The Last American Hero

[Howard Wood]

To my mind, to be an historian of any kind takes huge dedication, and that cannot be achieved without enthusiasm.[/QUOTE]

Steve,

And thank you for the enthusiasm which has created this quirky, eclectic forum. I love the wide menu of topics and input, from David McKinney's historical accuracy (build lists for Terrapins!) to Gerald and Bob's wimsical musings on the "Y & Y" thread, it is all pure gold!

I keep an occasional eye out on (and even more occasional contribution) to the 10-Tenths chassis archive forum when it touches cars or events I may have had a passing association with because it is an important archive, if a little dry. However that other well known historical archive, the TNF, seems to have degenerated into a forum for strange men spewing ego and insult at each other.

Viva la difference!

[HDonaldCapps]

However that other well known historical archive, the TNF, seems to have degenerated into a forum for strange men spewing ego and insult at each other.

Which, alas and alack, is not at all what I intended when I founded it close to a dozen years now. David McKinney is trying to salvage something from the wreckage, so maybe not all is lost....

Switching gears a tad: I think that English is quite inadequate at times as a language, one word having a multitude of meanings and shadings, but rather than an "enthusiasm" or even an "interest" in history, one can have a "love" of history. It is the genuine joy the comes from being involving in research and sorting things out that drives people like me. We strive for objectivity, clarity, and definitiveness in our work, which are, of course, goals we rarely achieve -- at least to our satisfaction. We tend to be a pain in the butt to many because, among many other things, we tend to look for context as well as often asking questions that can be awkward. We also tend to contrarian, a trait that can be infuriating to say the least. That is simply the result of habitually asking questions and probing for possible interpretations -- or simply taking a different view and being tactless enough to blurt it out....

[Howard Wood]

I had hoped that you did not think I was taking a pot shot at you,or worse at D McK, quite the contrary. As I will be in the UK next Sept I thought I might try to fit in the Goodwood Revival and so trawled through countless pages of the Goodwood thread on TNF, hoping at the least to get some guidance or ideas on simple things like what was the best day etc. To be frank I could not believe the self important crap and invective that was spewing forth, much of it directed in David's direction.

All those years ago when D McK and others were busy colating the details I don't think many, including myself, appreciated the imprtance of what they were recording. Revisionism occurs in all areas of history and on all sides.

[HDonaldCapps]

"Revisionism" is not necessarily an epitaph nor is it a sin. Indeed, the "revising" of the earlier interpretations of the past has often brought us closer to those ever elusive truths found in history. One of my former professors hammered the idea that "Popular history is not necessarily History" into his acolytes; by this he meant that often what is thought to be and usually taught as history is fraught with problems -- usually missing context, full of omissions, as well as presenting perception as the reality, always a dangerous thing when it comes to history. And these problems only begin to scratch the surface.

One problem with the Junior Johnson story is that it serves to perpetuate the notion that moonshiners -- especially those in Wilkes County and the surrounding environs -- were the bedrock for the origins of stock car racing. While it makes for a nice story, it little more than legend and myth -- wrapped within more than a few outright lies -- which does not quite fit the actual history of the origins and development of American stock car racing.

[AMCO72]

I thought Henry Ford 1 said.....'history is bunk'.....or maybe he said...'all history is bunk', among many of the other things he is quoted as saying, some of them a bit obtuse!!!......'whether you think you can, or you can't, your right'....Henry Ford 1st.

[Steve Holmes]

"Revisionism" is not necessarily an epitaph nor is it a sin. Indeed, the "revising" of the earlier interpretations of the past has often brought us closer to those ever elusive truths found in history. One of my former professors hammered the idea that "Popular history is not necessarily History" into his acolytes; by this he meant that often what is thought to be and usually taught as history is fraught with problems -- usually missing context, full of omissions, as well as presenting perception as the reality, always a dangerous thing when it comes to history. And these problems only begin to scratch the surface.

One problem with the Junior Johnson story is that it serves to perpetuate the notion that moonshiners -- especially those in Wilkes County and the surrounding environs -- were the bedrock for the origins of stock car racing. While it makes for a nice story, it little more than legend and myth -- wrapped within more than a few outright lies -- which does not quite fit the actual history of the origins and development of American stock car racing.

Don, there was a large 3km B shaped track carved into the land on which LAX now sits in 1934, paid for (I believe) by E. B. Gilmore. The cars that raced on the layout were late model roadsters, mostly '33 and '34 Fords with the fenders and headlights removed. Were these considered and/or promoted as stock cars?