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Show MIRACLE VALVE FASHIONS BT-MAI- 7 8f LANA LOBELL! e -- : from L - v. nM, Wniwr, 17331 - When Richard Petty guru his motor this holiday, there'll be $90,000 waiting at the finish line.- - RACING- THE DEADLY GAME STOCK-CA- R Labor Day's wildest traffic jam will like Richard Petty will iryjo prove day, Labor the 11 :00 A.M. The green flag drops Darlington International Speed-wa- y in Darlington, S.C., and a roaring, bump- stock cars" mob of slam into the first turn. late-mod- el - ' As the drivers swing their big 4,000-poun- d machines a few banked are grinning furiously. slope, quite up the ' What are they grinning about? : Plenty! There's more than $90,000 in prize money, and some 80,000 fans are blowing horns, waving Confederate flags, and splitting the air with rebel yells. : But,' basically, the drivers are grinning because this uniquely American entertainment is part circus, part race, and part rollicking brawl. The Darlington 500, the Eldest, most demanding race on the NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) circuit, is the place where stockar racing really began. In 1950 local promoters turned a parched cotton field, into therst super speed did route. But the cars1-that no car could lastthe last, the promoters prospered, othet superspeedways opened, and stock-ca- r racing boomed throughout the United .States. . Th action is always noisy, violent, fast. Racing enthusiasts tell tales about great rides by such old-tidrivers as Joe Weatherly, Fireball Roberts, Fpnty Flock. A typical story is the one about driver. Johnny Mantz, who spent the evening before Darlington's first Southern 600 at an partytthen swallowed two aspirins for breakfast and went out to win the race. For the most part, the daredevils 7 are being replaced by tough, disciplined professionals. Exemplars of the new breed are Richard Petty, who drives for Plymouth, and David Pearbon, who wheels for Ford. ' 'The new breed had to tome,'' explains one mechanic. "Back in the '60s, when a driver wrecked his car, you went over to the junk yard and bought another. But cars today cost $18,000 apiece. They're too valuable to let some wild old boy send them over the rail." The new driers treat racing as a business, negotiate with everynrin they can latch onto as a sponsor,, and " , r r. 'Vfri I J y fg99W 600-mi- le .. Ml k ... hair-raisi- 4 . ng all-nig- ht I iJ " - ',j U; . vj I I If y V, i tur - iwtou . I tin i iai KM MJlUMMi HOW. U C 3s I itt color I Piywut NcteMtf. CMrm W MM Q99 iiioM 173,1 nmw aacoiwr I AM SMfMtsc IM 43f I0f KS . DoiMtt MKhool hm nu teats wescmrnoii 1AM 10EU I m h mi Mm . 0.& uwiosn 0MU-C0L- I I . I ; FASHION CATAIOC TOTAL 10 Family W$tkly,Stjtmbr 9,4997 v |