
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 8, 1991                   TAG: 9104090495
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A/8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RACES A PLEASURE, BUT NOT FOR PATIENTS

I WOULD enjoy auto racing at Victory Stadium. I have been a patient at Roanoke Memorial's eighth floor, where I could have looked out and watched the races. But I was very sick, and the last thing I would have wanted was noise and excitement.

Under normal conditions, I love the roar of big engines cranking high rpm's. Being in the hospital is not a normal condition. If Whitey Taylor is to succeed in this endeavor, he must have the late-model stock cars. There is no way they can be held down to 50-60 mph on any track, much less the size of Victory Stadium! And "mufflers"? Give us a break.

I love racing (not women in wet T-shirts and mud wrestling), but my heart goes out to all those people in the hospital who would have to bear more suffering. If the noise level is going to be monitored properly, then the city will have to bring out 20 late-model stock cars with "mufflers" all racing at the same time, and 3,000 to 5,000 fans cheering wildly for their favorite drivers, before they can really check decibel levels.

If it is approved, I will go to see (and hear) the races. But the next time I go to the hospital, it will be in Salem.

GARY WELSH

TROUTVILLE

by CNB