Doc Stevens

Tondeleo: I didn’t know what a nerve I had touched when mentioning NASCAR racing to Doc and Big Dave. I had stuck my head into a southern hornet’s nest! Here is hopefully their last rant on the subject.

Doc: When I was a boy, we went to the Firecracker 400 in Daytona…

Big Dave: They call it the Coke Zero 400 now! What’s THAT about? Racers drinking diet colas! They used to drink beer.

Doc: Well, that was my daddy’s dream, and he saved his money up and took the whole family! We camped out and went to the race and stayed in the campground at night with a lot of other race fans. None of us had any money. We just liked racin’.

It was Fireball Roberts was in a Pontiac, and Ned Jarrett, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarbrough and Junior Johnson, an’…

Big Dave: Back then, they all had the kind of motor that came in their cars. Fords had For motors. Pontiacs had Pontiac motors, and they ran them as fast as they could.They really raced each other!

Now, they have restrictor plates on the motors, whatever kind they are, and they all have the same horsepower and no one can make his car any faster. That’s why they all clump up on the track! They can go full throttle the whole race now and all be the same. 

Doc: Yeah. Back then, they had more control. The mechanics could make the motors fast as they could, and the driver had to do more. So they had to be better back then.

Big Dave: Guess what the cars cost back about 1970? $20,000! My Dad told me that! And people was all complainin’ already that it was gettin' to be only for rich guys. $20,000!

Now it’s about 15 million for the car and about 12 million a year to be good! I read that in a magazine at CVS.

Doc: I ain’t never gonna see that kind of money in my life. That’s why I don’t go to NASCAR and I cain’t even afford tickets. We go to the dirt track down to Potomac Speedway on Friday nights down at Bud’s Creek, Tondy. It still got local boys in it and local cars. They spend money, but it ain’t crazy money. It’s money what a workin’ man can earn and can get some help from some sponsors. Like NASCAR used to be 50 years ago.

Big Dave: NASCAR! I remember when it was always for a long time the Winston Cup. Then they called it the Nextel cup! Then they changed it again to the Sprint Cup. If Starbucks pays ‘em enough, they’ll call it the Coffee Cup. I ain’t interested.

Doc: Me neither.

Tondeleo: I know absolutely nothing about racing or cars. But I know that NASCAR is a big deal with Americans. It used to be considered a southern activity for blue collar workers to enjoy and over the years it went more mainstream and lost a lot of its original fan base. Doc, Big Dave and their friends are part of the original fan base who are totally disenchanted with what NASCAR racing has become. That is all In know about it!

Doc: My daddy is from down North Carolina where NASCAR has been big since it got started. Down south, race cars really got started from boys runnin’ shine [moonshine whiskey], what fixed up they’s cars to outrun revenuers. They took out the back seats, lightened up the cars a little bit and put cutouts on the exhaust..

Big Dave: Cutouts are just a Y pipe welded into the exhaust system with a flap in it so you can bypass the mufflers, and get a little more power. It made the cars loud, but a little faster. Most places made it against the law to have cutouts on your car…

Doc: Anyway, that’s how the idea of fixin’ up your car to see how fast it would go came from down south. Then they set up race tracks to see how long you could drive that fast.How long could your car hold up?

They started finding out that some boys could fix they’s cars up better n’ other boys, so they made different classes and wouldn’t let a boy what modified his car race ‘gainst a boy who was just drivin’ his car the way it came.

My daddy said he was at races down to Charlotte [NC] at the first speedway, where if the winner had even changed one thing on his car, like the springs, or manifold, they would kick him out of the race, cause it wasn’t “stock;” it was modified.

They had roll bars, seat belts and helmets but that was about it. And the drivers ain’t wore no coveralls covered in advertisements. They wore whatever they wore, t-shirts, jeans, an’ a helmet! That was at Daytona! Everywhere!

Big Dave: All the cars back then had to be something that you could buy at the dealer, and then you might modify it, or make it a little lighter or a little safer, but it was still a car like anyone else could buy. You didn’t have to be rich back then to do it. About anyone with a car and some tools and some friends could get in there and be somebody.

Doc: It weren’t all big money back then. It was about local boys fixin’ up they cars and goin’ as fast as they could, an’ then the fastest of ‘em went to other tracks til they found out who was the fastest. They mighta got a local garage to help ‘em out or sponsor them, but it was local an’ pretty much honest.

After the race, all us local boys would try to make our cars as much as we could like the fastest ones. You could do that back then even if you ain’t had big money.

Big Dave: Once it got to be about the money, it all went downhill. The tickets cost too much for a workin’ man to go and take his family and friends. We used to all pile in the car and have a day at the races. I could pay cash for the tickets. I cain’t to that anymore.

Now, you got drivers that didn’t know anything about cars. All they knew how to do was drive in circles for a long time, and give a good interview. The mechanics did all the work. But it was still just drivers and mechanics for a long time. Not now. Drivers, mechanics, engineers, publicity agents, I heard they got make up artists! Race car drivers with make up artists for commercials! It’s all about the products, big millionaire companies and all their rules.

