Page 22 - March 2023 Issue

Southrons like myself are dedicated fans of the Allman Broth- Pennsylvania in 2013. Oddly, purchasing tickets to his show
ers. I saw the band perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion
but without Dickey Betts. I tracked him down to a festival in
Calvary Baptist Church
1120 Market St., Denton • 410-924-6404
www.calvarybaptistchurchofdenton.org
Don Reynolds, Pastor
10 AM Sunday Bible School – All ages
11 AM Exciting Praise / Worship
Also, great Junior Church (5-11 yrs.) 1977. A fortieth anniversary celebration was organized in 2017
7 PM Sunday Evening Worship &
Children’s Class
7 PM Wednesday Bible Studies
Going Forward Together in 2023
Photo Above: Chad Dead being held by his father standing
next to four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears
PhotoAbove: Chad Dead at Buffalo Wild Wings with
Danica Patrick.
22
came with two free passes to the Pocono Cup race the next day.
I was able to make contact with a childhood friend who lived
nearby; we went to both the concert and the race and had a
good time catching up.
I went to Las Vegas for a wedding in 2015 and stayed several
days. This time, unlike Talladega, the gate at LVMS was wide
open and I was able to drive all the way to the infield and pit
row. I rescued a feral puppy in Utah on the same trip, another
memorable highlight.
My favorite movie ever ever ever in the history of ever is
Smokey and the Bandit. It was filmed in northwest Georgia in
with an aging Burt Reynolds as the guest of honor. Clearly a
man of destiny, I was chosen at random to ask him a question
on stage prior to a stunt show at Atlanta Motor Speedway; I can
now die a happy man. I am sure he was thinking the same thing
about our chance encounter when he passed away a year later.
In the most Chad Dean thing you will read all month, I decided
to defy the COVID restrictions at the height of that foolish-
ness in 2020. I drove to Texas and back, noting that outside
of Maryland life continued as usual. There were no mask
mandates the farther west and south I traveled; the buff ets
were open, as was just about everything else. In your face,
Lockdown Larry. Anyhow, one of my most memorable fi nds
was what was left of Texas World Speedway outside of College
Station. The venue was state of the art when it opened in 1969
but was not used by the Winston Cup Series after 1981. Th e
directions included turning off of a paved road, then turning
off the road completely. I cautiously but triumphantly steered
my SUV through a field thick with brush until I came to one
solitary abandoned shed-like structure and the vague oval
outline of a track that had long since been reclaimed by nature.
Satisfi ed with my detective work, I also visited the site of the
1993 Waco siege (part of the Advanced Placement United
States History curriculum I teach) and then the hometown of
Don Henley -- the greatest living American musician and the
pride of Linden in Cass County -- before reluctantly returning
to Ridgely, but at least with a collection of Eagles songs and
solo albums on the radio.
We were installing new flooring in our house in 2021. Th e local
Lowe's locations were all out of what we needed. Th eir website,
however, indicated that a store near Syracuse had the neces-
sary supplies in stock. I immediately volunteered to drive up
there; my wife was impressed with my heroism, not knowing
that the NASCAR circus was at the Watkins Glen road course
in western New York that weekend. I guess she knows now.
Your mileage, literally and figuratively, will vary as you attempt
the suggested bucket list. Like me, you may find that while
NASCAR can be the cornerstone of Americana that it aspires
to be, perhaps the real story is the life experiences you will
blissfully absorb on the way to your own personal fi nish line
with stock cars as the backdrop. Good luck on running your
race to completion.