Racing on the Fourth no longer a given
Kenny Bruce
Kenny Bruce is a three-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association's George Cunningham Writer of the Year Award. He joined Street & Smith's Sports Group in 2001.
It seems a bit strange to have a Fourth of July race actually on the Fourth of July these days. That’s not as crazy as it sounds, but I admit, it sounds crazy.
Ever since NASCAR changed gears and stopped holding the summer event at Daytona on the 4th every year – something that was done after the 1987 season – the race date has merely fallen during the first week of the month.
But from 1959 until 1987, it was July 4. No need to look at a calendar.
You knew the date of one race each year regardless of any changes in the rest of the schedule.
In case you were wondering, Ernie Irvan won the last Cup race held here on July 4 (1992), driving for Morgan-McClure Motorsports.
Just file this one under “Things that happen on the Road:” If you travel a good bit, as most of us who report on NASCAR do, chances are that you’ll occasionally forget to pack an item or two. If you’re lucky, it’s never anything that can’t be purchased without much fuss while on the road – a toothbrush maybe, or a pair of socks.
This week, the item was a cell phone charger. I always keep two handy – one for the car and one for everywhere else. Always. Well, almost always. So a trip to the local cellular phone store was in order yesterday (the provider shall remain nameless). I was informed by one of the clerks that they had 26 in stock – 25 were required for hurricane victims (more on that later). So I was fortunate to get package No. 26. Which obviously had been opened. Which didn’t mean it had been defective and returned, I was assured, because “we wouldn’t do that.”
Naturally, when I got back to my room and removed the charger, I discovered the cord had been cut in two. I’m thinking that wasn’t a factory defect.
As for the stock kept on hand in case of hurricanes, as a co-worker noted, if there’s a hurricane and the power goes out, what good is a cell phone charger?
About as useful as one with the cord cut in half, I suppose.
