deal, same deal.
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I can go back so far as remember my dad used to get what was that
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thing called Southern Motor Racing Journal or something.
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It was it is those guys. I forget the guy's name.
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If I said the name, you'd know it.
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It was a weekly publication that came out in the 70s, right?
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Just about Cup racing and we get that thing every week.
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It was, it was like, you know, I don't know if you're like me,
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man, that stuff would come in the mail.
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The racist stuff, you just light up.
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You know, we had the the Grand National scene back when you and
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I ran the Bush Grand National series, then it become the
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Winston Cup scene and it was it was the only form of reading
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anything about racing who did what and now these babies have
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taken over. Yeah.
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Can you imagine? Can I can you just imagine if
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we'd had that crap in the 90s for me, I I would either have
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been a hero or fired or in jail. I don't know.
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I don't know where it would have ended up, but I couldn't resist
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it. I've I've gotten myself in
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trouble, but I I've learned to navigate it well.
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Rick let let's start like this. The reason that I called you to
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be on Kenny Conversation is you are one of those people that is
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admired by everybody. You are loved.
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You've got a lot of fans. I think it's just because you're
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genuine. My wife, Kim, we're sitting on
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the couch and she says she said yeah, she goes you got to get
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Rick Mast. Yeah, you you called her Raquel
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Welch because I said it. But listen, I want to you know,
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once again, I just want to let you know the reason that we
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called you. Are you aware of how big your
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fan base is? No, no.
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Isn't that something? Well, let's start like this
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racer Rick, 66 years old right now.
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You look really good. And you know, if if I wanted to
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have a name from where I was from.
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So in other words Dick Trickle from Wisconsin Rapids WI.
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But I'm going to tell you what buddy.
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You're leading the way Rick Mass from Rockbridge Baths VA that is
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so bad ass. Tell me about that Rockbridge
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Baths Virginia. How many people are in this town
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and? You know the whole, the whole
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county Rockbridge is only when when the colleges are in
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session. I think we're like 32,000 for
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the whole county. You know it's maybe 100 in
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Rockbridge baths. Couple 100 in the mailing
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address when the colleges aren't in town which is VMI and
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Debonel. Then it goes down by about 8000.
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OK. But you know where I where I
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Rockbridge bass. It's named Rockbridge as we have
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a thing here where the natural wonders called Natural Bridge.
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OK Yeah. You raced there many times and
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so the the county's name came from that.
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And then where I live, Rockbridge Bass right down below
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me, a mile below my house is a it was a resort.
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It's a, it's a like a 30 by 50 pool and and natural warm spring
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waters come up in this pool. Right.
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And it was a resort in 1800s and early 1900s.
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Stonewall used to go out there all the time.
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So all Jackson, Robert E Lee had a place fact he's got a little
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cabin still there on that near that property.
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Ulysses S Grant. All these people used to go and
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sit in these waters and get healed, right?
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Well and come to find out. And even when I was little, Guy
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Moss would grow on this, on this pool, right.
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And when I was little little boy, if I got stung by beer,
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Poison Ivy, my mom would run me down there and put the Moss on
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me. All right, Spread the Moss on
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me. And it were it.
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Honestly, God, it worked. So Johnny Hayes, Did you know
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Johnny Hayes and Anne Johnny? He ran US tobacco skull.
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He was the man. He was the man for I did a lot
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of broadcasting too with Ken Squire and all.
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They were all buddies. But anyhow, Johnny was a big,
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big, big time Civil War buff. So when I started going for
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Skull, he, he and I and his wife would come up here and stay with
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Sharon and I and we would go out, you know around the
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battlefields in Virginia looking well, this the bass.
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I knew the family and the the. The man is a famous artist and
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he died made Pierre Dori all right and French.
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Name, huh. Sounds like a French name.
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Yeah, he he was French. He was a French, but he could
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hardly speak English. But he's he's famous in that
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world, I guess. Well, anyhow, the place was for
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sale and I had Johnny here when Dad, I took him down there just
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walking through the property and I told him they were selling it
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and he's he got all hyped to him.
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Can I buy it? I says, well, I don't know, I'll
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call. So I called the daughter and she
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moved away at that time and told her I'd like to buy this place.
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Is it for sale? Said, yeah.
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Well, I've already given it to the Lynchburg College.
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They have a door Arts sitting over there.
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I've already given it to Lynchburg College.
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And I said, well, I would love to have it.
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And she said, you, are you serious?
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I said, yeah. She says let me think about
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this. She called me back, says Rick,
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Here's the deal. I'm if you want to buy it, I'm
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going to tell the college to get to get it assessed, get the
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thing fairly assessed, and they've got to sell it to you
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for that amount of money. So we did that, and I went and
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signed the papers. Johnny wrote the check.
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I'm the one buying it because she knew me, but she didn't know
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Johnny. And I knew that she would fall
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in love with Johnny, right? But how?
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We bought the thing and Johnny bought it, and I guess maybe two
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months after he bought it, he called me one day.
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Said Rick. We didn't get this paperwork
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straight. I said what paperwork?
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He said, oh, the house down there, the bass.
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That's what do you mean? He says it's all in your name.
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And I wrote the check for it. I said yes.
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So what's the problem? Let me tell you something, you
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son of a bitch. He, he, he, he, he enjoyed that
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thing. And the fact Anne still lives
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there a lot. You know, we lost John a few
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years ago, but that's the Rockbridge bass.
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That's where the name the bass came from.
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For Rockbridge, I'll. Be darned.
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Thank you. Very Tom.
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A very Tom Sawyer existence as a child.
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You know, strictly country. You know you got a bucket of
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boats and you're sitting there trying to make a go Kart out of
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it, That type of deal. And we're going to get to that
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too. We're going to get to that.
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I want, I need you to educate me.
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So I was in Natural Bridge and I was doing a little TV to help
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promote the racetrack and I accidentally said West Virginia
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in Virginia. And and and they stopped the
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camera and they said, Kenny, this is, this is Virginia.
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I said, oh, I'm sorry. So I know we have the war, Civil
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War, things of that nature. Teach me why there is still a
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little civil War going on. Maybe fun as it could be, but
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between West Virginia and Virginia, what's the deal?
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Yeah, I guess, I guess when you go to that state line, the
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closer you get to the state line, we're right at the
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outskirts of it. But if you go over the mountain
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here, 30 miles to Covington and Clifton Forge, that's what it
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really becomes prominent. You know, they the honestly, the
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further you get over there, over here where we're at, it's kind
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of a joke, right? It's a deal like the people felt
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the people of West Virginia were beneath them.
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OK. And.
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The people, yeah. And the people of West Virginia
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felt like the people of Virginia were these pompous, ass,
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arrogant people, right? So that carried on for
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generations. And like around here, it's not a
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big deal. Big jokes about it.
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You get to that state line, it becomes serious.
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You know, it's like an Auburn, AL, Alabama Auburn robber or
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Virginia Tech, UVA, Auburn. I mean, it's real, right?
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And you know, I've, I've always heard it and joked about it and
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heard people joking about it. But there's a million jokes out
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there both ways that go both ways, right?
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When you talk about West Virginians or Virginians, and
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some people really carried a little bit more serious than it
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should be and what it really is actually, I think.
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But years ago it was a big deal. I mean, it was a serious deal,
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but not so much now. I'll never forget that man here
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right way. It scared me like what did I do
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wrong? Virginia, we're the same way.
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We're the same way. Now the Blue Ridge Mountain goes
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to the center of Virginia, right?
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And we're in the western part of Virginia.
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Well, we're the same way towards eastern Virginia's death.
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I mean, there's a there's, in fact, I told Donald Trump when
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he was running for president, I met him one time, even Pence.
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And I told him, I said, y'all going to win this election.
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And when you do, I'm going to come and visit you, visit you in
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a couple years. And we want to take it Blue
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Ridge Mountain, and we want to succeed from the West W rest of
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Virginia. We want to become West Virginia
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from everything West of the Blue Ridge Mountain.
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We want any part of that. So it's just funny how these
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territorial things work out, man.
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Yeah, Blue Ridge Mountain. Shando River, man, what a great
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song. You know, I went to Winchester,
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VA for the Apple Blossom Festival.
