Hi Willie!
I read with interest your recent article on the birth of NASCAR.
While the France family had long had a monopoly on the foundations of NASCAR, team owner Raymond Parkes was also considered a founder and provided plenty of startup money to get things moving.
If you check out the book by Neil Thompson called Driving with the Devil, you’ll get the rest of the proverbial story.
Tim S
Hey, TIM S!
If Big Bill France is largely credited with organizing the NASCAR world, Raymond Parks will be remembered as the man who branded the joint.
Clean equipment, flashy cars, and his dapper looks paved the way for others to clean their shoes, comb their hair, and say, “We can be better.”
The article you mentioned, however, focused on the events of December 1947, which served as a launching pad for Bill France as president of NASCAR. Raymond Parks was at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach for those meetings, and would play a huge role in the early days of the sport.
He’s one of many who can say, “I’m not sure Bill Big could have done it without him.”
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Hi Willie!
Perhaps your editor needs to use the FishVerify app you wrote about. The picture with the article was of a red fish, not a snook.
elephant
Hello, Phil!
At least you blamed the editor, not me. Thank you for that. A few others gleefully pointed out that I didn’t seem to know the difference between two very different fish.
Turns out, the caption for the photo on the December 23 hunting report was shortened during the print planning stage and appears to show the world’s only snook who traded in his racing stripe for a large spot on his tail.
This is show business, you know.
By the way, the FishVerify app is amazing. Which I was told of course. If I catch another fish (and I mean EVER!), I will test it myself.
Hi Willie!
When college football games expand, how long before the rest of the balls schedule dries up?
With so many star players choosing not to play in their school’s bowl game, what’s the point? Who will pay for tickets to see Hackers II? Who will watch?
When players sign with a college out of high school, isn’t that a form of contract that says they’ll be willing to play every game on the schedule?
Doug
Hi, Doug!
You’re asking the guy who paid to join a sold-out crowd at the Gator Bowl last week. Many bowling games have been played before near empty stadiums and watched only by those with basic cable (and marital issues, I think).
I am sure many of us are not satisfied with the current scene and how chaotic things have become. Hopefully a logical balance can be found, but with so many target groups to satisfy, it won’t be easy.
As long as the bowl organizers are willing to play host, and as long as TV is willing to pay for the broadcast rights, there will be bowl games, and honestly, I hope that lasts forever.
Also (and we probably should have followed suit), don’t forget the gambling aspect. Betters – hardcore and casual alike – won’t be turned off by losing players to the transfer portal or opt-out ramp. Not when there is money to be made!
As long as there is a gamble in Rick’s CafeThere will be ball games, the more the merrier.
Hi Willie!
I haven’t seen your column lately. did you retire
If so, all the best.
Tim F
Hey, TIM F!
And to quote Grandpa’s not-so-secret crush, Peggy Lee: “Is that all there is to it?”
The man takes a week off. One week! Ol Tim here thinks he must be gone forever, so he digs through his feelings and offers, “All the best.”
I realize that the days of the golden hour are long gone. In today’s disposable world, even a party dish and 30 minutes on a Friday afternoon might be asking too much.
But “all good”? I thought we had more than that.
As they say at the biggest celebrations, I am humbled. Just in a different way.
Well, when I shut up Peggy, if that’s all there is to it, let’s keep dancing, let’s go out on the wine and have a ball.
Contact Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com