ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604220092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
It's not true that Dick Thompson wrote the news release when Red Byron won the first NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway in 1949.
It just seems like it.
On a weekend when driver Terry Labonte will establish a standard for longevity on Winston Cup's shortest short track, Thompson is being saluted appropriately for his career in the business, too.
The Goody's 500 on Sunday will be Thompson's 61st Winston Cup race as Martinsville's media chief, and Friday night he was surprised by a dinner and roast.
His title, ``vice president of corporate communications,'' is far too extravagant for Thompson, who recalls his early days at the track, ``when there weren't enough people in the stands to have a good fist fight.''
``I don't want to say Dick's been at Martinsville a long time,'' said the circuit's all-purpose media man, Bob Latford, ``but he dates from a time when someone would call the track and ask, `What time does the race start?'
``Dick would answer, `What time can you be here?'''
The ducks and geese that used to roam Clay Earles' track property probably knew Thompson by name. He came to work at the speedway on Jan.2, 1966.
``No, the speedway was already paved then,'' said current Martinsville president Clay Campbell, who was 6 when Thompson arrived from the sports department of this newspaper. ``Dick is not older than dirt. He's just older than asphalt.''
He's also reliable, courteous, jovial, respected, balding, unflappable and, like Earles' track, somewhat oval.
You want consistent performance? Labonte's easily been lapped by Thompson.
In such a noisy world, Thompson is known for being peaceful. That includes the time about two decades ago ``when he wanted to kill one writer in the press box, he was so mad,'' Latford said. ``Dick held his tongue, then went home, punched the wall, and broke his wrist.''
Thompson also is known for his writing ability, which sprouted at home. He started in sportswriting as a teen-ager in Bristol, where his dad, the late Gene ``Pappy'' Thompson, was sports editor of the Herald-Courier.
Thompson loves good and colorful writing, and it shows in his prose. He cares for the speedway, its race sponsors. Those sometimes unusual covers you see on Martinsville race weekend programs? Those are Thompson productions.
For years, Thompson, 61, was a one-man act in Martinsville's public relations operation. And to listen to Thompson you'd think he, not Joe Gibbs, is the man in racing who once coached the Washington Redskins.
``It seems he's always been a steady point on the circuit,'' Latford said. ``He's seen the change in the sport and certainly at Martinsville. He was there when there were roses climbing on the outhouse restrooms.''
Thompson and his wife, Sandra, have four children and seven grandchildren. They and the racetrack family pretty much know how Thompson will handle any situation.
Conservative? This guy may like to write, but he definitely wasn't a pen pal of the Unabomber.
``He's pretty much a chopped steak, mushroom gravy kind of guy,'' said Campbell, who is Earles' grandson. ``That, or a speedway hot dog. He smokes, and I'm sure he smokes Winston. He drinks Pepsi. It was Coke. Whatever is [the track's brand], that's Dick's brand.
``Being here, or anywhere, for 30 years is a feat in itself. He's been so instrumental in what we've accomplished here, how we've grown. When I was a young kid around here growing up, he was like another father to me.''
You want exciting? You want off the wall? Watch the race, not Thompson.
That explains the night in Southern Pines, N.C., when Thompson announced to a young Roanoke newspaper reporter covering a Rockingham race that ``we were going to have a wild and exciting night,'' said Steve Waid, now executive editor of Winston Cup Scene.
``Dick meets the reporter [Waid] for dinner, they eat at the motel, and go back to their rooms. About 8:30, this wild, wild night is waiting to begin, but the guy hasn't heard from Thompson.
``After waiting and waiting, the guy knocks on Thompson's door. He answers in his T-shirt and boxer shorts and tells the reporter to come in.
``Dick has two cans of Coke, a small glass and a bucket of ice. There's a horror movie on TV. It's called `The Claw.' The movie was so bad, but we sat there and watched it.
``That's Dick Thompson. A good horror movie in his BVDs and two cans of Coke is a wild night.''
Yeah, but he did have ice.
That's just the kind of Thompson detail that has kept Martinsville running the past three decades.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB