The Scene Vault Podcast

If you thought last week’s segment was good, just wait until you hear what Ritchie, Mark and Timmy Petty have to say in this week’s episode.

They discuss the powerful bond that existed between Richard and Maurice, and the work they put into building Petty Enterprises into the dynasty it eventually became.

Then ... the 1983 fall race weekend at Charlotte was one of the most controversial moments in the 75-year history of NASCAR. Maurice Petty was directly involved … and very much impacted … by what took place.

In a very real sense, it was his own sons’ careers in the sport that helped Maurice begin to heal. Finally, Richie Petty takes us through the infamous 1993 accident in Talladega during which Jimmy Horton flipped completely over his car and over the wall, out of the ballpark.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

We’re getting 2023 started off with a bang, with the first of what will be THREE installments with Ritchie, Mark and Timmy … Maurice Petty’s sons.

They’ll take us through what it was like to grow up as part of one of NASCAR’s most famous families and the standards they were expected to live up to. Let’s put it this way … you did NOT mess with Lee Petty’s putting green. At all. Period. End of discussion.

Hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid then dig through the October 4, 1979 issue of Grand National Scene.

Rain washes out the race at North Wilkesboro, but not Dale Earnhardt’s track record qualifying effort. We’ve got features on Richard Petty’s 800th NASCAR start and crew chief Bob Johnson, as well as a letter to the editor from a rival crew chief FURIOUS with Darrell Waltrip and a Gene Granger dreaming about the perfect cast for a NASCAR movie.Just wait until you hear who Gene picked to play Steve!

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts?

Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

This week, we’ve got the conclusion to our EPIC conversation with John Dodson, Pete Wright and David Ifft … and they kept telling stories with a full head of steam, just like last week.

They remember their welcome-to-NASCAR and most embarrassing moments, life on the road away from family, MORE stretching-the-rulebook stories and SO much more.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

David Ifft, John Dodson and Pete Wright ... this was an all-star cast of some of the best storytellers we’ve had so far on the show.

You ever hear the old saying where people wonder what it would be like to be a fly on the wall of the garage? Well … that’s what this was. They were just three longtime friends and co-workers sitting around a table reminiscing and telling stories.

What kinds of stories did they share this week? We’ve got stories about Delma Cowart, MORE nitrous oxide stories about at least one three-time Winston Cup champion and another involving a team that won three DAYTONA 500s.

We’ve got lead wheels, motorized movable weight within the frame rails, some sort camera-mounted laser that could trip a qualifying timer light, a NASCAR template that was secretly cut by a team to fit ITS car and nobody else’s … and according to one of our storytellers … flat-out bribery.

Last but not least … we have fish guts, and plenty of 'em.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

In the third and final installment of our interview, Robert Pressley takes us through the see-saw world of the Winston Cup division. A conversation with Bobby Hamilton led him to the truck series, a decision that eventually landed him in victory lane at Daytona following the 2002 season opener.

Still more career uncertainty brought about his decision to step away from the seat and enjoy retirement. Now … his life is all about hot dogs, politics and his family.

Hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid then take a deep dive into the February 21, 2002 issue of Winston Cup Scene. Ward Burton gets a win in the Daytona 500 … Dale Earnhardt Jr. drives a Richard Childress Racing number 3 Chevrolet to victory in Daytona’s Busch Series race … and Robert Pressley makes a splashy truck series debut.

Dave Marcis celebrates his final Winston Cup start, while both Joe Gibbs and Winston Cup Scene photographer Larry McTighe very narrowly escape disaster.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

In the second of our three installments with Robert Pressley, he and Michael Waltrip get together to trigger one of the most infamous crashes in NASCAR history and an IMPRESSIVE stare-down minutes later.

Robert then pulls off a last-lap pass of Harry Gant to win at Darlington, after an impromptu rain-delay tutorial from the one and only David Pearson the day before. Finally, Robert takes us through the palace intrigue that EVENTUALLY led to him REPLACING Harry Gant in Leo Jackson’s Skoal-sponsored Chevrolet.

In our second segment, hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid dissect the April 2, 1992 issue of Winston Cup Scene.

Bill Elliott wins his fourth-straight race of the very young 1992 Winston Cup season at Darlington, after Harry Gant and his team try a strategy move that doesn’t quite pan out. And speaking of Harry, Robert Pressley makes a thrilling last-lap pass on the Bandit to capture in The Lady in Black’s Busch Series race.

Kenny Wallace has to dodge a HUGE inflatable beer can during Busch Series qualifying. Steve Waid gets his picture in the paper … AGAIN … during the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame’s grand re-opening. EVERYBODY’S going after Richard Petty fan appreciation cars … including thieves.

Corey LaJoie makes his first national appearance in a racing publication, and finally, Alan Kulwicki talks on the telephone.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

Just one quick note before we begin ... pace car? Did somebody say PACE CAR?!?

In the first of what will be three blockbuster installments, Robert Pressley talks about the role moonshine played on racing in and around his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. The son of local stock-car legend Bob Pressley, Robert also remembers his father’s many on- and off-track confrontations and the impact they had on his own driving career.

