Names lesser known - A Quiz

H

HardScrabble

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Drivers come and go as we all know. But there are other folks who over time almost become legends of their own.

Bill Broderick - This name comes up a lot in these type questions, so I imagine may of ya know who he is. Does anyone know who took his place??

Harold Kinder - Another name that comes up quite often. What was his job until 1990 when he retired. And does anyone know who was next in line, and had been also working the job during Harold's time. This one retired in 1998 after 38 years on the job. And does anyone know who holds this position now?

Elmo Langley - Most everybody should know who he is, but does anyone know to what famous singer he was at one time engaged to be married?? And who knows the name of the person who now does the job?
 
Good to see you back here on the forum HardScrabble.

Broderick used to work for Union Oil. He was the big, bearded guy who always had the hats ready for the drivers in Victory Lane. Last I heard he was running a restaurant/bar somewhere in the mid-west. I thought that his job was simply deleted in a corporate downsizing a few years ago.

Kinder was either the chief starter or the chief stewart for Winston Cup for years. I'd have to look it up because I honestly don't remember which. Same for who took Harold's job and who holds it now. I'd have to look it up.

Elmo was a former Grand National driver who drove the pace car. He actually died of a heart attack behind the wheel at one of the exhibition races in Japan didn't he?
As for the other two parts of the question?
Wasn't Buddy Baker riding along with Elmo that day?

And I'm just too doggone lazy to go look the info up right now.
 
Hey boB, good to be back.

Yep, the "Hatman" as Broderick was known was not replaced. And many drivers and media complain about it. Bill not only made sure the sponsors hats all were in place at the right time, Bill made it his job to know where both the print photographers and TV cameras were. He alos made sure the driver knew where they were. This made everybody's job easier.

Harold was official starter/flagman for NASCAR for many years. Many experienced spotters and drivers claimed Harold had a "cue" . And if ya could spot it you would get a jump on the field....anybody here know what you would be looking for?

Elmo did have a heart attack in Japan while on the job. I, like you, would have to look it up to remember if he was on track or pit road at the time. He was at the track I'm pretty sure and Buddy was if not in the car nearby.

You never saw it on TV much, but the drivers and Elmo used to "play" all the time. The drivers would run up and give the pace car a nudge just to aggravate Elmo, and in turn if Elmo caught the driver on the pace car's tail and the driver let his attention wander; like say to adjust his belts or something in the car, or just looking at the pretty ladies in the stands; Elmo would brake the pace car pretty good just to keep the drivers attention.
 
Who was Elmo engaged to?I will take a shot and say Patsy Cline...Know it wasnt Loretta or Tammy...has to be Patsy,for the time period we are talking about.


And who replaced him.....Doyle Ford....or was he the flagman?Buster Auton??Those names pop to mind. :blink:
 
If my memory is not completely shot (I know that it's pretty close) Elmo was on the track and Buddy was riding with him that day.
I can remember the games that Elmo would play with Sr. He'd let Dale get alongside of the pace car and then brake hard to try and get Earnhardt to pass him. Earnhardt would bump, push, and I even remember more than one ocassion when he left rubber donuts on the side of Elmo's pace car.

Wasn't Harold's "clue" something to do with the way he would lift the flag before he waved it on restarts?
 
boB your memory is far from shot, don't try to kid us.....

Dale and Elmo were most known for their games, but lot's of folks got in on the fun.

A big cigar to 97forever...Patsy Cline it was. And ya got the replacements for both Harold and Elmo. Doyle Ford took over the flagman/starter duties when Kinder retired. Doyle then in turn retired in 1998.

Buster Auton is not the pace car driver, unfortunately I have never seen any of the drivers and Buster have fun and games on the track. We need that.

Yep, Harold's cue was in his right elbow. You have to envision the deal to understand it fully. Harold would stand leaning out of the flagstand over the track. his left arm would be extended towards the field as it approached, left hand opened and "pushing" the leaders speed down as they approached. The right arm held the furled flag down by his side and outside the stand on the right side. Just before Harold would unfurl the flag and swirl it upward his right elbow would move up, he would lean ever so slightly more over the track, the flag would move slightly rearward.......if you caught this movement and went on it instead of the upward sweep, you had the jump.

Excellent!!

I'm gonna guess that no one knows who the official starter/flagman is now...........that too is kinda sad. With all the media coverage we have, how can these folks go unnoticed and unacclaimed? Somebody needs to slap a journalist or two up side the head.
 
HS,

Remember when the starter would wave the field off from the inside of the front straight?
I have two friends who still bear the scars of that practice.

Did you ever get to watch "Tex" Enright (? not sure of the last name) at Flemington Fair back when stockcars were stock and modifieds were really modifieds? "Tex" was a true legend in his own time. The display he put on for the drivers and fans was worth the price of admission all by itself.

How about the old time racetrack clowns? Didn't every short track in the country have a clown way back when?
 
Never made Flemington back in the day, so I missed that one. Dem!

Yep, I remember the starters on the ground. I also remember short track days when an "assistant starter" used to be in teh middle of the track during parade laps and cautions. His job was to sort everyone out before the restart, radios were a few days off then. Many of these were pretty colorful in their 'signals" to the drivers as to where exactly they should be!

We had clowns in the grandstands and on the track before the race....man did we have fun or what?

In the eighties we also had a guy in a bull suit on roller skates.......I think that was the old All-Pro series.
 
I've seen green alligators and long necked geese, some humpty back camels and some chimpanzees, even back in those days when I was known to partake of a wee bit of alcoholic drink now and again, there were some spotted snakes, big, bright eyed spiders, and the odd elephant once in awhile, but in all that time, I don't think I EVER saw a bull on roller skates. Not on the worst (or best) of nights.


(with apologies to the Irish Rovers or whoever it was who did that song)
 
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