A driver isn’t even able to go out and act like himself now. He is a representer of the company who pays millions of dollars to make him a super star. He is like a dancin’ bear in a circus, if you ask me. It’s a cryin’ shame.

Doc: Yeah. Back in the day, you could watch a NASCAR race and could see cars what looked like your car and you could pretend that your car was somethin’ like the car on the track. If you had money, you could go to the dealer and order the parts you needed to make your car run like the car at the stock car track. You ain’t doin’ that no more! You could be a multi-brazilianaire and not be able to buy them parts at the Ford or Chevy dealer!

I ain’t talkin way back to my daddy’s day. I’m talkin’ in the 70’s the cars still looked like what they were. They were CARS. Real cars that was made up to race. Like GTO’s, Monte Carlo’s, Road Runners.

Lookit the Monte Carlo’s out there now!. It don’t look like no Monte Carlo I ever seen. It looks like a plastic piece of junk with stickers all over it. Ain’t no Chevy motor in it. So why should I care if it beats a plastic Ford what ain’t got a Ford motor in it? I DON"’T! 

It ain’t about the cars no more and ain’t been about them for probally twenty years.It’s about big money and makin’ the drivers into rock stars and takin’ away they freedom. I seen on TV that two of ‘em got fined for speakin’ they mind about NASCAR! And they ain’t even allowed to give they’s names!

Big Dave: It’s all gone corporate and they' took all the fun out of it years ago. More about buyin’ souvenirs and NASCAR toys an’ all that. It ain’t about racin’ the cars anymore. That’s just a back drop – to keep you distracted into thinkin’ you’re watchin’ real mechanics and real drivers in real cars out there really racin’ each other with all their might…

Doc: Which they AINT. So I ain’t interested in somethin’ what ain’t real.

Tondeleo: Doc and Marilyn have been trying for more than a year to get me to eat with them at a particular "sit down" restaurant down in Saint Mary's County, MD. For once my schedule allowed me the opportunity to have tea with him and Marilyn, after they had spent the afternoon “jamming” with some friends in California, MD (There is also a Hollywood, MD in St. Mary’s county). It was more than an hour from Nanjemoy at a Fifties themed restaurant called Bert's 50's Diner. http://www.berts50sdiner.com . This is Doc's absolute favourite place that, in his words, has “class.” I didn’t have my camera with me so I got this picture of Bert’s from the Internet. The picture of Bert's 50's Diner below is by Ron Patterson.

When we arrived, I could see why Doc is so in awe of it. It is a very American place, with a a real American 50's hot rod mounted on the roof, complete with a flamed paint job. Doc says the car is a 1950 Mercury, and that the right rear quarter panel of the car is wrecked making it totaled (a write off) several years ago and the owner of the Diner who is a car lover bought it and had it mounted on the roof of his Diner as an attention getter. Doc says that he could have fixed that car, because back at the time it happened, one of his fellow Nanjemoy residents, a man called Streamliner Wedding had a Mercury just like it parked out at the junkyard he used to operate behind his house.

Doc says he could have bought the whole car for spares for maybe 300 dollars back then. It has since been crushed and Streamliner is dead, too.

When we went inside, there was a a small queue of people waiting for a free table, but we only waited five minutes or so. When our server escorted us to the table, Doc was in his glory, pointing out all the automobile paraphernalia on the walls; Old registration plates, automobile adverts, and photo’s and magazine covers from the 1950's.

The menu looked as though it was from the 1950's as well. Doc helped me order a memorable meal. I had (with all apologies to my fellow countrymen) sweet iced tea, which is not bad once you tell your taste buds that this is not tea at all, it is just a syrupy sweet American beverage served American style with plenty of ice, even though it is a cool night. To me it is more like treacle and water.

Doc steered me away from the smothered steak, saying he wasn't sure of eating meat that was smothered, that really you can only trust meat that was shot or killed right, at a slaughterhouse. After thinking about the poor cow being smothered, I was rather put off and ordered Bert's Famous Fish sandwich for $6.25, which included the "fries" [chips]. I managed to get through most of the glass of "sweet tea," which is served with the meal instead of afterwards.

Marilyn ordered the All American BLT sandwich with a side order of crisps, and of course, iced tea. She had only one free refill of the chilled tea based beverage.

Doc ordered a Porky Pig Barbecue "submarine" sandwich, which is a sandwich served on a roll that is nearly 12 " long. The meat is pork and the sandwich had coleslaw on it, as well as sliced onions, tomatoes, lettuce, tomato sauce and mayonnaise. This was only $6.25 He also ordered the "full tank" of french-fried onion rings, for $3.95. He has two large "free" refills of the sweet iced tea, and finished it all with a loud burp, and considered having ice cream afterwards!

In the States, the drinks are cheaper than in UK, ($2.25 each at Bert's) and that includes as many free refills as you can pour into your body. The portions in the States are easily three times larger than what we get in the UK, and the prices are about half what we pay. So, it is no wonder that Americans, even poor ones tend to be fat. It is cheap, easy and tasty to become fat in the States. I have put on nearly one stone since coming to the States more frequently this past year!

