17/04/2022
For Bill Graham...
Okay, long time readers. I want you to remember my friend Bill. Some of you may remember him as the FIRST Bill. I wish I could remember if he and I first met on Prodigy message boards, or if it wasn’t until I began writing for Ron Felix on Insider Racing News. But I can safely say it was at least 25 years ago. He would often write emails to me after a column would publish, and we got to be friends. Like many of you, he followed CHEERS and JEERS from site to site. When the time came that I knew I had to cut ties with the Charlotte Observer, I talked to Bill, who I knew dabbled in web design, and asked him how long it would take to get a site together for me to branch out on my own. Without hesitation, he said it was more than halfway done already, and that he’d been working on it for some time, just waiting for me to be ready. And that is how Race Journal Online came to be. (It would later be rebuilt and hosted by another dear friend you may remember as Bill 2.0)
I’m saddened to share with you the news that our “Original Bill” passed away earlier this month. It’s still hard to believe. He was such a fighter, but never a complainer. He battled diabetes, and had been on dialysis for a few years. Even though in the back of my head I knew that either of those conditions could turn life threatening in a heartbeat, I just never expected them to. I don’t know why I just blocked that possibility from my consciousness.
One of the first things I thought when I heard the news, was something that he said to me years ago. I had written an article about somebody who had passed, and I don’t remember who. It may have been Davey Allison, or it could’ve been a number of other people. But it touched him deeply enough, that in kind of a lighthearted way, but with a tinge of “no, I’m serious“, he said that when he died, he wanted me to write his eulogy.
I didn’t get that opportunity in a formal way, but I didn’t want his passing to go without you knowing how integral he was to RJO, but even more, what a great friend he was. He was kind. And he was funny. And he was a slow talker. We should all have the pleasure of friends who are slow talkers.
Let me explain… by slow talker, what I mean is that he was southern. Relaxed, not in a hurry, and he would tell great stories. To my Southern Californian ears, and my fast talking ways, and always seeming to be in a hurry, an afternoon chat with Bill would slow me down and recalibrate me in a very good way. Don’t worry, Carol. Slow down, Carol. And while he never said those things specifically, whenever I got off the phone with Bill, I always felt more relaxed. I don’t think I ever told him that, but I kind of think he knew.
I’ll miss him.
I was looking through some old emails between us, and it must have been during a time where I had to send him my articles to put on the website. It’s interesting that this is a Bristol weekend, because the full length article that I found in my email was one that I had written in August of 2008, after the Busch race. I’ve decided to attach it here (keep scrolling). But first,..
CHEERS to YOU, Bill Graham! Thank you for the friendship, the advice, the slow afternoon talks; the stories of your boys, and your Dad’s classic car; the website, the encouragement, and all the rest. You will be missed, my friend.
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CHEERS and JEERS – 2008 Bristol Bonanza, Chapter Two – NNS
By Carol Einarsson
CHEERS to the overhead shot by SPEED showing all the Cup drivers in a sprint to get to their Nationwide cars, and calling the foot race like any other race. I think David Ragan won the gold, and he even cleared the hurdle. Here comes Carl on the outside to make it two-wide with Bowyer, and blocking Sadler!
CHEERS to the best race weekend of the year. Sure, we love Speed Weeks at Daytona, especially after our winter withdrawals, but night racing at Bristol in August is just magic!
CHEERS to Cale Gale on the pole for Kevin Harvick, and so happy to be at Bristol that he had to fight the smile to try and look more professional in his pre-race interview.
CHEERS to Dario hanging in there and moving to Nationwide still with his head held high.
JEERS to that blue suit! What on earth was THAT?! Did Dougherty miss the 1973 prom?
CHEERS to Allen Bestwick bringing up the infamous water bottle incident at Bristol to remind Rusty.
CHEERS to Kevin Harvick not just driving for Nationwide, but even singing their little song in the commercial!
CHEERS to JD Gibbs being the leader he is, and recognizing that people make mistakes, but they're still part of the family. Punishment above and beyond what NASCAR imposes, but never forgetting the real meaning of the word 'discipline.'
CHEERS to All the Kings Men from the King College Choir Ensemble. Nice job and nice audio job by ESPN, too! Bravo!! I hope they know, though, that the best they can achieve is second-best in anthem presentations for the weekend.
JEERS to Paula Dean giving the command. Y'know, I thought we'd overdosed on Rachel Ray, but y'all, Paula Dean has risen to new heights of over-exposure, and her forced "y'all" in every sentence she utters has grated on my last nerve. I think for off-season sport, we ought to have a debate with her and Rusty and take bets on the combined usage of "man" and "y'all". Or not.
CHEERS to Dario taking pictures of the banking with his cell phone to send to all his friends.
