By MONTE DUTTON Al Pearce Click here. When I first started writing regularly about NASCAR as a way to make a living, I quickly gained acceptance in the media centers and press boxes because of two friends, Mike Hembree and Al Pearce. Back in 1993, the NASCAR media corps was hard to penetrate. Veterans – …
Category: Writing
NASCAR used to be fun
By MONTE DUTTON (Photo by Harold Hinson/HHP for Chevy Racing) Click here. On Thursday night, I was watching the Daytona qualifying races on TV and thought about how they had changed since the early 1990s, when I started writing about them.They were in the daytime back then, and the stands were almost full. The stands …
County Signs: Blue Hose stuck
By MONTE DUTTON Quinton Ferrell (right) with Kaleb Scott (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. It’s been a month. Ain’t no catching up on the seasons. It’ll still be a while before I’m fit to describe the games in person. I’m still raising my legs and swinging them every which a ways. I’m hobbling around town …
What’ll I do for an encore?
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. I wrote about 20 Daytona 500s and many other sporting events where championships were determined. Almost every winner called it a humbling experience afterward.That was a lie.Being the best in the world at something is not humbling. The best can be humble, but that’s not not what made him or …
Four Hundred Hogs
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. On the night of January 2, something unprecedented happened. My stomach blew up. It perforated. I couldn’t get out of bed till morning. I went to the hospital without shoes, laptop and keys, from home to Laurens to Greenville. Surgery was late that night.I had posted 40 stories in 40 …
Hello, trouble, trouble, trouble, welcome home …
By MONTE DUTTON Two years ago at the Southern Conference Tournament (Elena Davidson photo) https://dunesproperties.com/agent/mark-mitchell/ One of NASCAR’s more familiar truisms is that the best way to make a small fortune in racing is to start out with a large one. That’s the modern path of journalism. In my case, it’s small fortune to none. …
Continue reading Hello, trouble, trouble, trouble, welcome home …
Once there was no raining in basketball
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) https://www.facebook.com/UpstateInsuranceConsultants School was rained out Tuesday. Basketball games were rained out. They’re contested inside. This is an e-learning day, which I suppose anyone who e-learns could do by reading this. I’d humbly recommend John Steinbeck. They’ll e-learn more from the late great. The obvious choice for a basketball game …
Gettin’ by on gettin’ by
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) One of my favorite jokes to tell on myself is: Some of the time I’m a writer, but most of the time I’m just a typist. Right now, most of the time I’m a writer. Let me explain. The late Laurens County Sports and Furman All the Time were …
The Definition of Getaway
The Pilgrims and the Loggers were headed in opposite directions. It was “getaway day” at quaint Fitzgerald Field. The Pilgrims had won the third of four games the night before, after two rain delays, and were poised for a sweep. They were three games ahead of the Suns, thanks to six wins in a row. …
The Overlooked Crisis Is within Us
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, January 1, 2020, 8:48 a.m. Most mornings I awaken thoughtful. This is, in part, because there is no sports on TV yet. I’ve thought about capitalism a lot lately, but it’s not really capitalism because I don’t completely mean the economic angle, and, I think, to be accurate, there is no …
Nightrider's Lament 