"Deer" Flag
Occasionally, starters have to improvise. The Pocono Mountains are a natural habitat for several species of animals, among them lots of deer. During a race at Pocono Raceway, a deer was spotted inside the track. Even though the animal wasn't on the racing surface, Harold Kinder was notified, and he asked the race director by radio what he should do. The race director asked Harold if he had a "deer flag."
Without saying a word, Harold handed me the flags and leaned over the edge of the stand as the cars rushed by. He folded his thumbs to his palms, with all of his fingers extended upward and spread wide apart, and positioned his hands to each side of his head, just above his eyes. His deer imitation apparently worked and got a lot of laughs, too.
Kinder's Kindness
Harold Kinder, who died in 1992, was very compassionate, softhearted, and in this case, humane. Also at Pocono, before a race, a wild dog got inside the track. Harold feared that the dog would wander onto the track, get run over, and perhaps cause a wreck. He recruited maintenance and safety personnel in an attempt to capture the dog, but they couldn't catch it. The dog ran inside a large drainpipe in the infield. Harold and his fellow chasers blocked both ends of the pipe so the dog couldn't get out. Harold left food and water and fully intended to free the dog at the end of the day. He forgot until late that night, though, while he was driving to Charlotte. He stopped, called the track, and asked that someone let the dog out. That's the way Harold was.
Not the Place
For fear of embarrassing three of my best friends, I won't reveal their names or in which city on the NASCAR circuit we were. At dinner, one of us said a friend had told him about a place that had a great band and was a fun place to go for entertainment. We reached the downtown address to find the huge front door locked. A sign read "Private Club, Members Only; Ring Bell for Service." We rang the bell, and a lady, large in stature-somewhere between Santa Claus and Mean Joe Green-opened the door. She asked if we were members of the club. "No, just visitors looking for a fun night," replied one of the nameless.
The woman said we could come in but must sign the guest register. One of the guys signed for all of us and said later that he had used the names of well-known NASCAR executives and car owners instead of ours. We ordered bottles of beer, and by the time the server brought them, our eyes had adjusted to the dim light. Looking around, all of us realized at about the same moment that we were sitting in the middle of a gay bar. That had to be the first time any of us had gotten up from a table and abandoned four full bottles of beer.
Doyle Ford, 66, our host for Scrapbook this month, was associated with NASCAR for nearly 40 years, 20 as a Winston Cup flagman. After working as a NASCAR official, Ford, a native of Nashville, became the assistant to the late chief starter Harold Kinder in 1978. He became the Winston Cup chief starter when Kinder retired in 1990. After retirement from NASCAR in 1996, Ford now owns a business, Acme Fire & Safety Equipment, operated by his son, Neal, in Nashville and maintains a home there. He has a married daughter, DeAnna, a beautician in Nashville, and five grandchildren. Ford resides on Lake Norman, north of Charlotte, and is a public relations and marketing specialist for two insurance firms: Bartel & Wahl and Brian Allen Insurance and Financial. Obviously, many of his memories originated on the flag stand.