THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290063
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: OBSCURE TOUR
LOCAL LANDMARKS THE TOUR BOOKS NEVER MENTION
SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
THE PUNCHLINE of Joe Weatherly's joke-loving, fast-talking, hard-partying life is carved into marble at Norfolk's Forest Lawn Cemetery.T HE PUNCHLINE of Joe Weatherly's joke-loving, fast-talking, hard-partying life is carved into marble at Norfolk's Forest Lawn Cemetery.
A headstone there commemorates the beloved NASCAR racer, who in the early 1960s dominated what is now called the Winston Cup circuit.
The stone is memorable, to say the least.
Weatherly was known almost as well for his colorful lifestyle as for his racing prowess - legends abound of his pranks, his racing uniform of saddle oxfords and golf gloves, his hilarious turns of phrase.
He was serious, it seems, only behind the wheel. He won the Grand National championship in 1962 and 1963 and was threatening to three-peat the following season, when he entered a 185-lap race at California's Riverside Raceway on Jan. 19, 1964.
Weatherly was way back in the pack when, on the 101st lap, something went wrong with him or his Mercury two-door. The car slid as it came out of turn 5 and slammed into a retaining wall on turn 6. Weatherly was killed instantly. The Riverside track closed in 1988, but is preserved for the ages on Weatherly's headstone: The marble is carved into the raceway's shape, and a checkered flag and Weatherly's racing number - 8 - are chiseled into turn 6.< The inscription labeling Weatherly ``The Clown Prince of Racing'' seems almost redundant. MEMO: Obscure Tour explores landmarks the tour books don't mention.Obscure
Tour explores landmarks the tour books don't mention. by CNB