My First Race

The first stock car race I ever went to was the Phillips 66/Mockingbird 300 at the Fairgrounds on March 21, 1993. I don't remember a whole lot about it (I would have been nine at the time), but I can assure you I had a good time. I do remember that Scott Hansen won in an Oldsmobile. I thought that the wrap-around rear windows on those Oldsmobiles were so cool...

During my last trip to Talladega, I found an article about the race in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame library. The librarian was nice enough to let me make a copy of the article. Maybe next trip I'll bring a portable scanner and make a more permanent copy.













Of course, being a kid, I couldn't pass the souvenir stand without begging dad for a small memento. Naturally he relented, so I (he) bought the official Nashville Motor Raceway car. It served as the pace car for quite a few 1:64 races.

(This isn't the actual car, but one like it. The original has about 62% less paint left on it than this one.)