Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 4, 1990 TAG: 9007040074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: By RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FCS promoter Donald "Whitey" Taylor heard all the snickers.
"At the beginning of the season, all the young guys were laughing at the old man," Taylor said.
"They would laugh real big and say, `Here comes ol' Paul. What's he trying to do? The old man can't even see.'
"But in the last three months, the kids have found out different. Don't mess with the old man because he can still run."
And run fast. At the season's halfway point, the venerable Radford leads the track's Late Model Stock Car points race.
Radford even won a race a few weeks ago, driving through a last-lap, third-turn pileup unscathed and going from fourth to first and victory.
"We lucked into that one," the Ferrum retiree said. "We've been running pretty consistent all year long, but we need to run more up front. I've led one lap and won a race.
"But it's still exciting for me to drive and to win. Besides, I know it does the young guys good to outrun an old dude like me."
Radford, who won his first race in 1952 at Victory Stadium, now has won races in parts of five decades. Take that, Richard Petty.
"Petty could still win, but he doesn't have the car," said Radford, taking up for the 53-year-old stock car king.
"Chubby Arrington has built a Dodge that's a good car.
"That's another thing that aggravates those kids. They fret a little because I'm so old and that I drive a Dodge."
Radford, whose nephew, Bobby, is a former FCS champion, confessed that his eyesight and reflexes gradually have tried to steer him to the other side of pit wall.
"I'm sure my eyesight and reflexes are not as good as they once were and I may not think as well," Radford said.
"But you know what? I think I'm still as wild as ever."
Although he has run on and off at FCS since the facility opened in 1969, Radford never has won the track driving title.
"I've never really run for the points," he said, "but I'd like to win it this year because this could be my last one."
When asked about retirement, the old driver quickly backed off the throttle.
"You can't never tell about that. Herschel McGriff is still going, and he's older than I am," Radford said. "So I don't know how long I can go on."
Radford will be among the favorites in tonight's 100-lap Late Model Car headliner on the Coca-Cola 300 card.
The winner of the 100-lap feature will take home $2,500.
Top contenders include Roanoke's Tim McGuire and Salem's Dickie Wilson, the only two-time winners this season at FCS. Also expected to contend are Daleville's Orvil Reedy, Rocky Mount's Gerald Compton and Lexington's Frankie Pennington.
Also on the card is a 50-lap Any Car race paying $1,000 to win, a 35-lap Super Stock event and a 25-lap Mini Stock show.
Taylor predicted the speedway would draw close to 10,000 fans on his biggest racing day of the season.
Admission is $5. The first race starts at 7 p.m. A fireworks display will follow the racing card.
Taylor said he needs a good night at the box office. The promoter said he has taken a beating financially lately at his other racing facility - Natural Bridge Speedway.
The 3/8-mile dirt oval has been without Friday night racing since May 25. Taylor was forced to shut down after Rockbridge County officials deemed the track's septic system insufficient. Taylor lost his five June dates and may miss two more before work on a new system can be completed.
In the meantime, many of the Natural Bridge drivers and fans are heading north to Waynesboro's Eastside Speedway on Fridays.
Taylor, who threatened to open the track and run what he billed as the "New Commode 250" last Friday, said the Natural Bridge race fans are being "cheated."
by CNB