Hershel McGriff

[zebrainz]

I remember him being seriously competitive when NASCAR used to race at Riverside in the 80s. Back when he raced full time, he never would tell anyone how old he was. IIRC, he finally told people his age (or the internet era finally caught up to him) about the time he became the oldest NASCAR driver to ever start a race back in 2002. He just broke his own record.

He's 81, and he just finished 13th at Portland in the NASCAR Camping World West (the old Winston West) series. This is the same guy who competed in the first Southern 500 back in 1950. Most 81 year olds are in a nursing home in a wheelchair. Kudos.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/news/story?id=4339671

[ProfessorPeppers]

It's sad to me that in a season filled with lots of great things so far, I.E: Tony Stewart leading the points in his first year as a driver/owner (whoo hoo!!), Mark Martin winning 4 races at the age of 50, RPM winning their first race in ages, Jimmie Johnson looking strong to be the first driver in history with 4 consecutive Winston Cups (sue me, it's still the Winston Cup in my eyes haha), Juan-Pablo finally having a solid year after his crossover, Joey Logano becoming the youngest winner in NASCAR history, and especially this story where an 81 year old man not only qualifies for a NASCAR sanctioned event, but finished in the top 15 at that...

...and yet the only thing we hear about that is NASCAR related is Jeremy Mayfield.

Seems to me NASCAR could do a way better job at helping their own sport out and make more of an effort to publicize all the good things going on this season. I don't know how, but they have to make this whole sticky situation go away. This Mayfield thing is washing away what could have been one of the more intriguing seasons in recent memory.

Kudos to Hershel McGriff, I only HOPE I can get around that well when I'm 81. It's a genuine feel good story that hasn't been mentioned near enough.