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I-70 banquet and 76 daytona tale

Posted by Terry Bivins at 08:41:47 AM

Wife and I were invited to the I-70 awards party, they were honoring the 70's track Champions. we really had a very nice time and was so much fun seeing my old racing friends and drivers. Sure brought back some great memories of our early racing days. was really a lot of fun meeting some of the drivers that are racing there now too. Thanks to all who stopped by to visit , I'm sure the other Champions are as proud as I am to be remembered at such a special event. Thanks to the great folks at I-70 for such a nice evening. Sorry we left early, but had a 90 mile drive home and the icy roads was a major concern.

Brandon Jordan asked for my views on [racing then and now] in another section at Racin Boys. I'll try to address this in a later blog. Thanks Brandon

Tom Faletti asked for some help in finishing his scale models of my Monte Carlos. Tom if you email me I'll send you some pics to try and help out. I'm sure my email add is public here somewhere.

Most of the folks I meet now-a days want to hear stories about the old days. Is that a sign that racing was more about fun and feuding back then, nothing like a good fuss between drivers to keep fans coming out to see the latest goings on.  Don't know why they want to hear them but I'm glad they do because I love telling them. Maybe some of you readers can clue me in a little about this.

Now for the Daytona tale.

Claudia reminded me of this on the way home last night. Arrived at Daytona and the first thing we had to do was take a physical before we could get on the track. So I am in the exam room with the Doc., he is checking my blood pressure, heart rate etc. All is going great when he asked me to drop my pants and bend over the table. I asked him what the hell that thing he was going to do with that plastic glove had to do with me driving at Daytona. He told me it was part of the exam, now I'm thinking this would be a good time to head back to Kansas and expressed this thought to the Doc. He laughed and told me even the King Richard Petty had to endure this part of the exam. I figured if the King could take it so could I and dropped them and assumed the position. But to this day no one has ever told me what the hell this had to do with driving at Daytona

Second scary moment, same Doc. was giving me the eye test.[ after a bad wreck at I-70 my left eye has never been as good as my right]. Doc says can't pas me because my left eye only has 20-60 vision and that it could be a problem at racing speeds. I told him the 8 of us had been working for 6 weeks to get that ole car ready for Daytona, Doc. says he is sorry but that is the way it is. A wild idea came out of nowhere, I asked the Doc. if I only had one eye could I drive , after thinking a few seconds he said well I guess you could. So I said give me a damned eye patch and I''ll cover the left one up for the race. He looked at me for a second and stamped PASSED on my exam papers. Wheeew

EDIT

I should explain that the Doc. was worried I would get a piece of trash in my good eye and not be to see well enough to get off the track. It did happen to me at Bristol when I was driving Ballards car, but got off the track okay and went to infield care center, they removed it and I got back in the car and finished the race. Walter Ballard drove the car while I was out of it.

I have a few more of these old stories, let me know if you would like to hear some of these till season starts and I have new capers to blog about.

Waiting for season to start

Terry Bivins

 

 

Reader Comments

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Jan 14, 2007 11:54:36 AM by jfrey47

Terry, it's too bad you couldn't have stayed and tossed down a few! We had a great time meeting all the drivers who helped shape the history of I-70. I'm looking forward to all the stories you can tell!

Jan 14, 2007 12:30:17 PM by kyle45

Those were funny stories, not scary ones! It's funny that they would let you race with one good eye and not 2. That would have been better. But hey,. they let Ricky Rudd race with his eyes taped open. Definetly post more stories. David

Jan 14, 2007 05:53:54 PM by 2rdy2go

Fans also LOVE to hear those old (and new) stories, especially the way you tell them! The Banquet was awesome - my first one... man, those drivers sure clean up good!

Jan 14, 2007 07:22:02 PM by coloneljohn

Hey "Shack", I have one question, when the Doc used the plastic glove (I think they were latex back then) did you feel one hand one one shoulder or a hand on each shoulder? just kidding but something real scarry is that there are folks driving on the street LEGALLY that can only see as good as you can out of your bad eye. I believe you only have to have 20/60 vision in your best eye. I have only got 20/400 in my left eye due to "AGE RELATED" macular degeneration, so far my right one corrected is close to 20/20 glad to hear you are having a "ball".

 

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