Also, in the States, it is considered "macho" to be a bit on the portly side, for men. They don't consider themselves "fat" or obese, but rather will refer to themselves as becoming a "good sized boy" or a "pretty fair sized boy," no matter how many decades have passed since the individual WAS a boy.

Our server was polite and friendly, much more chatty than we would tolerate in the UK. Marilyn explained that a large part of the friendliness (which I found off putting) was in order to get a larger "tip" at the end of the meal. Doc liked her and she realised rather early on that he was the one who was going to be paying, so she paid particular attention to him. At the end of the meal, the bill was roughly only $22 for the three of us. Doc pulled out a $20 dollar bill, four one dollar bills and $5 bill. He told her she'd done a good job and that the extra was for her.

I could not comprehend paying a $7 tip on a bill that was approximately only $20. Doc explained, "Tondy, that girl works hard for her money, and they don't even pay minimum wage at restaurants, these people depend on tips. Some people don't leave nothin, or just a couple of dollars. I always tip good. You need to be a giver, not a taker. And you don't never go home at night and wish you hadn't tipped so much. But if you tipped cheap, you might go home a feel bad and caint do nothin' about it. Always give 'em more than they expect, 'cause there is always some tightwad who tries to chisel them outta their money. There ain't nothing attractive about a cheap man. Remember that, Tondy. Being a giver is attractive. Being cheap is a turnoff to anyone who has any style. I'm tryin' to help you have style, Tondy."

“Yeah,” said Marilyn, “You need style, Tondy! A man's gotta have style. A woman likes a man with style, you know. ”

Tondeleo: This is from a conversation a few weeks ago with Doc concerning the US Government bailout of the big three U.S. Automakers. He had come up to the hotel where I was staying and he and Marilyn spent the evening watching cable TV (which they do not have in Nanjemoy) and flipping channels on the remote. Doc tuned in to a CNN story about the proposed US Government bailout of the American auto industry. He was fussing and grumbling, so I knew he was thinking and I got out my recording stick and hit "record" while he gave his analysis of the situation.

Doc: Well, Tondy, this don't sound like America to me. It sounds like Russia or Europe or somewhere else un American. In America, the idea is that if a man makes something and goes to sell it, he will either do good with it or go out of business.

If he don't do good, he OUGHT to go out of business, and if people's workin' for him, they ought to go find someone else to work for what turns out a better product. Or they could come up with their own product what is better. That's how it is supposed to work and that is why in the used-to-be, American products was pretty much the best in the world. American companies did their darndest to make the best things they could and then sell them at the best price.

Building good products and selling them at the lowest price they could was the American way. That's why a lot of cars that used to be made aint out there anymore.

They USED to be all kinds of American car companies, Tondy. I can think of Studebaker, what went out of business in the 60's, Tucker closed up in the 50's, like Willys, Crosley, Nash, Packard, La Salle, Kaiser-Frazer, Hudson, Packard and some more I caint remember the names of. Even American Motors what made Ramblers, AMX's and Jeeps went out of business and Chrysler bought Jeeps and they still aint making a good product, in my opinion, cause I do body and fender work and Jeeps is rust buckets after 10 years. Worse than any other I can think of.

But, aint no one from the Big Three went crying to the government to bail out any of them other companies! They was GLAD they closed up and figured if you caint compete, then go out of business! All them folks what worked for them companies had to go find other jobs, and some of them had to move, or move in with relatives. But GM, Ford and Chrysler din't care a hoot about that! It was just more money for them and they laughed all the way to the bank.

I say what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Them Japs can build cars what Americans want to buy, and they last good and keep their value, like American cars use to do. If Honda, Nissan and Toyota can build cars and trucks, and some of them are built here in the USA - then their aint no reason why the American companies caint do it. It aint that they caint, Tondy. It's that they won't. They has gotten fat and lazy and greedy.

Tondeleo: So, Doc, are you saying that the US Government should take over these companies and run them, or that ....

Doc: NO! Heck NO! That Federal government couldn't even run the Post Office! If they caint run a Post Office, how they gonna run three giant car companies? They'll screw it up like they done with everything else they touch. Remember they bought that AMtrak back there in the 80's or 90's and it aint never made a dime, they just keep using taxpayers money to prop it up. So I'm against them bailing out the car companies. Give that money to people what work for them - give it to the working people as they need it to help get situated. Make sure the retired folks don't lose their pensions. That's one idea and it would save money.

A better one would be toe have them taken over by and run by the people what run Honda, Toyota and Nissan. They been able to give American people good cars and trucks and keep the prices right and keep the quality up. I say let the Jap Big Three run the American Big Three and give us some better Chevy, Fords and Chryslers. I bet they could turn it around in 10 years, Tondy. Heck, even Daimler couldn't make Chrysler do good. That's why they dumped it. So, work a deal with the Japs. Make some good cars and make some money. And people would get to keep their jobs. Not the fat cats. Just the working people. Japanese eat cats.