Robert then takes us through a chance meeting with future NBA superstar and current NASCAR on NBC analyst Brad Daugherty, as well as the relationship they forged on the way up the racing ladder.

Hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid then dig into the August 17, 1989 newly renamed WINSTON CUP Scene.

For the second week in a row, we’ll take a look at a Rusty Wallace victory at Watkins Glen … but this one is MUCH different than the one we discussed in last week’s episode. Rusty scored the win despite several issues that day, including a lawsuit he’d filed recently against team owner Raymond Beadle.

Darrell Waltrip’s tire carrier was struck on pit road by Dale Earnhardt and fellow future NASCAR Hall of Famer Ray Evernham works either his first or ONE OF HIS FIRST races as a Winston Cup crew chief. Tom Cruise is at the track, supposedly thinking about a movie based on NASCAR.

Robert Pressley beats Tommy Houston and Tommy Ellis at Orange County to collect the first win of his Busch Series career. Winston Cup Director Dick Beaty shows his humorous side with a practical joke or two and Joe Whitlock shows us once again why he was the greatest writer ever to step foot in a NASCAR media center.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

In the third and final installment of our interview with Larry Pollard, he talks about the up-and-down world of being a NASCAR Busch Series race-car driver. He WINS … but finds himself in and out of a couple of rides.

And THAT was before he became one of a very few people in the sport to survive a devastating basal skull fracture, an injury he sustained while filling in for his injured then-father-in-law, Harry Gant.

He takes us through the painful and frustrating journey to becoming Larry Pollard again, as well as the enjoyment he finds now in building gears for Late Model racers across the country.

Co-hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid then take a long look at the August 13, 1987 issue of Grand National Scene. Rusty Wallace is forced to the pits for a VERY late splash of gas, but still scores the win at Watkins Glen. Larry Pollard wins the Busch Series race at Langley Speedway, but you could barely tell it from the coverage the event received in this issue.

The hauler carrying Davey Allison’s cars and three crew members was involved in a serious accident as it neared Watkins Glen. Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott show up on NBC’s The Today Show, but Dale isn’t very happy with how it turned out.

AND … "Pappy" Tom Higgins celebrates his 50th birthday!

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

In the second installment of our interview with Larry Pollard, he talks about the pushback he received from some of his Petty Enterprises teammates after being named co-crew chief, the trick gas can used to win at Talladega and the part he played in Richard Petty’s infamous win at Charlotte in the fall of 1983.

Larry, a veteran driver back home in Canada, then makes a deal to go from turning wrenches to turning wheels in the Busch Series.

Hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid then study the June 2, 1983 issue of Grand National Scene.

Bobby Allison and Bill Elliott are battling it out for the lead late in the World 600 when they get caught up in somebody else’s mess and crash. That turns the lead up to Richard Petty, who then gets passed just after the restart by Neil Bonnett. The Allison-Elliott crash is Neil’s SECOND stroke of good fortune on his way to victory lane that day.

Bosco Lowe isn’t happy with Winston Cup drivers in the Saturday event, and there’s a feature on LONG-time NASCAR official Ernie Moore.

Finally ... Rick and Steve give their take on Ross Chastain's miraculous Haul on the Wall move at Martinsville, and what it might mean to NASCAR history if, in fact, the driver goes on to capture this year's championship.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast

Larry Pollard might not have the most recognizable name we’ve ever had on the show, but he is a master storyteller after nearly forty years in the NASCAR trenches.

Larry moved from his home in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to go to work for Richard Childress Racing in its first year with halfway decent sponsorship from Piedmont Airlines and with driver Ricky Rudd behind the wheel.

After just a year or so at RCR, Larry went to work at Petty Enterprises in 1983 … and before the season even started, was named co-crew chief of the legendary operation.

Richard then proceeds to break a nearly two-year winless streak in just the third race with Larry in that role. But if Larry expected to just coast into work at Level Cross the next morning, he had another thing coming!

In our second segment, hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid take a peek at the March 17, 1983 issue of Grand National Scene.

Richard Petty holds off a hard-charging … but clean … effort by young Bill Elliott to win a rain-split race at Rockingham. Richard and Cale Yarborough … among others … call for races at Rockingham to be shortened from 500 miles to 500 KILOMETERS.

Elmo Langley finds himself unloading his hauler after it catches fire on the way home from The Rock, and while Dale Earnhardt wins the Saturday Budweiser Late Model Sportsman event, both Morgan Shepherd AND Bubba Nissen find HUGE trouble in the race.

There are rumors that Darrell Waltrip and Junior Johnson are fussing and feuding, and that DW might even be leaving his championship-winning team to form his own Winston Cup operation. Plus … eighteen-year-old Bobby Labonte is featured.

NOTE: This show is not associated in any way with American City Business Journals, owner of the Scene brand.

Interested in The Scene Vault Podcast T-shirts? Check out thescenevault.com and click on SHOP to see what we have available!

Please consider supporting this show via:

www.patreon.com/thescenevaultpodcast

www.paypal.me/thescenevaultpodcast

www.venmo.com/thescenevaultpodcast