Wikipedia is good for cool things like this

[Rogue Leader]

sometimes when I'm bored I look up random racing stuff on wikipedia. Even though I know a lot of this stuff its fun to read. Today i was REALLY bored and I was looking up some of my favorite NASCAR drivers from the 80s and early 90s. Now I remember Dick Trickle, and I knew he was a rough and interesting character, but I did not know this:


He was also widely noted for having drilled a hole in his safety helmet so that he could smoke while racing, and for installing cigarette lighters in his race cars. [1] Trickle was allowed by NASCAR to smoke in the race car during yellow flag periods, and in the 1990 Winston 500 (now the Aaron's 499), Trickle was seen on live television by the in-car camera lighting up and smoking a cigarette.

thats awesome

[mueber]

sometimes when I'm bored I look up random racing stuff on wikipedia. Even though I know a lot of this stuff its fun to read. Today i was REALLY bored and I was looking up some of my favorite NASCAR drivers from the 80s and early 90s. Now I remember Dick Trickle, and I knew he was a rough and interesting character, but I did not know this:

thats awesome

I was told that once, during a caution period, when asked by his crew chief how long would it take to clean up a wreck on the backstretch, he replied, "About two cigarettes."

My understanding is that David Pearson also smoked in his car.

[Gnam]

That's product placement, baby! :D

To bad those Mothers Against Drunk Driving are so militant, they could be drinking too. :gomer:

[coolhand]

that is badass, I miss old NASCAR.

I like watching old races when they are on ESPN classic.

[Winston Wolfe]

I have seen plenty of footage showing David Pearson smoking while driving in his car...
Also, the shots of Richard Petty driving his car with a rag hanging out of his mouth (wearing his open face helmet) due to the exhaust gases in the cockpit during the oval races. Petty used to get headaches all the time and had plenty of medical problems while racing, including having a decent sized portion of his stomach removed, during the time he was still racing, I believe....

[Andrew Longman]

IIRC Petty was the first to go with a full face helmet with a fresh air hose attached, as you see with many drivers today because of his problems with CO.

[Sean O'Gorman]

I had one of those old time NASCAR shows on the other day, and during a race at Atlanta in 1971, Richard Petty had a neck injury from the week before, so to keep his head up in the turns, they put a handkerchief around his neck and tied it to the rollbar. :eek: