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Show MIRACLE 1 n I ' .$ ' 1 1 i i, i 1 I ? "1 , i j VALUE fl . i i 1 'I f i. . . tf LANA LOBELL! I, , i-- i, . -:- I from BY-MA-IL ii t -Ui 'if' . FASHIONS - I . 5 1 Hinow, Num. 17331 When Richard Petty guns hi motor this holiday, there'll be $90,000 waiting at the finish line. 113 11-1- 7, RACING-TH- E STOCK-CA- R DEADLY GAME Labor Day's wildest traffic jam will like Richard Petty will try to prove . ;n r u .rtH I 11:00 A.M. The green flag drops Darlington International Speed-- : way in Darlington, S.C., and a roaring, stock cars mob of slam into the first turn. day, Labor the - ? ( bumper-to-bu- t n . . . late-mod- el mper " As the ? I .yk J 1 d machines drivers swing their big up the banked slope, quite a few are grinning furiously. What are they grinning about? Plenty! There's more than $90,000 in prize money, and1 some 80,000 fans are blowing horns, waving Confederate flags, and splitting the air with rebel yells. But4. basically, the drivers are grinning because this uniquely American entertainment is part circus, part race, and part rollicking brawl. The Darlington 500, the oldest, most demanding race on the NASCAR - (National Association for Stock, Car Auto Racing) circuit, is the ' place where stock-ca- r racing really began. local 1950 In promoters turned a parched cotton field into the first auperspeedway for stackers. Drivers swore route. But the cars that no car could last the did last, the promoters-prospereother superspeedways stock-ca- r racing boomed throughout the r opened, and r'- ; United States. . Th; action is always noisy,' violent, fast. Racing enthusiasts tell tales about great rides by ' e such drivers as Joe Weatherly, Fireball Roberts, Fonty Flock. A typical story is the one about driver Johnny Mantz, who spent the evening before Darlington's first Southern 500 at an party, then swallowed; two aspirins for breakfast and went out to win the race. raffish daredevils For the most part, the are being replaced by tough, disciplined professionals. Exemplars of the new breed are Richard Petty, who drives for Plymouth, and David Pearfeon, who wheels for Ford. "The new breed had to come," explains one mechanic. 'Baek in the '60s, when a driver wrecked lis xar, you went over to the junk yard and bought another. But cars today cost $18,000 apiece. They're too valuable to let some wild old boy send them over the rail." The iiew drivers treat racing as a business, negotiate with every firm they can latch onto as a sponsor, and 4,000-poun- a J DO value! iW) "A'L DOEI I - - 500-mi- le d, .' -- , hair-raisi- ng bid-tim- i EUAXJIXTEED SATISFACDCN CX HX:f 17M1 UIUUUU, BACK! ItjtMMJ Mdnw. .Slatt- - .Zip. PMtM twid M ttt fOltewMlf : Silt 8tjrttQuMi. Sty 2204 43M 4424 lt Color. Prlco and Color 2304 ' : PtymMt tfldoMd. Md 5M enutn iw nrii ortu mm" mtttt aoditloiMl Item. C O D. K4 Of PJ and tondlint iot okii 11.00 CoodwIH DopMlt MClOMd. pottaiM th telaacf .) (I'll ENC10SE0 FOR FUU VURf SUBSCHIfTIOH R UNA 106QI fASHIOH CATA10C - ! 1 all-nig- ht ed c TOTAL 10 Family Weekly, September 8, 1987 |
