Whizzer
Gig'em
You must admit, Meyers does have passion for his driver but attributing a building of grandstands because of him? I don't think so.
I was around and active "back in the day" and recall vividly how and when NASCAR began a slow increase and then a giant leap of popularity. I recall attending NASCAR races in the late 1950's when small crowds - small by todays standards - attended those races. Very little growth back then and through the sixties.
The movement began with the televised Daytona 500 and the infamous Yarborough / Allison duel on and off the track. It BOOMED after Smokey and the Bandit. Hal Needham and Bert Reynolds, two relatively insignificant players did more to boost NASCAR popularity than any given driver. If you could find attendance statistics for those days you would see the increase. Yes, Dale, Sr. was driving then, as were Rusty, Richard, Ricky, Harry, and so many others.
Dale's status as #5 is questionable, but he is not who made NASCAR what it was at its peak, although he definitely helped, as did those already mentioned.
I was around and active "back in the day" and recall vividly how and when NASCAR began a slow increase and then a giant leap of popularity. I recall attending NASCAR races in the late 1950's when small crowds - small by todays standards - attended those races. Very little growth back then and through the sixties.
The movement began with the televised Daytona 500 and the infamous Yarborough / Allison duel on and off the track. It BOOMED after Smokey and the Bandit. Hal Needham and Bert Reynolds, two relatively insignificant players did more to boost NASCAR popularity than any given driver. If you could find attendance statistics for those days you would see the increase. Yes, Dale, Sr. was driving then, as were Rusty, Richard, Ricky, Harry, and so many others.
Dale's status as #5 is questionable, but he is not who made NASCAR what it was at its peak, although he definitely helped, as did those already mentioned.