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I saw that. Really had a good time.
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Well, Rick, let's call it audible here right now.
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Let's, let's go to racing and then I want to come back to the
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start of your career. So we are all known, whether we
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like it or not. We are all known for something
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we do that's big in life. And there's so much to you and I
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know that, and I respect you a lot because I know how you got
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to, where you got to. But let's see the feeling.
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Is mutual by the way, but go ahead.
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Thank you. Let's immediately go to
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Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the very first ever Brickyard 400.
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NASCAR decides that we, you, I all of us, we're going to invade
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the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with these taxi cabs that we're
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driving and we're going to go on the holy ground of IndyCar
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racing. And when we go there, the man
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that I'm looking at right now, you Rick Mast, you are etched in
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history forever because you run the fastest lap in NASCAR
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history. You you said QuickTime.
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You start first. You're on the pole for the very
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first ever NASCAR race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at
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171.726 mph. You are in the history books
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forever. Just talk about that moment in
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time and maybe we can go back and forth.
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Kenny the thing about that, I I equate that deal to the fight in
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79 at Daytona on CBS. Oh yeah.
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I equate it to Winston coming to the series.
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The reason I say that when you're in the moment you don't
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kind of realize what it is after the fact.
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You look back and you understand it better.
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You got a clear understand. But you know two years before it
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happened, when knew it was happening and that's that's what
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everybody talked about for two years in the garage area.
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Indy, Indy, Indy, Indy, Indy. It was the damndest thing for
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two years. And then everybody goes up there
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for that tire test and we have what, 50,000 people show up for
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a friggin tire test. I remember going out.
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I remember going out to one of that that steak restaurant.
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I forget the name of it, not too far from racetrack.
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It got the. Real hot sauce for the shrimp.
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That's it. That's the one.
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That's the one. Charlie Keevel at.
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I'm sitting there eating. I'm sitting there eating and
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people come over and get my autograph, right?
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No, that's when it first dawned on me.
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Maybe we're on to something because we're not in that market
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at all. I mean, your closest to that
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market is what, Michigan, I guess, at that time.
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And I'm not a prolific winner, right?
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I'm not a Dale Earnhardt or Rusty Wallace, but people come
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over and get my autograph. I'm like, huh, might get
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something to this thing, right. So then the hype and all the
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crap leading up to that race will finally we go up there and
13:19
test. And it's the same thing every
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time we practice. You know, you go up there and
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you get pounded with autographs everywhere you go.
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And anyhow, we finally show up for the race and it's like the
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damnedest thing. I mean, you know, and we changed
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a lot of stuff. I mean, you know, I remember
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before we go went up there, we got coached on the yellow, the
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yellow coach, the Yellow Jackets.
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Yeah. Right.
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The guards, yeah, they they didn't help, did that bunch.
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They coached us on the yellow guards.
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This is not a typical NASCAR deal with security guards.
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These are the yellow coats or the guards.
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They do things differently and we will abide by their rules and
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the way they do it. And I'm like, damn, you know
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what I mean? You can't do this.
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You can't do that. You know, you're on and on and
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on. So, you know, even NASCAR was
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bowed down a little bit, right? You're like, all right, we got
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to do it their way to show up because there was some animosity
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going on. I remember the quotes from a lot
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of the IndyCar guys, you know what I mean?
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They did not want us up there and they made their, they begged
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their opinions known and and that was cool.
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There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, it was friendly and
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'cause as you well know, we all get along with us and any car
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guys, we've always got along great with one another.
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There's never been that type of thing.
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But they didn't want us to lose hallowed grounds, right?
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And so we had to fight that off a little bit.
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And then when if I get up there for the race week, I'm reading
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articles, Kenny. I'm reading articles and quotes
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from my my, my, my guys, my drivers.
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And I'm not recognizing the quotes, the the quotes.
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I need to dig some of that stuff up.
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Maybe you can do it sometime. But some of the quotes were not
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quite like normal. They were like, I don't know,
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they were like, how can I say this buttoned up, wine and
14:57
cheesed or you know, it wasn't, it wasn't the same.
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We say real good. I want to thank all the boys
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back at the shop. And they're like putting.
15:09
The bonnet up? Yes, it was that.
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It was that put. The hood down.
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Put the window in that. Up and it honestly, I read that
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morning of qualifying, I've been woke up and I was reading the
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paper and I was reading some of that crap and it started
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irritating a little bit. It honestly did.
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I'm like, what are you doing man?
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This ain't us, right. So part of the one of the, the
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one of the stories about sitting on the pole when I sat on the
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pole and we're in the in the in the press room.
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Well, there's press in the same. Kenny, I've never seen you.
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I knew you like you. I knew all the press guy.
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I knew all the beat writers followed us every week.
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I knew I go to this press room and I see those guys and I see
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like 70% of people there I've never seen before, right.
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I mean this place was packed with press people.
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I mean, it's the damnedest thing from all over the world, you
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know? And I'm up there and I'm doing
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my thing. And finally Steve Wade and that
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freaking Tom Higgins, bless his heart.
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Somebody in the back hollers tell us about the cow.
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Don't know. Her story, because I'm going to
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ask you about the cow later on. And and and I heard him, and I
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knew who it was. And they said it again.
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Tell us about the cow. And I got so freaking tired of
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talking about that stupid cow, right?
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You're going to help. We're going to the cow store a
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little bit. But anyhow, I brought the cow up
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and you know, just tell them about the cow.
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And somebody said, well, what was this cow's name?
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I said, well didn't have a name after midnight.
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Then it become baby. So, so anyhow, that was a.
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That was a. Well so OK let let's get in the
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race car let's let's be be race car drivers here for a minute.
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So you and I know the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is
16:50
intimidating because we go down the front straightaway.
16:53
It is a hallway. We got grandstands on the right,
16:56
grandstands on the left. You're cheating.
16:59
Death entering turn one. When do I turn off into the
17:03
corner. Do I chop the corner?
17:05
Do I can I arc it Will I get loose down the short chute.
17:09
You know barely let off the gas. So tell me in your mind, get in
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your race car for me. And they're, they're tapping on
17:19
the hood, fired up. Tell me about that moment, that
17:23
lap. Going, going out of the track,
17:26
going on the back straight away. We're getting up to speed,
17:28
coming down the front straight away.
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You're wide open, right? And you're going whatever the
17:33
speed is, 190 or whatever we were going then.
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And what I tell people about that track, you get down in the
17:40
straight away and you're going that tremendous amount of speed
17:43
at that time. When we're going anything that
17:45
fast, we're looking at a a head of us at a big sweeping bank
17:50
racetrack, right? You see the turn, it's banked.
17:53
You're going to go in there wide open, hard and you go get in the
17:56
bank and everything's going to settle down.
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You go down in the front straight away and idiot, all you
18:00
see is a frigging wall in front of you, right, going this way,
18:04
going this way. And you're like, this can't
18:07
work. This can't work, you know?
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And that that's that's the thing that I felt and I talked to the
18:12
other guys about everybody I talked to had the exact same
18:16
feeling. How's this going to work?
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You're going 190 miles an hour and all of a sudden you got to
18:19
make a sharp 90° turn and it's flat and you don't have banking
18:23
to to to to to to catch the car, right.
18:27
But it's such a long sweeping turn that it works.
18:30
But you you know your your foot's telling you to keep it
18:32
wide open. Your brain say, man, don't do
18:34
this you stupid ass. It's not going to work and you
18:38
have you had to get over that quickly, you know, you just.
18:42
Did anybody help you get over that or no?
18:45
No. We were all on our own trying to
18:47
do our own thing man. Everybody wanted to be heroes at
18:49
that race track you there was at that first year there was no
18:53
going back and forth and helping folks don't as years went on
18:56
then we all did that like you do at every race track but in that
18:59
first year, no, it was it was none of that.
19:01
You just had to try to, had to figure and the neat part about
19:04
it, what I loved about that thing we first got there.
19:07
Remember they had the timing mark things in the embedded in
19:10
the racetrack. So you'd go out and make a lap
19:12
and you would come in and you'd go over to the little building
19:14
where they had the scourge sheet timing sheets.
