If Martinsville could talk ...

If racetracks could talk, I would like to think that Martinsville Speedway could tell quite a story. I have always enjoyed the Martinsville weekend. When I lived in Charlotte it was a pleasant drive up late Thursday afternoon or first thing Friday morning.

Two of our all-time favorite Mexican restaurants are in the Martinsville area. I know a good place to get a steak, too. The people that work in the office supply store near the mall are about the friendliest and most helpful people I have ever met. They would print my race charts for me on Saturday afternoon. And the racing isn't too bad, either.

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Now the weather, well, that's another story. I think over the years we have seen every kind of weather possible at Martinsville -- hot as it could be, rain, snow, fog, even a hurricane played into a race, but that's another story.

The weather has added to the memories and storylines at The 'Ville. In April of 1995 I was sure I was going to see Ted Musgrave win his first Nextel Cup Series race at Martinsville. It was quite a day. The race was a noon or 12:30 p.m. start but because of a programming conflict we were going to be on a tape delay. The "delayed" broadcast was scheduled for 3 o'clock. Needless to say, the race fans, and the broadcast team, were not very happy with that scenario but we all had to go along with it. Or not.

Somebody, somewhere, had a different plan. It rained. It rained in the morning, it rained early in the afternoon. Then, it stopped raining and the race officials got the track dry, right about 3 o'clock. In fact, I think we actually had to "fill" a little bit while they finished drying the track and got everybody in place for the race. So on a cloudy, cold, but sort of dry Sunday afternoon we went racing, and it was "live." Nice work up there.

Musgrave had a strong car and was running a strong race, but so were Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace. Pretty soon, the race was against the clock -- it was getting dark, in a hurry.

I was working the pits along the backstretch and that is where Musgrave was pitted. Howard Comstock was his crew chief. Howard is a terrific guy. He works in the Dodge camp these days but as crew chief he was one of he guys who "got it." He would tell you everything and anything about his car, his team, his driver. I was always thrilled to get his pit for a race. He would educated and inform as long as you were willing to listen. He knew how it helped tell the story throughout the day.

Musgrave was about my only story that day and I spent a lot of time in his pit with Howard and his guys. It is always hard to hear at Martinsville but Howard and I talked many times during that day. I remember the smile and the shrug when we realized what could happen. Neither one of us used the word "win," but we all knew it could happen. But it didn't.

The race was shortened to 356 laps, Wallace's car got better, Ted was probably too nice a guy on the track and Rusty won the race. Musgrave was second followed by Jeff Gordon and Waltrip.

As the checkered flag flew, Howard just smiled as we shook hands. The crew began to pack up, day turned into night and we all headed home.

It was pretty bright the day Ricky Rudd won at Martinsville. It was one of the hottest days I have ever spent at a racetrack. Billy Ingle was his crew chief that day. Man, what a day! Blistering. And in the car, even hotter, especially if your cooling box was not working.

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.