Let's go back to yesteryear. Way back in 1964, I was a teenager and a fan of the automobile. I'd heard of NASCAR, and my father thought that we should attend a race at Martinsville Speedway, only a couple of hours from our home. Dad was a Ford fan. I can only remember two cars he owned that were not Fords -- a Kaiser and a Dodge. He swore off owning anything else after the Dodge.
We were a Ford family and we were going to Martinsville to cheer on the Ford drivers, mostly Fearless Freddy Lorenzen. Lorenzen drove a Holman-Moody Ford to four straight wins at the paperclip-shaped short track from 1963-1965, and we were there for both victories in 1964. I'll never forget it.
After many years and lots of tracks, I found no venue better than Martinsville. Sure, it's hard to get to, but not as bad as some city dwellers like you to think. It's on four-lane US Rt. 220, nestled between Roanoke, Va., and Greensboro, N.C. Motel rooms are at a premium, but a short drive from Roanoke or Greensboro gets you to the action with little traffic and lots of charm. And you see racing instead of posturing. The tack is narrow and more than one driver has lost his temper there. It's a place where you have to have the skill to actually race. Imagine that.
You sit on top of the action at Martinsville, unlike many of the more modern tracks in the series. Even those sitting in the tower in the third and fourth turns have a view of the entire track. You can actually see the drivers in the cars and watch them fight the wheel as they strive to get another position on the track. It's a different experience than you get at tracks nearby like Lowe's Motor Speedway, where the cars flirt with 200 mph or even Bristol and Darlington. The racing is like it was in 1964, or even 1944, for that matter. It's history.
No praise of the track can be written without due notice to the people who manage and work at the track. There is not a track that I have visited that is more fan friendly than Martinsville. Martinsville Speedway exists for the fans. The track is small, but it's an easy walk to any seat, and once you get there, the people are like relatives. They may get on your nerves, but they are polite and you just know that the three hours it takes to run a 250-mile race will be action packed. I once had a stranger bring me a hot dog or two on his way back to his seat. I didn't know him from Adam, but that's the kind of hospitality you get there. And about those hot dogs...
I've eaten hundreds of hot dogs (and my waistline shows it), but never have I had a hot dog like they make at Martinsville Speedway. First of all, the dogs are bright red. Made by a company called Jesse Jones (which leaves the novice pause), they are real hot dogs with flavor. None of that mystery meat can be found here. They top it the only way you should get it -- all the way -- as they say at the concession stands. Stack chili, onions, what they call bar-b-que slaw on them and that steamed bun and you have a treat for the taste buds. I'm sure one of those babies are at least 250 calories in your battle with the bulge, but eating three or four on a Saturday is a treat. No track, with the standard carnie stands, can compete with this. There's nothing like it. I've watched crew members and the general public in competition to see how many they could eat. At $2.00, it's a track bargain (even if they've raised the price, which is okay -- I hope no one is reading this in food service at the track).
If you haven't been to Martinsville yet, I hope you go this year. I have feared that NASCAR would eliminate a race at this track for years. With more glamorous facilities begging for a race, and despite persistent rumors, you have to wonder how long this jewel will withstand the pressure to host two races a year. I certainly hope that 30 years from now, when I'm dead and gone, people are still enjoying this little track that takes you back to the way racing started. It would be criminal for the suits in Daytona Beach to eliminate such history. But then I see some of the rest of history changed so often. Darlington no longer hosts the Southern 500 on Labor Day. North Wilkesboro is only a memory and Rockingham, thanks to Andy Hillenberg, only hosts ARCA and other series races. We've replaced these tracks with California, which struggles to get 50,000 people in the seats and other venues far from the roots of NASCAR.
Long live Martinsville! In fact, I'm heading down there today. I'll fondly remember my father and Fred Lorenzen on the way down. And wonder why tracks like this are becoming extinct.