19:16
You pull out the sheet and you would look at your car and like
19:19
enter in turn 1 to the apex and from the apex to exit in turn
19:23
one and through the short shoot. And it had that same deal in all
19:27
four turns. The track down.
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You break the track down and you could look at your speed in that
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one section and you can see every other, every other Sweden
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Dick out there. The car is exactly what they
19:37
were doing in that same spot. So you could see where you were
19:39
losing speed, gaining speed, but to me it was like tiptoeing.
19:43
You would turn one you once you get through the the fear, or
19:47
whatever you want to call it of. Making the corner this work.
19:49
This work, this you're about to be at Bristol.
19:52
First time I went to Bristol, Kenny, I'd never been on a high
19:55
back race track. Never been out of where he is
19:57
was and I remember on the the day before I was there watching
20:00
some other cars, running them on the outside of the track,
20:02
watching these guys going to turn and I'm like how in the
20:04
world is that working? So when I first get out there in
20:07
my race car, I I run about 50 warm up laps on the April
20:11
thinking. And I look at the guys going
20:13
around me up there. I'm like, I remember coming out
20:16
of getting on the track in three and four and going wide open,
20:19
going in one. I mean all our members you got,
20:21
the guys are going there letting out of the gas and turning the
20:23
wheel, right? So that's what I did.
20:25
I just went in to turn hard, let out of gas and turned the wheel.
20:27
Next thing I know, I'm going down the back straight away,
20:29
right? And I'm like, OK, that worked,
20:32
right? It's kind of the same feeling I
20:34
had. It ended the first time I got
20:35
through Turn 1 without killing myself.
20:37
I I agree. OK, so let's go back to that one
20:40
moment in time. Dale Earnhardt Senior #3.
20:44
The man in black. He he is QuickTime.
20:47
Then. Then you fire your car up.
20:49
You make your lap. You're faster than him.
20:53
You're on pole. You're the man.
20:56
When you came down Pit Rd. could you hear the fans?
21:00
Could you see the fans? Tell me about that moment
21:04
rolling down it was. A It was a damage thing.
21:06
It was like. It was like when you're like at
21:09
Rocket have a few times where I would lead.
21:10
You can see the fans doing all that stuff but but at.
21:13
But at Indy, Yeah, you can't. I mean when you qualify you come
21:17
down Pit Rd. If you've done where Willis on
21:18
the pole you'll see a crew guy going like that or something.
21:21
Pelican down Pit Rd. is like, what in the world is going on
21:24
with these? Yeah, that's.
21:26
And I really at that moment didn't know it was about me at
21:29
the time, right. But it was about, you know,
21:32
'cause that announcer, you know, he was great, man.
21:34
He was like the Creed and Squire, that guy.
21:36
Forget his name and. He's.
21:39
On it, he's on it. On it, He's on.
21:42
A new? Track record It's a new.
21:46
Track record, yeah. Yeah, but anyhow, that was cool.
21:50
And we come on in and of course she had cut the car off and push
21:52
it in. You couldn't drive it in, right?
21:55
Yeah, you had to. You had to push it and do all
21:57
that. And then then it was just set
21:59
there the rest of the frigging day in in in pure torture
22:02
watching 8083 cars qualify or 84 or whatever it was, you know And
22:08
really when it when I came in and did that I'd like to you
22:11
know and maybe it's getting me in the top ten you know what I'm
22:13
saying? Really, Yeah, I did because the
22:16
thing of it is we've been quick. We've been we're quick in, in
22:19
practice we're just quick up our testing.
22:21
We were kicking. We were like second or third
22:23
quickest, the last happy hour practice or whatever before
22:26
qualifying and it had rained that morning and like you know,
22:30
and that track is very sensitive.
22:32
None of us really know what the track does.
22:33
So I go to AJAJ. He was sponsored by US Tobacco.
22:37
AJ Foyt the greatest race car driver in the world.
22:40
In the world, no doubt. Can you go talk to him?
22:42
Yes, 'cause I knew AJ because he was sponsored by US Tobacco,
22:46
also with the Copenhagen brand, and we had spent first three
22:50
years together with WAS with Skol.
22:52
Skol would take me and AJ, Harry, Gant and Snape Perdome,
22:56
right? We were the four drivers that
22:58
they sponsored and they would take us places.
23:00
You know, they had a mansion in Watch the Hill.
23:02
They had a mansion in West Palm Beach with Dominican Republic,
23:05
Casa de Kempo with fishing trips out West.
23:07
So I I knew these guys and I knew AJ well.
23:10
So anyhow, when when that happened that morning, it
23:12
rained, I went to Aji, said AJ, here's what my car was.
23:15
It was neutral, man. It was tiptoe and neutral.
23:18
Perfect. That's right.
23:19
What's it going to do? What's this rain going to do?
23:21
And he told me, and I don't even remember what he said, but he
23:24
told me how the car in the track was going to be here.
23:27
Here's what track's going to be from what it was, right, So we
23:30
made, I remember there's two rounds of wedge adjustment we
23:32
made based off of a JS comments, right.
23:36
And when I went and qualified, everything was tiptoeing just
23:38
perfect. You know, it was just it was
23:40
balanced perfect. I'm like and those two rounds of
23:43
wedge I know probably set me on the pole, you know, it probably
23:47
did and I don't remember which way it was.
23:49
I don't know if it's tight or loose or whatever, but I just
23:51
remember that happening. Yeah, wow, what a story.
23:54
And and Indianapolis Motor Speedway is almost religious
23:58
like to them it's it's it's there's a race track but it's
24:01
like. Oh.
24:03
Go ahead and comment on that. Oh man, it's it's like an aura.
24:06
You go through the gasoline alley, the headboard, or where
24:11
The thing is you go under. You're like, you know, you the
24:13
whole time you're up there, 'cause you listen, man, you're
24:15
listening to this shit for two years.
24:18
You're listening. To.
24:19
It and and then you have NASCAR telling you to bow down to the
24:22
yellow people. Yellow.
24:25
Gate guards. Yellow gate guards and and
24:27
you're like you know and when you get there then you've got
24:30
all the the great IndyCar drivers you know making their
24:34
opinions known about that's these hallowed grounds and stock
24:36
cars don't belong there. And so you listen to this stuff
24:39
for two years, and when you finally get there and the place
24:43
is so massive and just massively big, and the way it's set up is
24:48
real. Pristine bridge, shiny concrete
24:51
everywhere, You know, the garage areas, the pit areas.
24:54
And everything's done differently in the gasoline and
24:57
alley sign and all the stories you read and everything you
25:00
hear. You finally get the race car to
25:02
go out on the track and you're almost getting chills on this
25:05
thing. You're like, you know, how, how
25:06
should I be on here? And you had to put that.
25:09
You had to put that crap out of your mind.
25:11
You had to, you had to make sure you, you understood yourself.
25:15
I belong here. You know what I mean?
25:17
We belong and I belong here. You had to.
25:19
You had to put that mindset out there.
25:21
If you didn't, he was going to whip you.
25:23
Because Indy's a tough Indy. That track will whip you.
25:25
You know that. That track will whip you.
25:27
Trying to make a fast lap, you know, It's just art.
25:29
It's very, very hard to do that there.
25:31
Yeah, there, there's a come to find out.
25:34
There's literally a Creek that rolls underneath the front
25:38
straightaway. I watched Kyle Petty do a
25:40
special on it and and you talked about it.
25:44
You're not allowed. We are not allowed to have our
25:46
motors running in the garage. We cannot drive our cars through
25:52
the garage area. Why do you think that is?
25:54
I don't know. It was, it was, it was a
25:56
precedent that they did. That's what they did with the
25:58
Indycars. So if that's what they did with
26:00
Indycars, that's the way we're going to do it with the stock
26:01
cars and by mind that's, you know, everything.
26:04
The way they did with Indycars for, you know, a century, that's
26:07
what we were going to do. It was just going to be a stock
26:10
car instead of IndyCar. But we're going to keep
26:12
everything the same. Y'all not coming in here with
26:14
y'all's ways, your NASCAR screwed up, backwards, southern
26:17
ways of doing things. We're not going to do it like
26:19
that. We're going to do it like we do
26:21
it. We're just replacing the tar a
26:23
car for a car. And that's anyway, that's kind
26:26
of, I'll tell you it was a the drivers meeting on the race day
26:32
and the drivers meeting, I was sitting beside Dale Bill.