JEERS to trouble for Marcos Ambrose, but…
CHEERS to the lead for Dario! I wonder if Kevin will have a chat with Cale about waiting for that yellow light before he lifts.
CHEERS to a battle on the track, now, between Carl and Clint. I wonder if either one of them are regretting not being a little rougher in the side-by-side foot race earlier.
CHEERS to Joey being confident in his proven back-up car.
CHEERS to Cale finding a little something extra, but I think it had more to do with Kevin getting back to the radio to guide his driver.
JEERS to Elliott getting caught up in Carl Edwards' issues. Again we see a confrontation that could have been settled during the foot race.
CHEERS to Brad Keselowski in fifth place after starting 37th! With the way guys come from the back to the front at Bristol, we're always amazed at the large proportion of races that are won from the top starting positions.
JEERS to the brown color on the 30 car. I'm not sure what color they were going for, but they achieved what can only be described as poo brown.
CHEERS to "There's some good cars going down a lap that don't wanna go down." I wonder if there are ever any cars, even badly-running cars, whose drivers want to be lapped.
JEERS to another caution coinciding with a commercial. Anyone up there in the ESPN booth care to tell us why we're under caution? Anyone? Anyone??
JEERS to a lug nut making its escape through the legs of the front tire carrier, but CHEERS to night racing and the lighting that makes the whole situation visible for all eyes to see in real time.
JEERS to another caution under commercial, but at least we had a replay of David spinning a second time today. I thought Jack told us that he'd explained to David how not to spin there, and that Jack was confident that David had learned and wouldn't do that again.
CHEERS, though, that those single-car spins (and multi-car wrecks, too) have been a rare occurrence for David Ragan this year.
JEERS to Denny caught up in a spinning lizard. I wonder if he'll blame Mike Wallace or try and find a way to blame this on his crew, too.
CHEERS to David Stremme thinking twice before shoving himself into a three-wide situation that wouldn't have ended well.
JEERS to nasty tire rub on the 20. Now THAT would be a good place for a spacer. And JEERS, also, to Joey causing a black flag for Jeff Green, innocent bystander.
CHEERS to the wisdom of Landon Cassill, backing himself out of the three-wide created by Sam Hornish trying to get even with Stephen.
CHEERS to Brad's mom at the track bringing good luck! I wonder if she'll be put on the payroll to ensure she's there every single week, now.
CHEERS to beating the odds and the stacked statistics to win from so deep in the field. Way to go team NAVY!!
CHEERS to Sam Hornish bringing home a car the way it ought to be brought home from Bristol – in a smashed up mess of sheet metal, courtesy Jason Leffler.
CHEERS to Pops doing a great job for his nephew boss.
CHEERS to burning rubber all the way into Victory Lane.
CHEERS to "We know to win the Championship, we gotta win races."
JEERS to the team grabbing the Food City prop from atop the car and wrecking the perfect product placement for the TV shot.
JEERS to interviewing the seventh place finisher who's not even a full-time Nationwide driver. And then a full graphic for him, and still talking about him as we see the WINNER getting out of his car?! Get over him, already. If you want to have a Kyle Busch love fest on Sunday, that's one thing; but maybe it's better to spend a little more time on the guy that won the race and moved up in the points than on a part-timer that started fifteenth, finished seventh, and isn't even in the top five in points.
CHEERS to Clint Bowyer, "This racing's a humbling sport." JEERS, though, to Shannon pulling him back when he was clearly done with his interview.
CHEERS to Dale, Jr., car owner. I wonder if he'll get a driver's championship or an owner's championship first. Maybe he'll get them both in the same year.
JEERS to a stupid analogy. "You start 37th at Bristol; that's longer than a night in jail tryin' to get to the front."
CHEERS to Joey being interviewed shoulder to shoulder with Coach. Gosh it's tough to see Joe Gibbs looking so stressed and serious. He looks like he needs a Tums.
CHEERS to the new generation of drivers, and as soon as he's done with his interview Joey's checking messages and has his cell phone up to his head.
CHEERS to Dario throwing Andrew Ranger under the bus by car number only.
CHEERS to finally getting around to the interview for third-place finisher Greg Biffle, and him spilling some strategy that he learned tonight that might work for tomorrow.
CHEERS to Scott Wimmer with a plan B in his back pocket – driving dad's bulldozer.
And finally,
CHEERS to the beauty of a veteran's mistake opening the door for a kid to take the lead! With so many Cup intruders often taking the money and the points away from the series regulars, it's fantastic to see the real reason that we shouldn't ban the bigger-league guys altogether – they challenge the younger drivers! To beat a field laced with Cup-level guys is surely sweeter than to dominate a race without them.
