{"id":79265,"date":"2026-05-15T05:12:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/?p=79265"},"modified":"2026-05-15T05:25:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:25:58","slug":"may-15-26-nascar-auto-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/?p=79265","title":{"rendered":"MAY 15, 26.. NASCAR AUTO RACING.."},"content":{"rendered":"

Today our friends at NATIONAL TODAY gave us an absolute “No Brainer” Holiday!!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We hope you will remember that for Patti and me it was a “No Brainer” and very well may NOT be for you.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

I can only speak for myself, but I am sure some other young boys felt the same way as I did growing up. I wanted to “Make The Big Time” in sports. In Junior and High School, and to some degree in University and in the Military Service, I played baseball, football (in the Marine Corps), basketball, ice hockey, and tennis. At best I was only O.K.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Through an absolutely amazing series of events, I made “The Big Time” in professional Automobile Racing as a Race Engine builder. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Allow me to assure you all, one does not make “The Big Time” without some luck (being in the right place at the right time to meet certain key people). <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Yes Oh Yes, one has to have the skills and the expertise but without key people you may never get the opportunity to exhibit your skills. I have friends who played in the National Football League and their story is similar. They met and were coached by people who were absolutely critical to getting into the N.F.L.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On my upward progress in auto racing, I worked with Lloyd Ruby, Pete Hamilton, A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones and finally, perhaps the most famous NASCAR Driver of all, Richard Petty !!\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Petty’s famous “Car 43”..<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Richard Petty and myself.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Patti and me.<\/p>\n

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Above and below, I still have my Petty Enterprises Team Jacket. Fifty Four (54) years ago. 1972 – 1974.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Patti adds:\u00a0 Cap took me to Richard Petty’s shop to meet Richard Petty. Richard was out in the shop and when told Cap was there, he came rushing out with a huge smile and an enthusiastic handshake. <\/span><\/p>\n

Richard instantly ushered us into his shop saying he wanted Cap to see his latest project. The project turned out to be a motorcycle he was restoring.. and.. it was painted “Petty Blue”, the same color of his famous car 43!! We had a nice, short visit and I have always treasured meeting Richard in person.<\/span><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

NASCAR\u00a0<\/em><\/span>is an acronym for the N<\/span>ational A<\/span>ssociation of S<\/span>tock\u00a0Car<\/span><\/span>\u00a0A<\/span>uto R<\/span>acing, an auto racing sanctioning and operating company.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

NASCAR DAY is celebrated on the 3rd Friday of May.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Last year in 2025 it was celebrated on May 16.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Very Nice! <\/em><\/span>The NASCAR Foundation created NASCAR Day to help raise funds and awareness for the betterment of children\u2019s lives all over the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

The NASCAR All-Star race is this weekend at The Dover Motor Speedway (the “Monster Mile”) from May 15-17, 2026, featuring a tripleheader of action. Saturday, May 16, features Cup Series qualifying\/pit crew challenges and the BetRivers 200 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

NASCAR events take place 10 months each year beginning in early February and ending in early November.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To read more just click onto the below link..<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/nationaltoday.com\/nascar-day\/<\/a><\/p>\n

What an experience NASCAR was!\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1970’s it was like working in the Carnival Business. We worked seven days a week.\u00a0 Every week was another race. I had absolutely no benefits (no Health Insurance with a wife and two children, no vacation time). Then I received a very lucrative offer to return to the “Real World” with all of the benefits including a Retirement Plan. I had done “My Thing” at some negative aspects for my family. We lived in three different states (Indianapolis, Indiana.. Atlanta Georgia.. Spartanburg, South Carolina) meaning my sons were in and out of different schools. <\/em><\/span>So I have absolutely no regrets that I left the professional auto racing business. Ahead of me lay four years of working and living in West Germany. Full retirement at age 52 years.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – –<\/span><\/p>\n

Cap and Patti<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today our friends at NATIONAL TODAY gave us an absolute “No Brainer” Holiday!! We hope you will remember that for Patti and me it was a “No Brainer” and very… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1173,1165,914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-automobile-racing-sports","category-nascar","category-richard-petty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79265"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79297,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79265\/revisions\/79297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babakaps.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}