26:35
France was giving the speech, right?
26:36
Dale Earnhardt, senior. Yeah, Dale Earnhardt senior.
26:39
And I'm sitting beside Dale and he was talking about the
26:43
privilege of being there and the task ahead of us and on and on
26:47
and on and on and on. You know, you're sitting there
26:49
like man. And he finally, he says that
26:51
when we start this race, gentlemen, he said, well, we go
26:55
down that, take the green flag and we go down that first turd
26:58
do not embarrass me or this sport.
27:02
And he looked straight at me and Earnhardt.
27:05
Because you're on the front row. Because we were on the front
27:08
row, Yeah, yeah, we're. We're right around the driver
27:12
introduction. Me and Dale are back from the
27:13
convertible and we go down. And honestly this is the only
27:16
time I've ever seen that. Well, I shouldn't say that the
27:20
intimidator was truly humbled. Kenny.
27:22
Oh yeah, he looked, he looked at me.
27:24
We were going down the front stretch and hordes of people on
27:27
both sides of us, right 350. I don't.
27:32
I never seen that many people. Dale looks at me and he says,
27:35
Rick, I said, yeah, Can you believe all these damn people
27:39
came here to see us? Right in that moment, Dale
27:43
Earnhardt was humbled, truly humbled.
27:46
And then right after that, he looked me.
27:47
Said You normally that first lap, Rick, I said bring it on,
27:49
big boy, you. Let the first beginning laugh,
27:53
yeah. Yeah, yeah, the only.
27:55
About going down, OK, you got Dale Senior on your outside.
27:59
You're going into turn one 400,000 people in the
28:03
grandstands. That's that's not an
28:04
exaggeration. That's true.
28:07
Tell me about your mindset getting on the gas and beating
28:11
out running Senior into Turn 1 to lead at least the 1st 2:00.
28:15
Two laps. Well, I knew.
28:17
I knew the whole time setting up for the first lap if if we could
28:21
come off of 2 with him and me at least my momentum or dead even
28:27
with a Fender or so in front of it.
28:29
I knew if I could do that then turn 2:00 I could beat him
28:33
right? And and I kind of thought maybe
28:36
what he would do. So go down and turn one and he
28:38
just does this. He does one of these numbers
28:41
right and I got a real good bite with the car and jumped back in
28:45
the gas quick and kind of beat him off of that.
28:48
And then we're kind of like this entering Turn 2, going in and by
28:52
the time I got off of two, I cleared him and actually he ran
28:56
the thing. He was his car turned on him a
28:58
little bit got tight and he run that thing wide open run right
29:00
into the wall. You know what I.
29:02
Mean at the start. At the start he, he hit the Turn
29:04
2 wall coming off the Turn 2. But he was yeah, I mean that's
29:08
how much you know he wanted to leave.
29:10
He wanted to leave that first lap and everybody did.
29:12
Hell, they were fighting every time we go up there, dude.
29:15
They were fighting. Your brother was right in the
29:17
middle of it that one time with with Dale to be the first car
29:20
out on the racetrack. In that tire test, they got the
29:22
dirt, almost a piston fight, trying to get the first car out.
29:26
Every time you did something at that race, you had to be the
29:28
first. First to get out on the truck,
29:30
first to be out there for the practice, first to be out there
29:32
for happy hour, first to qualify.
29:33
I mean it was just, it was the dirtiest thing you ever seen.
29:35
You had to, I guess you had to be in that environment in that
29:38
moment to to really understand. I'm living at work right now.
29:43
It was ridiculous. So changing our ways just a
29:49
little bit right now. So at that time, you know some
29:53
20 years ago it was the biggest thing in life.
29:55
NASCAR's going to Indy and now it's ruined.
30:01
You know the the racetrack was was not good enough.
30:05
So they said let's run on a road course through the middle of it
30:09
and and now next year in 2024, we're going to go back on these
30:14
hallowed grounds. Does it surprise you how much
30:18
life has changed at once what we thought was the most
30:22
unbelievable thing in the world, now, now it's now it's boring.
30:26
We don't even want to watch NASCAR on the big track.
30:29
Yeah, I I don't get it. I mean, I do and I don't get it
30:33
back. We just sit here and banner back
30:35
and forth for two hours about for how we got to the state we
30:38
got to, right. But the thing, the thing about
30:41
the deal with any of the test was all right, we're not
30:43
getting, we're not drawing big crowds.
30:45
Let's do a road course. Well, hell, they didn't draw
30:47
crowds either, right. They didn't draw any more with
30:49
the road course than than than that.
30:51
So, well, let's at least the hell, let's put it back to
30:54
tradition. Tradition, you know, put it back
30:56
the way it was. I mean, as you know, it's a lot
30:58
of it's about TV numbers now more than the grandstand
31:00
numbers. I mean, we know that T VS
31:03
driving or sport, that's that's an accepted fact.
31:06
And it was sad to me to see that thing go to the road course.
31:11
It was sad. I understood it and I got it and
31:13
I went along with it. But at the same time, it was sad
31:15
to me because I know what we were.
31:17
I know what it was. I know what I know what 400,000
31:21
people showing up that track that they felt.
31:23
I know what we as competitors felt.
31:25
You know it was it was not not out worldly or something like
31:32
it's hard to put a word to what that event magical.
31:37
It's magical. It was it was totally magical
31:39
and it just fell in line with so many things that added to the
31:43
progression of our sport into a mainstream sport.
31:46
You know that was that was one of them.
31:48
I mean you go you you you take our series again we our closest
31:52
venue then was was Michigan right to that to that that
31:55
market in that area. We show up there and 400,000
31:59
frigging people come there watches that's never seen us
32:02
before right. And I guarantee you most of
32:04
these people have been to Eldora right.
32:07
You know and and and the Kings world deal and all that stuff
32:10
that goes on out there and peevely right.
32:13
Yeah yeah I mean in in it it just you know it it's kind of
32:20
like the first year I did my fan club right.
32:23
First year I did my fan club. Who do you think the number one
32:26
state was that the first year after my fan club We had members
32:29
join it? The number one state by first
32:32
year? You never would.
32:34
New Hampshire. Iowa.
32:36
Iowa. Iowa I had there.
32:39
Was a lot of dirt threats in Iowa?
32:41
I had more members from my fan club from Iowa than anywhere.
32:44
Second was Pennsylvania, third was Virginia.
32:46
By my third year, my fan club, Virginia become first.
32:49
But Iowa was the first year, right?
32:52
And and and I'm thinking I am, you know, this thing, you
32:56
realize the sport's bigger than running up down the East Coast,
32:59
Kenny, like you used to do from South Boston to to to Oxford Bay
33:03
to Birmingham. You know what I mean?
33:04
You realize? Bigger.
33:06
You and I started kind of, I mean you were down South,
33:09
obviously you live there, but I came down to to join you and and
33:13
you and I started in the Bush series and you know, even though
33:17
it was the second largest form of racing in America, the Cup
33:21
Series, then Bush Series and maybe IndyCar, but the Busch
33:26
Series, which is now the Xfinity Series, we made a living
33:29
running, you know, 3 hours around home, you know, Myrtle
33:32
Beach, South Boston, Orange County, Hickory, those were our
33:36
tracks. That's right.
33:37
And you're on national TV every week, and all we did was leave
33:40
home that morning and we were back home that night.
33:43
That's. Right, that's right.
33:45
OK. All right.
33:46
Let's, let's have some fun now. Thank you so much for your
33:48
perspective on Indy because that is you and I think it's just
33:53
badass and you are Mr. Indy. So I want you to comment on
33:58
this. You are from Rockbridge, Bass,
34:02
Virginia, but you have a business administration degree
34:06
from Blue Ridge Community College.
34:08
You're you're a smart man, Very smart for.
34:11
The smartest people I know just ask me.
34:15
Just ask me. You you've got some very you and
34:18
your wife. You and your wife have done an
34:20
incredible job with your your children.
34:25
As we know one's somewhat of an executive at at Atlanta.
