Well well well - here's the man that pretty much started it all for the 3 Sisters, genetic proof that there is a Race Gene! Thanks Dad - for the genetics, and for taking the time to write down some memories and observations!
RUSTY'S RACE RAMBLINGS
I am the 71 year old father of the 3 great ladies of 3 Sisters Racing, Carla, Kathy and Judy Kay. Little did I know when I named my first born Carla, she would end up as NasCarla! I have spent a good part of my 71 years behind the wheel of a truck, 29 years of it over the road. As it was mostly hauling construction equipment I was able to spend a lot of time at different race tracks, with lots of different types of racing.
I went to my very first race at the age of 14. It was at Kansas Free Fairgrounds 1/2 mile at Topeka, Kansas in 1949. Me and 11 other Boy Scouts from Osawatomie, Kansas were on stage in the infield as lap counters. I was the counter for Wild Bill Harrison, who won the race in a 1948 Nash, on fuel mileage. I also went in 1950 but Wild Bill didn't fair too well, tore thing up pretty badly.
When they built the track in Paola, my younger brother and I decided to build a car. Judy Kay will like this! Our first car was a flat head Ford. It was a light blue #24. We ran Ottawa on Saturday and Paola on Sunday, and work on the car all week. We won a couple of times, tore up a lot of the time, blew up a few times. Everything went pretty good until we were invaded by the Kansas City and Topeka Super Modified boys. We didn't have the money or the time to stay with them, although we tried. We had a modified for a couple of races. We ran a couple of times at Lakeside with a 111 modified Chevy. I have to say, of all the tracks I have seen or been to, the 1/2 mile at Lakeside has to be my favorite. I ran with some great racers, Jerry Weld, Greg Weld, Ken Weld, Tiger Bob WIlliams, Virgil Chapman, Al "The Orchid Boy" Manning, and probably the greatest Chevy machine, Pappy Weld. I remember the night AJ Foyt and Jud Larson came up to run with us. Whenever Mark Martin talks about respect I always think about what AJ said in the drivers meeting,"We are all friends here now, hope we are when it's all over. Respect is a great thing, but R doesn't mean Respect, it means Race! And I came here to win." I don't remember if he won or not, but I always have remembered what he said.
I was never into the full body cars. My favorite is the Super Modified. We had a full body car for 2 races, one at West Line, Missouri and one at Butler, Mo. As far as I know the old car is still at Butler, we tore it up real bad so just left it sitting there.
The signs of the times are coming. I think Nascar is going to suffer before it's over. The top 35 drivers is a stupid rule is my opionion. Sooner or later the big time sponsoers are going to get tired of their cars not making the race. Watch what Nascar does about that. I think that is what has happened to allof our tracks around here. The track owners expect too much of the money. It is easy to make all these rules as long as somebody else is paying all the bills. I've seen it happen here at home. I think Nasccar needs to cut the teams down to 2 cars, give everybody a chance to compete. The need to stop the Buschwackers. And stop Jack Roush from trying to buy the Championship with too many cars.
My thoughts on the girls favorite drivers, Carla's being Tony Stewart. I think he is a great as a driver, but very overbearing as a person. My main knock on him is his taking away from the little dirt tracks. When you have enough money to buy the entire field you are racing against, and then brag about winning is a little bit too much. As for Kathy's driver, Jimmie Johnson, he's as good as they come. Reason I like him is because I have a nephew with the same name! Judy Kay's driver, Jeff Gordon, I mean what can you say about him? He has done more in a time span that no one in Nascar can match. Not Tony, Jimmie or Junior. You have to give him his due. Talk about the competition being more now! People say Dale Earnhardt was the greatest. I will admit he was great, but I think 3 of Jeff's Championships came against him. I really think the greatest driver hasn't come to the front yet. I think right now all the drivers are all the same, all laughing on their way to the bank!
One thing I really dislike is someone who has never tried driving or owning a race car can sit on a couch and bad mouth a driver because your driver didn't win. I mean really, do you expect your driver to win every race? The racing world would really get into to that I think!
I saw Richard Petty win his first Daytona 500, saw Jimmy Clark win the Indianapolis 500, saw the Unser boys run at Sportsman Park in Albuquerque, NM. I've been to the Little 500 at Anderson, Md. I saw Mark Martin win at Benton, Ark. back when he was just getting started, and don't remember him showing too much respect to the older drivers at that time! I think maybe getting away from Jack Roush might be to his advantage. He knows by now that nice guys don't always finish first. I saw Bill Elliott win at Riverside, CA. He was, and still is, my favorite Nascar driver. I've been to tracks in Salt Lake City, Knoxville, Iowa, Dallas, Texas, just don't remember all of them. For certain if there was a race near where I was, I managed to go to it! The one that stands out most in my memory has to be the race in Terre Haute, Ind. That is where I met my friend and the greatest driver in my opinion, Jim Hurtubise. He was a modified driver, also ran the Indy 500 and some Nascar races. I think he won one, don't remember which. It was a sad ending to a friendship as Jim lost his life in a race car.
I guess I will stop this now. Only thing left to say is if you think you can do better than the guys that are doing it, get your rear in a car and see if you can! It's not as easy as you think. One other thing...driving or owning a race car can cause a divorce!
Carl "Rusty" Russell
Paola, Kansas
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