Race Card #99- Nothing Tiny About This Except.......
....the model and the driver's nickname. At over 250 lbs and more than six and a half feet it sure isn't the driver. And at almost 4000 lbs and 427 cubic inches on an almost 10 foot wheelbase it most definatly wasn't the race car.
The star of his own movie that was more a documentary than feature missed most of the pitfalls of the racing films of the day (and most all of them since), Tiny Lund was bigger that life. The film crew just folowed Tiny around and filmed him doing what he did best, racing and showing off.
The racing was pretty well represented by footage on several tracks, including a rousing duel with Curtis Turner in the Permatex race before the Daytona 500. I'm afraid that if they had documented the showing off it might have given the film at least an R rating, if such things had been around back then.
There was the time that the whole crew got thrown out of a grocery store for racing shopping carts. Well, not exactly for racing them but the big crash when Tiny used a little "body English" to put a young boy and his cart into a huge stack of canned goods to get around him probably had something to do with it. Maybe he was the manager's son.
And then there was that time when a discussion about finishing positions between him and Lee Petty got a litte out of hand. Tiny was following Lee doen the stairs of the scoring tower when he hauled off and kicked ol' Lee right where he sits. Tiny said that Lee took off like a big ol' bird. That one ended up with Tiny giving up when Lee's wife, Richard and Maurice got in to it. Tiny decided he couldn't whip the whole family.
And anyone who was there couldn't forget the time Cale Yarborough slipped into Tiny's motel room while he was taking a shower. Cale dumped a trashcan full of ice over the curtain on Tiny and ran like crazy. Good thing too because Tiny was hot on his trail until he almost ran down a lady on the sidewalk. Tiny just stopped, bowed, said excuse me ma'am and stepped around her and resumed his chase. That gave Cale all the lead he needed so he lived to race another day. Oh, did I mention that Tiny was still dripping wet and stark naked from the shower durint the whole incident?
Maybe it's a good thing that stock car racing has cleaned up its image and gotten away from all the wild things that used to go on. But maybe they have erred just a touch on going too far in the other direction. Rip roaring Mexican food isn't for everybody but that doesn't mean the only other alternative is tapioca pudding.
Let's get a little middle ground going. Maybe haul in some red clay and fill up Rockingham for a race. I think maybe the only problem they would have then with seating is not having enough and nobody sitting down in the ones they bought.
As before, these are just the opinions and ravings of an old man who breathed too many high test gasoline fumes and red dirt particles in his formative years. I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings, there are only four more cards including the end card.
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08-30-2004, 07:59 PM