34:30
Maybe not an executive but but he he's big time your other ones
34:34
out West. So tell me about getting this
34:36
business administration degree. The reason I ask is I think it's
34:40
somebody like a Ryan Newman, you know at Purdue.
34:43
Tell me about you getting that degree.
34:45
My dad. It was simple.
34:47
My dad said I was going to college.
34:49
They always said it and I and Kenny, let me tell you
34:51
something, I hated school. I remember the first day when I
34:53
went to school in the 1st grade, I hated it and when I graduated
34:56
as a senior in high school, I still hated it.
34:59
You know the the social part of life because they had a lot of
35:01
good buddies, right? I played some sports, I played a
35:03
little basketball, did some things in high school.
35:05
But you know by the 10th grade my whole deal was racing that I
35:08
started racing in my 10th grade and but in the middle of all
35:12
that I I you know my dad said I was going to school and I didn't
35:16
really have. I didn't have a good enough
35:18
grades to get in Franken Community College.
35:19
Right. My sister my sister was a was in
35:23
that system and she was she ended up being a damn doctor.
35:26
I mean she had a doctor and and she was like a little smart
35:31
family. Yeah that she was.
35:33
She was. She was and in fact she helped
35:36
me get in this little Community College.
35:37
And honestly this is no joke Kenny.
35:40
I was there two years at the same time.
35:41
I built my first asphalt car. I would go to those classes and
35:45
I would leave run back to shop and I'm working on my race car.
35:47
That's all I do. And and then working at this at
35:50
the the shop over here, making money, right?
35:53
And that's what I did. I made money working as a
35:55
mechanic. I worked on a race car and went
35:57
to school those two years. But I I learned more.
35:59
I put more effort and learn more in two years of Community
36:03
College than I ever did in 12 in the in the others deal.
36:06
And I don't know why. It just interested me more.
36:08
You know, I've, I mean we had a government class.
36:11
We had AI know some mathematics classes and different things and
36:16
I don't know it was 2 years of doing.
36:20
I'm glad I did it. You know looking back some of
36:21
the stuff I did learn, I did use later on in life.
36:24
You know, this is salesmanship class.
36:27
I I remember some things in my brain, simple things, and I'm
36:30
going to give you an example because I want you to answer
36:33
this. So I remember 5th or 6th grade
36:36
having a tough time spelling the word vegetable.
36:38
Right. I spelled it out veg E table OK
36:43
child child like example. What were some of the things
36:47
that you learned in Community College?
36:49
Maybe just one that that that you remember.
36:55
Takes 4 bits to make a bite. Say that again.
37:00
It was a computer class and it takes 4 bits to make a bite.
37:06
I think it's 54 bytes to make a GB or some shit I remember.
37:11
It. Yeah, I just that's the only
37:13
thing I remember about computer class.
37:14
Because it wasn't when is it was computers.
37:16
Just remember dude, this 1976. But it had a computer.
37:19
But it had a computer, and all they taught us about was how
37:21
many bits it took to make a byte, right?
37:24
I didn't understand what the hell it was.
37:25
I still don't know it. The I remember government class.
37:32
I don't know why I took a like into the government class.
37:34
And I remember this young professor and he was teaching us
37:38
because my family was not political, Kenny.
37:40
Right? My I was not raised politically
37:43
and I didn't know a Democrat from Republican.
37:46
My father was not raised racist. I didn't know a black from a
37:49
white person, right. It just wasn't it was non
37:50
existent way I grew up. Anyhow, I remember this young
37:53
dude sitting there on a chalkboard telling us, all
37:56
right, I'm going to explain to you the difference between
37:58
Republicans and Democrats. And he put up Republican,
38:00
Democrat, and he put Democrat for the working man, for the
38:05
underprivileged, for the poor people 444.
38:08
And over here on the Republic, they put the rich corporations
38:12
only look after the rich people, on and on and on, right?
38:15
And I remember looking at all that and thinking, well, damn, I
38:17
must be a Democrat, right? 'Cause you need everything you.
38:24
Need everything. I need everything.
38:26
I'm trying to build a race car and I don't have a pot to piss
38:28
in, right? And you like well.
38:30
You ought to shut down businesses.
38:32
Yeah. And but then the the, the, the,
38:34
the the how, how the, the, the, I remember that particular
38:37
class. It's probably most enjoyable
38:38
because it taught me how government works.
38:41
Now the guy was a little, the guy was a professor was a little
38:43
skewed, obviously he was a liberal, you know, and whether
38:46
you're liberal or conservative, obviously he was.
38:48
And then I'll, I'll have to think back to that, right.
38:52
Yeah. OK.
38:53
So moving on, we're changing the story right now, so I apologize
38:59
in advance. About what?
39:01
A lot of people right now, a lot of people right now, they don't
39:05
know. But when I first started racing
39:07
with you, OK, so you need money. You want to build a race car,
39:11
and you're doing all this. Tell us about this damn cow
39:15
story. Dude, when I was my dad, my dad,
39:21
I grew up, had a little farm and he had Black Angus cattle.
39:26
And so I always had a little calf, as as when I was a little
39:31
boy, I had a calf and he would give me a calf out of one of
39:33
the, you know, one that was born and I would take it down.
39:37
We had a little shed down there and I'd keep it in there and I
39:39
would raise it and feed it and do that, then sell it, You know,
39:43
it'd be a 4H calf basically. And so the last one I ever had,
39:48
I guess was in the ninth grade or 10th grade was when I was 15
39:51
years old. I had raised this little calf
39:53
and it was a it was a steer and I forgive what weight it was.
39:56
Is that Dan? Is that Dan?
39:57
It was a good it was a good good steer.
40:00
Anyhow, I sold this dude for $575 natural Speedway as you
40:07
raced it many times guys up here, out here raced older
40:10
fellow had a 57 Chevrolet race car and he's going to quit.
40:13
I used that money and went. I got that check, cashed it and
40:17
went and give him $575 and picked up that 57 Chevrolet race
40:21
car that was wrecked with a motor.
40:24
And a little trailer. And that's how the thing
40:26
started. Brought that car back.
40:29
It's our little shop we had. We call it a shop.
40:31
It's like 4 poles and a damn stick over the top of it, right?
40:34
And in fact, we tried to. I tried to paint that thing that
40:37
winter. I borrowed some kind of prank
40:38
paint can from somebody. It was cold as hell.
40:41
And I painted. Come in the next day to all the
40:42
painted run off the side of it. You know, I didn't know what the
40:45
hell I was doing right. What?
40:46
Year was it? So 1973, Well, I'm.
40:50
Not, yeah. Not terrible.
40:51
Long ago, I mean. So anyhow, we took that car to
40:56
Thatcher Bridge and my sixth race out, we won with that car,
41:01
right? And I had just gotten a speeding
41:05
ticket, Kitty. And it was before I had my
41:08
driver's license and it wasn't really a learner's permit, but
41:12
it's like something you had before your driver's license.
41:15
Anyhow, I got a speeding ticket and I went before the judge and
41:18
he says and we talked about it and of course I was guilty. 41
41:22
in the 25 right here in Friggin Lexington.
41:25
Damn goofball cop out of nobody ever liked.
41:27
Never mind we finally read his ass out of town.
41:29
But anyhow, he, the judge looked at me and said Rick, you you
41:34
this is your this is your deal. This is your fine.
41:36
I forget what the fine was. He says you have to pay for this
41:39
fine. I said OK, he said now I don't
41:41
need your daddy or any of your relatives.
41:43
You have a way you're in school. Yes, Sir.
41:46
Are you working too? Yes, Sir, he says.
41:48
Well, what could you do to make this money?
41:50
I said, well, I got a race car run down at the racetrack.
41:52
You know I win. I can get the you're going.
41:55
To. Speed, dude, he had these little
41:57
read glasses like these things. He did this, he looked to be
42:02
like that. And I said, boy, you guys, you
42:05
you have screwed up. You have screwed up here, right?
42:08
He did not like that at all. But anyhow.
42:11
And right after that I did win the race and you know what I
42:13
mean? It was like 40 bucks or
42:15
something. You had paid the fine, so that
42:17
was that was the beginnings of that of that cow car.
