If Martinsville could talk ... (cont'd)

Rudd used a cool box that would force cooler air into either his suit or his helmet. Heck, it was so hot I can't remember, but whichever it was, it wasn't working. For a while, it looked like he might have to get out of the seat, and Ricky Rudd is a tough cookie -- just ask anyone that has seen his wreck at Daytona. On one pit stop the crew put a hose in the car and sprayed him with water. Only for one reason or another, the water was hot! Then the crew took the make-up bag from Linda Rudd, Ricky's wife. They filled it with ice and slipped it through the window on another pit stop. That must have been the magic. They kept Ricky on ice the rest of the day. Rudd stayed in the seat, won the race and did his Victory Lane interview sitting on the ground. Man, was it hot!

Rusty Wallace should have been hot the day he lost at Martinsville, but he wasn't. It was one of the most unusual races I have ever seen, and the finish had everybody going wild, one way or the other. Everyone, that is, except Rusty.

Wallace had a tremendous record at Martinsville. He was always a threat. On this Sunday he was The Man, and nobody was going to beat Rusty. Nobody that is, except Rusty. His car was strong, and as the leader of the race, Wallace was in control of the field on restarts and he was really good on restarts. Earlier in the race NASCAR had cautioned Wallace about his restarts. There is an area on the track where the leader can take off on a restart and race officials thought Wallace might be a little early and they expressed their concern.

Later in the race, with the yellow flag out the field was given the one-to-go signal. Wallace crawled around the half-mile track behind pace car. It dove into the pits, Wallace had the field in tow, the green flag came out and off they went, only NASCAR felt that Wallace went too soon. Rusty got the black flag for "jumping the restart." On the team radio, everything was relatively calm. Wallace answered the black flag and was never a threat to win after that.

Following the checkered flag, Wallace brought his car back to the infield -- there was not a garage at Martinsville back then -- and went up inside the team transporter. To this day I am not exactly sure what went on in there, I have heard different stories, but after a while, Rusty came out for a post-race interview on our broadcast. I'll tell you what, win, lose or wreck Rusty always gave an interview, even when you knew he didn't want to do it, he did it. He did if for TV, he did it for the fans.

We sat on the back steps on the transporter. He looked like he just found out that Miller had run out of beer. But he was calm, polite and eloquent. He explained his position, said he was aware of the situation but thought he was in the right. Up until that moment, just about everyone was under the impression that the race leader controlled the restarts and the waving of the green flag was a simple courtesy. Well, not on this day.

As we talked on the air, and that's all we did was talk, Dale Earnhardt walked by and in the middle of our "talk" he leaned down and whispered something in Rusty's ear. In case you never got to see Earnhardt race or didn't have the chance to know him, he was as savvy as he was intimidating. He knew the rules. He could see the race. The whole race. I remember talking to him one time about being in the car during the race. He said he was watching the race. He knew who was leading (usually him). He knew who was charging and he knew what was happening a mile ahead or behind him on the track.

After Earnhardt walked away Wallace turned back to me.

"Would you like to share that?" I asked Wallace.

"Sure. He said, 'You got [a bad deal].'"

I'm pretty sure he said "You got screwed" but I would have to go to the replay official to check the tape.

Rusty said he would look at the race on tape the next day, then talk to NASCAR about it. I thanked him. He said, "Thanks, Weber." And that was it.

Of course, the outcome never changed, but leaders are a little more careful about restarts. Occasionally you will still hear a crew chief tell his race-leading driver on the radio as they get set for a restart, "Remember Martinsville" and everyone knows exactly what it means.

I would love to tell you more stories, and would love to listen to your stories. But it is time to go. Drivers, crew chiefs and fans can all tell you a good Martinsville story.

Of course, if the Martinsville Speedway could talk, it could tell us all of the stories.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. There will be another memory from Martinsville. So this Sunday as you watch the Chase, don't forget to enjoy the race.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.