1,000 Greatest Drivers: Curtis Turner

Let's just say I disagree with Bill France about unions.

Okay, I was able to get both articles done a bit earlier than I thought I was going to. I’m going to do Dan Gurney tomorrow. I originally had Gurney scheduled for the 13th but I’m going to push it to the 14th because the driver I originally had scheduled was Stock Car Brasil champion Paulo Gomes. While I am 100% sure that Gomes belongs on the list, it is very hard to find information about that series in English (especially for the years in which Gomes raced) so I don’t think I’m quite informed enough to write the columns about the Stock Car Brasil drivers and I’m going to push them off, but then I’m mostly going to be back on the schedule I originally intended. After the heaviness of having to write a column on Mike Hawthorn, this was of course a fun change of pace since Turner was maybe one of NASCAR’s most fun drivers ever. When I was reading Greg Fielden’s 40 Years of Stock Car Racing books (which recapped every Cup Series race from 1949-1993, and I read all of them cover-to-cover several years ago) the quote that stuck with me more than any other was Bill France’s infamous quote when Curtis Turner attempted to unionize the drivers, “No known Teamster member can compete in a NASCAR race and I’ll use a pistol to enforce it”, which I quoted below. Talk about class, right?

Now that I’m back on schedule because I’m going to skip the Gomes column for the time being, I can focus on being with my mom and paying my taxes (I’m totally waiting ‘til April 15th this time, which I normally don’t do because I know I owe money and I don’t have it, although I may have it once my RotoBaller money comes in a few days later). Last week, I just joined syracuse.com, the website for Syracuse’s sole newspaper, The Post-Standard, because I saw that there were some articles written about patients being mistreated at the Van Duyn nursing home where my mom currently is (the article was literally written when she was there). It’s also paywalled, but I bought a short-term $1 subscription and this column is full of horrible stuff. I really want to get Mom out but even though I cleaned the house to the village code enforcement officer’s satisfaction, I can’t get Adult Protective Services to reopen my mom’s case to get her out, although maybe the Power of Attorney form and Health Care Proxy I just had signed will be able to help with that. I’m honestly thinking about writing to the reporter to see if he has any ideas for how I might get her out of there. That’s probably something I’m going to try doing this week after I’ve finished my taxes.