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As Darlington’s prerace director from 1989 to 2004,Tom Kinard got to meet plenty of celebrities, including Dale “The Intimidator” Earnhardt.
Courtesy of Tom Kinard
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Kinard interviewing NASCAR's "King" Richard Petty.
Courtesy of Tom Kinard
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NFL legend Terry Bradshaw (right) gets a kick out of Tom Kinard's shiny noggin.
Courtesy of Tom Kinard
Where were you on Sept. 5, 1993?
I was getting wet along with 100,000 other people at Darlington Raceway. It was the Sunday before Labor Day, and that meant the running of NASCAR‘s “granddaddy of ‘em all,” the Southern 500.
Race weekends were always a big deal in Darlington. There were two reasons for this: 1) races were fun to attend; and 2) racing meant big bucks for the local economy. Because of the second reason, Darlington had no problem receiving help from local business leaders. Members of the Green Flag Club, as it was called, gave VIP tours of the track, helped the raceway staff as needed, hosted receptions and made sure things went smoothly in the Winner’s Circle after the race.
I was invited to join the group in 1984. Three years late,r I became the prerace director and introduced the drivers prior to each event. For the next 17 years, it was fun to fire up the enthusiasm of the 80,000-plus fans in the stands, and the assorted 20,000 others in the infield, simply by announcing the names of drivers.
There were cheers and boos. Dale Earnhardt, Darrel Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Sterling Marlin, Tim Richmond, Jeff Burton, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd and others always got the crowd stirred to a frenzy. It was interesting to listen to the fan reaction change from race to race. When a very young Jeff Gordon came on the scene, he was a big favorite, but when he started winning too many races, he wasn’t the fair-haired darling anymore.
Another responsibility I enjoyed was introducing the grand marshal of the race. Usually it was the CEO of a big sponsor who got the privilege of starting the race by saying the most famous words in the world of motor sports. I don’t remember many of their names, but two stand out —Terry Bradshaw, Super Bowl-winning quarterback, actor and sports analyst, and Linda Petty, wife of NASCAR’S legendary “King” Richard Petty. Instead of the usual starting cue, Miss Linda shouted, “All right boys, wind ’em up!”
After the driver introductions on the start/finish line, the crew would remove our portable stage from the track, and a small parade of folks—Miss Winston, the Union 76 Race Stoppers, an army of photographers, a couple of network TV cameras, the grand marshal and the emcee (yours truly)—would gather at the pace car.
From that vantage point, I would introduce the person who would lead the prayer, the person or group who would sing the National Anthem (followed by a crowd-stirring fly-over) and the grand marshal, who would shout, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” All this, by the way, was directed by some little guy in headphones who was getting his cues from the TV trailer.
I always envied the grand marshal’s job, but never dreamed I might be the one to start the race, until that memorable day in 1993.
The day dawned gray and cold. The rain came and went. The crowds came to Darlington. There had never been a rain-out at the Southern 500. The race had been stopped or delayed because of storms, but it had never been called off.
Race car tires have no tread, and, consequently, they can’t run on a wet track. At that time, Darlington did not have lights for night racing. With the race scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., the window between start time and “too dark to race” was not that large.
The rain washed out the prerace activities, and people began wondering if the green flag would ever fall to signal the start of the race. ESPN was televising the race that day. They wound up taking a little, yellow rubber duck from one puddle to another and making snide remarks about it, all in an effort to keep viewers tuned in. About midafternoon, the rain finally stopped. Crews went to work drying the track, and the covers came off the cars as drivers got ready to go racing.
I was in the control booth over the start/finish line. This was back when the race began and ended on the Highway 151 side of the track. A call came from Les Richter, senior vice president of operations for NASCAR.
“Get ’em started,” he said.
“Tom Smith [president of Food Lion] is in the Darlington Room, and it’s going to take a few minutes to get him over here,” I replied. The Darlington Room is the top floor of the large red tower in what is now turn three. It is the VIP-est of VIP Rooms at the raceway.
“We don’t have time to wait,” Richter said. “You do it, and do it now.”
I glanced over the stands, still 80 percent full, with more people streaming back from the parking areas. I cleared my throat and grabbed the microphone that was tied to the public address system, the Motor Racing Network broadcast and ESPN.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the tradition continues,” I said. “Gentlemen, start your engines.”
The ground trembled.
Mark Martin won the race. It was shortened to 479.466 miles due to the rain delay and the onset of darkness. I’m sure he was happy. I heard that Tom Smith was not. To tell the truth, I didn’t care. I had a grin on my face as wide as any Darlington stripe. And it returns every time I remember the day I started the Southern 500.
God bless America.
Tom Kinard is the manager of communications for Pee Dee Electric Cooperative.
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