This weekend, I had the pleasure of going back to the North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Fame induction during the Shriner's Expo in Greensboro. This year, my childhood hero, Shirley Muldowney, was being inducted into the Hall, and I wanted to make sure I would be there. My dad is Hall of Fame Class of 2018 for this group, and it is really cool to me to be able to say he is enshrined along Shirley, a drag racing legend. There was some discussion as to why Shirley (who generally raced with the NHRA out in California, etc) would be inducted into the North Carolina Hall. While she is famous for being the first woman to be licensed to drive a Top Fuel dragster; first woman to win a Top Fuel national event; first woman to win a Top Fuel World Championship, and the first driver of an gender to win multiple Top Fuel Championships, she is also the first woman to win a funny car national event. She did this in 1974 at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina. So, there's the connection to North Carolina.
I was able to get several cards signed by Shirley, along with several posters (a couple were for my mom) and a couple of the brochures for the ceremony. Shirley was gracious as always, and I was very happy to be able to talk with here briefly. I was also able to give her a good recommendation for some Chinese food close to where she is now living.
One of the folks in the autograph line (along with Shirley, my dad, and others) was Buddy Martin. Martin was the other half of the famous Sox and Martin team that dominated the early days of Pro Stock. Ronnie Sox is no longer with us, so I got Buddy to sign my two Sox cards from my 1990 IHRA set. Buddy Martin wasn't really associated with this car, but I thought it was a good idea to go ahead and get him to sign the cards in recognition of how powerful that duo was in the history of drag racing.
Finally, I had undertaken a little project that began with an idea my coworker, Lisa, set me toward. Last year, the son of a friend of mine that I have known for years followed me around the event. He's a cool little dude, who is a talented racer in his own right. Cameron Moore recently won a track championship locally, and is a big fan of cards (mostly Pokemon cards). Lisa gave me the idea to make some custom cards on Topps's website and give them to Cam while I was at the event. I did, but the condition with Cam was that he would have to sign one of the cards for me. I got a big hug from Cam and a hand shake from his dad. I think he is super happy about the cards (well, I know he is, because he thanked me about 6 or 7 times, and gave me 3 or 4 hugs). I just thought it was really cool to give him something that he could hand out to his friends and family as he starts along his racing journey. From everything that I've seen, he is very talented.
I had a great time at the Hall of Fame induction, and got to spend time with my Mom while Dad was signing. I also went through the line a couple times and stopped to talk to Dad as he sat there. It was kind of funny, but he seemed to enjoy the attention. As long as I am able, I plan to attend the ceremonies as they happen annually. I wonder who they will induct next year.
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