42:21
That that is, you know, I don't think that's a funny story.
42:24
I think that's a very inspiring story because, you know, you're
42:28
a rancher and you're raising and doing good.
42:31
So, OK, I want to, I want to say something that I remember you
42:36
teaching me and I want you to comment on it.
42:40
And you might not remember this, but it it helped me.
42:44
It changed my life and you did. You don't know this but you
42:48
saved my life as you know I was. I was.
42:51
No, I mean this. I'm very serious when I say this
42:54
as you know I can't help it but I was born hyper the whole deal.
43:00
So I I'm at Dover and you and I are sitting on pit wall
43:06
1989199091 somewhere in there and you looked at me and you
43:13
said do you plan on racing for a long time And I said yes and you
43:19
said Kenny you got you got to calm down.
43:22
Now, you might not remember that, but I remember it like
43:26
yesterday and I was probably venting to you that my car
43:30
wasn't doing this and that when I look back on that time, I
43:36
look, first of all, I look up to you because I think you're
43:39
awesome and you're you're you're a calm natured athlete.
43:46
Where does that come from? And when you told me that as
43:50
you're thinking right now in your head, where did you come?
43:54
Where did you come from? I mean, how did you grow up
43:57
calm. And I you know what I mean.
44:00
My dad built Natural Bridge Speedway in 67 your.
44:04
Dad built that racetrack? Sure.
44:05
Did he opened it in 67? Whoa, whoa, whoa.
44:08
This is a big story here now. OK, keep going.
44:12
And I would witness as a little boy during the week, the phone
44:18
ringing off the wall at the house and people calling and
44:21
just lambasted my dad cussing and raising.
44:24
My dad didn't, he didn't hardly have a pot piss in either of
44:26
those days, but he was able to make things work.
44:29
But I would listen to people just lambasted all week long you
44:34
competitors, and it still goes on today.
44:36
Same deal. And I would go to the racetrack
44:39
as a little boy. I'd watch guys down there.
44:41
I mean get in fights. I mean not playing, you know,
44:44
not Mickey Mouse and I mean fights.
44:46
I'd watch all this stuff. And then when I started racing,
44:50
I had to deal with that. I had to deal with that same
44:53
stuff myself. And in the early days, it's kind
44:56
of like Schrader told me one time, he said he told the guy
44:58
was mad at him, let's sit down and have a beer or drink, talk
45:01
about it instead of fight. You know, it's my fighter.
45:03
Well, I, I, I came to that conclusion a lot earlier in life
45:06
because some stuff I went through here locally early, you
45:10
know, with with with roughhousing or fighting and
45:13
stuff that you learned. You know what it really meant to
45:17
get in a fight. You know, you got in a fight.
45:20
It was like you see now, it wasn't that a fight then was a
45:23
fight. I mean, you're going to be.
45:25
Punching you in the face. You're going to somebody's going
45:27
to end up standing and some guys not, right.
45:30
And I witnessed that and a lot and went through a little bit of
45:35
it and, you know, over a period of time.
45:38
And I'll tell you something else that happened, Kenny, in 1980,
45:40
whatever we were at Martinsville, I didn't have for
45:43
the big double hitter. You know, the modified.
45:46
I didn't have radios, right. I had wiring hardest, but I
45:49
didn't have radios. I just couldn't afford them.
45:51
I went up to Richie Evans, the great Richie Evans, the Dale
45:54
Earnhardt Richie Petty of Northeast Racing Greatest it
45:56
ever was. I guess modified.
45:58
I just woke up to him introduced myself.
45:59
I said, Richie, don't know me. I said, but I'll drive it. 22
46:02
Car was like in the Bush series or whatever.
46:05
It was like I guess it was Bush did I don't have radios.
46:08
Would you rent me your radios after the race Sunday?
46:10
And we talked for a little bit. I think it took me back.
46:13
Anyhow, we ended up making a deal right?
46:15
So the race, his race is run first.
46:17
It was over. I go, I we grab the radios his
46:21
crew guys radio out of his car. I even use his helmet because
46:24
the earpiece is made in the helmet.
46:26
I put his sweaty asshole helmet on and run my.
46:29
Oh gosh. Yes.
46:30
True story. True story.
46:32
And the race is over. We run the race.
46:34
I take my stuff back to Richie. I said, Richie here, I
46:36
appreciate it. I work, you know, so thankful
46:39
how much to owe you. And he looked at me, said Rick,
46:41
I don't know. I've never rented radio before.
46:43
I don't know what it's worth. I said, well, I'm not sure
46:46
either. I mean, I you just tell me and
46:47
I'll pay you because I finished that day so I had money, right?
46:50
And and we sit there and he, he didn't know what to do.
46:54
He finally said, you going to be here for the next race in the
46:56
spring or the fall, whatever it was.
46:57
I said, yeah. He said meet me at the Dutch Inn
46:59
on Saturday night. Buy me a beer.
47:01
Let's call it even. Yes.
47:03
Like, it's like being to me. It felt like being anointed by
47:07
the Pope, you know? Yeah.
47:09
This is Richie Evans, dude. Yeah, we go back for the next
47:13
race and I'm standing on Pit Rd. Then it modifies the proxy and
47:17
we're on the back stretch. And I'm just watching them
47:19
because we've been on the track yet.
47:21
And I watched Richie come out of Turn 2.
47:22
I watched him go in Turn three. I see he's left front wheel kick
47:24
out right, he locks up, he goes right into the wall.
47:28
Oh no, I know where you're going.
47:29
I know where you're going with this.
47:31
I'm so sorry. And we lost Richie.
47:36
The one part of that story I forgot to tell you when we were
47:39
sitting there that morning before the race, I'm trying to
47:43
joke with Richie a little bit. I say, Richie, I said normally
47:46
I'd bet on you to win this race day because you always win every
47:48
time we come down here, I said. But my guy said they seen you
47:51
being dragged out of the Dutch end this morning at 4:30 in the
47:54
morning, right? Richie was a partier, right?
47:57
Richie loved to party. My guys, course they were up to.
48:01
They said. And I said, I don't know if you
48:03
got drug out of the. You were drug out of the.
48:06
That's in at 4:30 this morning. You would have mean from
48:09
partying. I don't know.
48:09
I'll bet on you today. And he said something and I
48:12
gigged him a little more. I think it irritated me.
48:14
Fine. Looked at me.
48:15
So let me tell you something, boy, he said.
48:17
You only hear a blink of an eye. He says work hard, treat people
48:22
right and be happy, right. I'm like, OK, when he hit that
48:26
wall, Kenny, I was sitting there and looking at it.
48:29
And then when the rescue went there and I remember Andy Hall
48:32
come by me. So we lost Richie, right?
48:35
And I remember thinking work hard, treat people right and be
48:39
happy, right. And I I kind of, I kind of
48:44
accepted that monitor, you might say.
48:47
And I it it changed how I started looking at things and
48:51
doing things right. It made me, I guess it made me
48:54
realize, you know, there's a little bit bigger picture than
48:57
this lap. This last lap we just ran and
49:00
what the car is doing, which leads into your deal, right?
49:04
You know, you get so wrapped up in that moment of what you're
49:07
doing, You know, you're just like, I mean, you know the deal,
49:11
Kenny and NASCAR trying to get up through where any any of this
49:15
race would really doubt. But yeah, I mean, you're like
49:17
trying to put out the Hells of fire, the fire of Hells with a
49:20
squirt gun, you know what I mean?
49:21
And sometimes you need divine adventure to help you.
49:25
Everybody that I've interviewed, every conversation I've had,
49:30
even the greats, they right away go to the negative.
49:33
They're not happy with their championships or their wins.
49:37
They they say they're scarred for life.
49:40
I. Can believe that from.
49:41
The bad stuff. I can believe that because
49:43
you're so. I try to tell people like in in
49:46
the 80s when all I knew is I had to get the cup.
49:49
I didn't know. I sat on the pole one time at
49:51
Dover in the Bush race, come out in front of the car.
49:53
Jerry Punch comes by to do a interview, a pre recorded
49:56
interview for the TV. Right.
49:58
And the next week Jerry comes to me and says Rick, we didn't use
50:02
that interview last week I said why?
