Winning at Thunder Road was all that mattered to Stubby and me!
After hearing of the passing of my long time racing foe Stubby, I've been trying to put in words what I will remember the most about him.
I'm sure we must have met for the first time on the high-banks of our beloved Thunder Road. That little track meant everything to both of us and that's the way we raced each other every Thursday night throughout the summer. No, we never chased points or settled for "a great top five finish" as they say in today's racing world - we went for it all. We both ran up against better drivers and teams now and then but never anyone that wanted to win more than we did.
We fought each other hard every week but never did get to know each other very well until our careers were winding down. We would talk before a race now and then but it was to get a read on what we were going up against that night more than anything else. We respected each other greatly but never did want to be friends, knowing the other person was the biggest obstacle to another "T-Road victory".
Stubby was by far the toughest guy I would have to face at "The Road" and that never changed right to the end. About ten years ago Stubby and I joined forces as volunteers to help Brian Hannaford launch a driving experience company. We both became driving instructors and got great pleasure out of introducing people to the thrill of driving a real NASCAR Busch car. We finally got a chance to know each other as we were now on the same team.
I always thought of and treated Stubby like the enemy and never realized the gentleman he was both on and off the track. We were more alike than I could have imagined with a zest for life and grateful for the road we had
traveled together, although in competition most of the time.
My most vivid recent memory of Stub is standing next to the fence at Canaan Speedway watching two of the driving experience cars going around the track with some person experience the thrill for the first time. We looked at each other, smiled, and both agreed that we sure lived a great life doing that every week.
Rest in peace "little man". I'm so thankful we finally became friends.
Yours truly,
Dave