Sad to see Darrell Waltrip as he is today. Is for me - he may disagree.
He was winnin’ cup races driving for DiGard when he showed up at the local short thing one Saturday night. He ‘n the promoter went way back. Guess he was cuttin’ him a favor. Waltrip didn’t need to be there. He had already arrived as a cup driver. He sure drew a crowd ‘n 90% of ‘em were boooin’.
Had an immaculate Nova, belonged to him. The canted 88s (when an 88 was a threat to win at anytime) moved up to the front wheel wells ‘n “Gatorade” larger than what DiGard had on the cup cars (NASCAR rules) fillin’ the rest of the sides.
Wasn’t sure the race was gonna go due to rain. When it cleared he put up the fast time on a track he didn’t see every week. Fact is I don’t know if he’d ever seen it before. First time I’d seen ‘im there ‘n at the time I didn’t miss many.
Anyway, the race started ‘n he took off with Tommy Ellis chasin’ ‘im but losin’ ground. A couple regular guys got into it goin’ into four ‘n splashed water, grass ‘n mud on the track. Waltrip got into it – in time for Ellis to see it ‘n back off - ‘n he held that car off the fence, dead sideways onto the front stretch. Think he finished out of the top five though.
He stood on the track after the race. Folks kept him in beers wrapped in red rags ‘n he stayed there until anyone who wanted to talk to him or get him to scribble his name on somethin’ had an opportunity to do so. Even held a couple babies for pictures. I shook his hand ‘n told him he did a hell of a job holdin’ the car off the fence. The boy looked me dead the eyes, didn't let go of my hand ‘n thanked me for sayin’ so. It was a sincere expression of gratitude. To this day I believe he desperately wanted the fans’ approval 'n he was happy he'd gotten it from me.
I thought the world of Buddy Baker, still do. Baker made an appearance at the same track a couple years earlier. Drove a car owned by a local. Waved at the crowd durin’ driver intros. Parked it after a couple laps. Had somethin’ in his eye. No where to be found after the race.
Put all that on the board outta respect for what Waltrip was 'n in hopes the younguns understand he wasn’t always just an obnoxious noise on Fox broadcasts. In his prime, he could hold his own with anyone.
I, for one, won’t forget that.