50:03
What do you mean? He said well you got out for
50:04
another car, you had grease on your face, you were sweaty.
50:06
I was trying to interview you. He said well you can tell the
50:09
last thing you want to do is we talked to a camera.
50:11
I said OK, he says you want to be a cup driver, right.
50:15
I says more than anything, Jerry.
50:17
He says people know you people are watching it, and we think
50:21
you you have the talent to do it, he said.
50:23
But if you going to do this, you got to fix that shit.
50:24
All right, so I did. I went to work.
50:27
Then I took a Carnegie course and I started becoming media
50:30
friends. Yeah, yeah, I took a Carnegie
50:32
did Jared. I called it what I did.
50:34
I called did Jared. I said, Ned, what I need to do.
50:37
I thought that's what I did because I didn't know.
50:39
All I knew is my car had to win. If it won, somehow I know that
50:42
that would get me there. It's like right now, the same
50:45
deal. Right now, if a guy's been a Cup
50:46
owner, you know, all he knows is if he wins, just like a workout.
50:50
If he don't, he's going to hell, right?
50:52
And and anyhow, we did the Carnegie deal and through did
50:55
Jarrett and then I started reaching out to the media guys,
50:59
making, making formal relationships with them, you
51:01
know, doing all that stuff. And because I didn't know how to
51:04
do this, I I didn't, you know, from this area where I met.
51:08
It's kind of secluded if you've been here and you were here
51:11
secluded from the rest of the race of the world.
51:12
You had the Hickory bunch. You had the Richmond bunch, you
51:16
had the Caraway bunch, you had the Birmingham bunch, you had
51:19
the Manassas bunch, you had the Maryland bunch.
51:21
Right clicks, the clicks. I wasn't in one of those clicks.
51:24
I didn't know what anybody else was doing.
51:26
I never knew what anybody else was doing with the race cars.
51:29
All those guys knew what they other guys were doing, right?
51:32
So I was self-taught and everything about my chassis and
51:35
everything I did about building my cars.
51:36
I mean, I was right here in this shop where I'm setting, building
51:39
my race cars. You want to be doing what I
51:41
thought you needed to do. That's how I did it.
51:44
It wasn't from help from anybody.
51:46
And damn, I've done got off track.
51:48
What the hell? No.
51:49
No, no, no. This this is so good, it's
51:50
unreal. No, you're you're still on
51:52
track. You.
51:54
I I asked you, you know, I'm going to remind you where we're
51:57
at. I'm the same as you.
51:59
Yeah, OK. So you you told me one day on
52:03
Pit Rd. you said Kenny you got to calm down and and it this
52:08
story you're telling is unbelievable.
52:10
You're saying that you know you didn't grow up in any cliques
52:13
everybody have their own little deal and that and that you
52:17
watching Richie Evans die right in front of you and him telling
52:22
you work hard treat people good. Oh, I just want to, I want to
52:27
tell you what you just told me is it is unbelievable and one of
52:32
the greatest stories that that 10 minute segment right there is
52:37
very heartfelt. And I want to say to you that
52:40
you wanted to make it to NASCAR so bad that you went to the Dale
52:44
Carnegie course so you can learn how to talk to the media with
52:50
your head up, represent your sponsors.
52:52
So that that leads me, God, we're already at an hour.
52:55
This is insane. OK.
52:58
So you end up driving you go. You take the Dale Carnegie
53:04
course. Let let's change paths.
53:06
Now let's. Change.
53:07
Can I stop? One second.
53:08
Let's stop. When you came to me with that,
53:10
right? Right.
53:11
That day you were, you were. And you brought this up to me
53:13
before years ago. Then that may remember back to
53:17
it. And then that's how that's how
53:19
I'm still able to remember. If you hadn't brought that up a
53:21
few years ago, I probably forgot about.
53:23
But the deal was, Kenny, I was. I would help anybody do
53:27
anything. But if if if there's somebody I
53:29
didn't really care for, you know, I didn't do, I didn't do
53:32
anything right, You know, I'd be cordial.
53:35
Nice. But you were one of those guys.
53:38
I mean, I watched you when you came in.
53:40
Oh, hell. Here's, here's Rusty Wallace's
53:41
brother, right? Hell, he'll be like the rest of
53:43
these guys. They had to fight with, right?
53:45
And it become apparent very soon that Rusty was baking Kenny
53:49
Wallace, earning this on his own.
53:50
You know what I mean? You.
53:51
Can I did everything myself? With lame.
53:54
LAME can help you get there a little bit.
53:56
But when you're there, you better do your own deal, man.
53:58
And your ass will get kicked out.
54:00
And I watched you and I was around you and I was around
54:04
Raquel Kim and I I you know you're one of those guys that.
54:10
And I'm better at this than I used to be.
54:12
I used to be pretty good at. But I'm better now.
54:14
I could I could. I feel like I'm a good person.
54:16
Good at judging people's heart. I I go off of people's heart,
54:20
right. I don't give a damn what you
54:22
say, what you do. I want to see what your inner
54:24
being is, right? And you, you always come across
54:27
me as one of those guys. It's just good hearted son of a
54:30
bitch, right? And I see so many guys in your
54:35
position. I was in that position.
54:37
I know exactly what you were feeling, what you were going
54:39
through and but I I wanted you to succeed, right?
54:43
And in that moment when you were where you were at and you're so
54:47
encapsulated in that moment that you couldn't, you know, release
54:52
it enough to be able to make rational decisions and that
54:54
screws you up and racing man. If you don't, if you get that,
54:57
I've seen guys ruin careers ruin, I can say names and you
55:01
don't too of of getting in that mindset that it completely
55:04
screws them up and they can't think about the bigger picture.
55:07
That's all they're worried about is the last two races and the
55:10
cars doing this. And I can't fix it, right?
55:12
Well, you got to get out of that a little bit, you know what I
55:15
mean? And that's where you were at
55:16
that point. And I was just trying to, you
55:19
know, just make you see a light. It's it's different.
55:21
And you're not the only person that ever said that to something
55:24
like that. Do you?
55:24
But maybe. But anyhow, that's the reason I
55:27
did that so. I love you.
55:30
I love you. And I haven't told anybody I
55:31
love him yet on on the 32 episodes that we've done.
55:34
And you, you saved my life that day and I appreciate you so much
55:39
so. All right, if.
55:41
You're going to make me cry. So I got to keep going here.
55:44
OK? You go to Dale Carnegie.
55:46
You want to make it to the big time?
55:48
You do you. You end up being sponsored by
55:52
the largest tobacco company, I think, in America.
55:56
Skull. Just a capsule of your time at
56:02
Skull. I mean, was it Leo?
56:05
Richard Jackson. Who is your owner?
56:08
You know, tell me about that moment.
56:10
You know, you just told us you were with AJ Foy, the greatest
56:14
race car driver of all. You were done Per Dome, the
56:17
greatest drag racer. Tell me about that.
56:20
Those skull times. Dude, when that happened again,
56:23
it's like it need to be. It's magical.
56:25
This is something you work for your whole life, man.
56:27
I decided to deal at Dover DE for the next year with Skull,
56:31
Richard Jackson and Johnny Hayes for a cup deal, right?
56:35
I owed $50,000. I was in debt.
56:37
My sponsored got up in the middle of the night and left.
56:39
This is 1990. I go to Bristol $52 to my name.
56:43
We win Bristol, right. I got $50,000 in debt.
56:46
My creditors in the race and it was BSR, but Stevens, Mike
56:50
Laughlin. Carrie Bodenhammer, Fort Tex,
56:54
Pal, right, these guys. I owe all these guys.
56:58
My sponsor's supposed to been taken care of.
56:59
They didn't do it. I said.
57:01
I called each one of them up. I said, listen, my sponsor left
57:03
in the middle of the night. He left his company the whole
57:05
deal. You know the guy, Glenn Doyle
57:07
with raving boats. But anyhow, I said I can sell
57:10
all my shit now and pay you, or if you wait the end of the year.
57:13
I think I'm going to get a Cup ride next year.
57:15
I'm working hard, I'm talking to people.
57:17
If I get that, I can pay you. If the end of the year comes and
57:19
I can't pay you, I don't have a cup deal, I'll sell my shit and
57:22
pay you, everyone of them, without a fault, said Rick.
57:25
Run the real year out. Don't worry about us.
57:26
You pay us when you can, right? So I've always cherished that.
57:29
So anyhow, I got this school deal and we signed it that fall.
57:34
The next January, before we even go racing, I go down to
57:37
Charlotte and I hop on US tobacco with this go, I hop on
57:40
their G4, right G4 right here, says Johnny Hayes.
57:45
Right here says Lou Bannell, the CEO of the company.
57:48
And I've never met this dude before, but he's, you know, he'd
57:51
fire you, fire you, whatever. He's the one who had to prove
57:53
what Johnny Hayes recommended, right?
57:56
I look around there since Harry, which I knew Harry there says
57:59
snake for Dome here since AJ Foy.
58:01
And right across from me, I'm sitting in this seat and the
58:04
seat turned to be is Lou Bannell.
58:06
And right beside him, since this tall guy, and he really was, his
58:09
name is Tony George, right? The owner of the.
58:17
And we we're flying along and Harry wants me to sit there, or
58:20
we Johnny wants me to sit there across from Lou to have a
58:24
conversation with Lou. Lou get to know me right.
58:27
And I don't know why the hell Tony George is stuck in the
58:29
middle of this, but anyhow, Harry looks at me one time.
58:32
We're flying over the Caribbean. We're headed to.
58:33
We're headed Dominican Republic cops at the Campo Big Resort.
58:36
Right? Harry looks at me.
58:38
He's a reckon to tell you something, boy.
58:39
That's what's that. This is the ultimate right here.
58:42
It don't get no better. OK, Harry, whatever you say, you
58:47
know? So we go down there.
58:48
We spend like six or seven days at this resort.
58:51
Just US playing golf and getting it was decadent.
58:54
It was decadent, man. They would feed us and this
58:57
whole deal. And AJ was on crutches.
58:59
He just, you know, hadn't been long out of that bad wreck he
59:01
had at Elkhart. You know, we broke all his feet.
59:04
You know, he was on crutches. They were having a, they were
59:06
having a coup going on in Haiti and we land this G4 and you know
59:11
you go through chicken wire at this airport to get to where
59:14
you're going and everybody's got guns and little mulatto guys
59:17
with little short guys with machine guns.
59:19
Blaze and it's all guarded. And AJ is worried to death.
59:23
We're going to get taken over. 7 people in 8200 miles away.
59:26
They're having a coup. They got a $48 million jet over
59:29
here. They find that out, they go
59:30
steals. Now how in the hell are we going
59:31
to get home? We're going to be.
59:32
We're going to die here. But anyhow, that was my first
59:37
deal scope. And from there to the end, it
59:39
was just like that magical Kitty.
59:42
Mr. Bannell took that company from a $50 million gross company
59:46
to me and a billion 5. Which ain't large for Fortune
59:49
500 company and gross. But he was always in top five in
59:53
in in earnings. Right.
59:55
Great guy. All he was about Barking, Racing
59:57
and skull, brother, you know rodeo and skull.
1:00:00
And Mr. Battle told me one time he says Rick.
1:00:03
He says if you and Harry went on Sundays, he said that's nothing.
1:00:08
But I sit on a cake for us. We've already done that weekend
1:00:12
what we wanted to do, he says. The only thing I ever, ever
1:00:15
asked of my drivers Do not embarrass me.
1:00:19
Do not embarrass me. That's.
1:00:22
The only thing that that group ever ask of me more than what I
1:00:27
was doing, don't embarrass us. Just cool, cool deal.
1:00:32
Cool deal. Well, Rick, I got to tell you
1:00:36
there's more to say, but we've already been an hour.
1:00:38
I'm going to have to have you back on Kenny conversation.
1:00:42
I want to thank you so much from the bottom line.
1:00:45
We got to do that. What do you?
1:00:46
I told you to allow more time for this.
1:00:49
You can't. I'm just kidding.
1:00:51
I'm just kidding. You know what?
1:00:52
It is crazy how fast it goes, right?
1:00:55
Well, our our lives, Kenny. And you know this, man.
1:00:58
Our lives in racing. You can't make up this shit.
1:01:02
You cannot. I mean, like in the 80s, dude, I
1:01:04
tell people all the time I was my my intent was being tough.
1:01:07
I put it before God. I put it before my family.
1:01:11
I put it before my finances, right?
1:01:13
Because all I knew is I had to have my race car at the track at
1:01:17
8:00 in the morning and I had to be able to win right that that.
1:01:21
Now, after I got the Cup, I made amends for all three of those
1:01:24
with God, my family and my finances.
1:01:26
I did that. But that's that's always.
1:01:28
And you're just so consumed with that.
1:01:30
And we're all you, everybody, every swinging that could get
1:01:33
through that deal in those days. You know, we all, we all come
1:01:36
through different ways, but it was still the same emotions, the
1:01:38
same fortitude, the same grit, you know, the same attitudes
1:01:43
Well, and we all fought the same thing no matter how we did it.
1:01:47
Jeff Burton was on Kenny Conversation and he said exactly
1:01:51
what you just said. He says My wife, my children
1:01:54
knew that racing came first and I was telling my family about
1:01:59
that last night and you know, they all just looked at me
1:02:03
because my daughter Brooke, I told Jeff this.
1:02:07
My daughter Brooke does not like NASCAR today and I said, I said,
1:02:11
Brookie, why don't you like NASCAR?
1:02:13
She's 36 years old. She goes, Dad, I saw what it did
1:02:18
to you. Exactly.
1:02:19
Exactly. And oh man, well we we came out
1:02:23
we came out and and you've done a beautiful job with your family
1:02:26
and and Rick what have you. By the way.
1:02:30
Thank you. Yes, thank you.
1:02:33
OK. This is it, my friend.
1:02:35
You know, I want to let all the fans know that they can listen
1:02:38
to you, Rick, in podcast form. We are in podcast form.
1:02:44
They can, they can listen to you on the way to work on iTunes or
1:02:47
Spotify and they can turn around and listen to you all the way
1:02:52
back to home. But thank you.
1:02:54
Thank you for being on Kenny conversation.
1:02:57
It was wonderful. We're going to do it again
1:02:58
because I have more. I have more.
1:03:00
And thank you so much, Rick. Thank you, Kenny.
1:03:04
Proud of you, man. Let me tell you something.
1:03:05
I'm proud of you. I truly am.
1:03:07
I'm proud of you. Saints.
1:03:10
Case closed, Can. I get Can I get a ticket from
1:03:13
your son for the when the car? If you ever want to go to the
1:03:17
Braves game, you know what I mean.
1:03:19
Ricky can fix you up. He's swinging a pretty big stick
1:03:21
down there. Now, if you're ever out in Vail,
1:03:24
Co and get hurt on the ski slopes, right, Katie, my
1:03:28
daughter can fix you up with the best orthopaedic surgeons in the
1:03:31
world. And you'd be surprised.
1:03:33
You'd be surprised the people that come through that place, of
1:03:36
course. Again, through his HIPAA
1:03:37
regulations, she tells a whole lot.
1:03:39
But it's it's pretty phenomenal. Or if you ever hear in in here
1:03:43
at home, it needs to be some thoughts and lessons.
1:03:45
My other daughter Sarah can teach you some lessons too.
1:03:48
So I. Love it.
1:03:50
OK everybody. Until the next.
1:03:53
Hold on, hold on. Never done this before.
1:03:56
In the history of the Kenny conversation, we have never done
1:04:00
this. Your biggest fan is right here.
1:04:03
Cool. Kim, We are live.
1:04:05
Oh, hey, Raquel, Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
1:04:09
You look good. Girl.
1:04:10
What? Do you?
1:04:12
Want to do first time I saw you walking up with Kenny, I says.
1:04:16
Oh God, Raquel Wilkes got a sister.
1:04:18
I don't know if she had a sister.
1:04:21
All right. Well, let's do it just like
1:04:23
this. All right, everybody.
1:04:24
Until until the next Kenny conversation.
1:04:27
We'll see you all later. Bye, bye.
1:04:28
Thank you.