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You don't have to go fast, kid; just keep on trucking.

I can’t say when I fell in love with auto racing. I know that I became a huge sports fan in the late ’60s, and auto racing was one of those sports.

We didn’t get a lot of information about big-time stock-car racing when I was a kid growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. We’d see five or 10 minutes of racing news every week on TV, and I began to root for guys like Richard Petty, Neil Bonnett, Harry Gant and Benny Parsons; they seemed like good guys.

My first shot at covering racing came in 1979 with tractor-trailer racing, and my first race-track coverage was probably in 1980 or ’81 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, S.C.

I became an auto-racing writer by quirk of fate. I was working at the Wilmington (N.C.) Star-News in 1986, and we covered Winston Cup car owner Hoss Ellington. Hoss ran a part-time schedule with whichever driver he could get. Some of them were pretty good. Donnie Allison won 10 races running part-time for Hoss, and the legendary David Pearson, who was in the twilight of his career when I came along, also spent time in Hoss’ cars.

Hoss had alienated everyone in the sports department by the time I came along, so I got a shot at him. I was a race fan, but I didn’t know enough about racing at the time to ask intelligent questions. Pearson answered a few of them and walked away.

Interestingly, Hoss’s next three drivers during my term were Davey Allison, Sterling Marlin and Brett Bodine. I had great relationships with them, and no one walked away from me.

I was the racing writer my last two years in Wilmington, and I did the same during most of my 10-year, four-month stint in Charleston, S.C. I also wrote for many auto-racing magazines and web sites while I was in Charleston, and my auto-racing involvement went to a new level.

I wrote comic-book scripts about racing in 1991 and ’92; the people at the comic-book company had read my stories in what was then called Winston Cup Scene (now it’s NASCAR Scene), and they hired me on a freelance basis.

I also had some interesting adventures in racing, including a few run-ins with Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Once at Rockingham, I felt a gust of wind and something brush my leg. I turned, and Earnhardt had just sailed past me and into his garage stall; I didn’t even have time to be scared.

Another time, I was talking to crew chief Jeff Hammond after a press conference for his driver, Darrell Waltrip. A bunch of all-time great drivers were there as well, including Richard Petty, Earnhardt, Ned Jarrett and Pearson. I felt an arm come around my right shoulder, and I realized it was someone taller than my 6 feet. I looked up to see Richard Petty without his sun glasses and hat. Richard reached out and put his right arm around Darrell and pulled us into a three-way hug. Jeff said,

“Man, I wish I had a camera.” I said, “Jeff, I wish you did, too.”

I quit going to races regularly in the 2000s, but my first book — Racing Families: A Tribute to Racing’s Fastest Dynasties (Beckett) — came out in 2000. I wrote I Remember Dale Earnhardt (Cumberland House, 2001) right after Dale’s death, and I updated the latter book in 2007. It came out in March 2008 as Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt, Sr.

Here’s a quick Pearson story. Over the years, I’ve talked to David many times. We’re not friends, but we really enjoy each other, something I couldn’t have imagined when he walked away from me in 1986. When I was working on Angel in Black in late 2007, I called David and left a message, and I didn’t hear from him for a while. One day, I had already talked to Larry McReynolds, one of Earnhardt’s crew chiefs, and Geoff Bodine, Dale’s No. 1 rival. Both are good talkers and likeable men.

I’d done well that day, so I headed out shopping. My cell phone rang, and I heard, “Tom, Tom, it’s David.” David who? I wondered. “It’s David Pearson.”

I laughed and told him, “David, I’m shopping at Wal-Mart. Can I call you back?” David was going out to dinner, but he gave me a time to call. When I did, it completed one of the best days I’ve had in racing. And I wasn’t even at a track.

In 2008, I became editor (as well as writer and photographer) for The Racing Journal, a niche publication for the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal. We covered racing in the piedmont of North Carolina and southern Virginia, and I went to tracks like Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway and Rockingham Dragway, Piedmont Dragway and Ace Speedway near Greensboro, N.C., and Virginia International Raceway, a road course. We started out with 27 tracks, but I probably never got around to five or six of them.

Our whole business plan was built around working with racetracks. We knew the tracks were our only avenue for growth. We also knew that we could help the tracks grow, and that was exciting for us.

Because of the economic downturn, The Racing Journal lasted only four months, and we really never had a chance to bond with all of the tracks or the fans. Some of the tracks took full advantage of us, and I think we helped them tremendously. We had great relationships with Mooresville (N.C.) Dragway and Farmington Dragway in Mocksville, N.C., for instance.

Some of the dirt tracks embraced us, particularly 311 Speedway, Friendship Motor Speedway and Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Va. The highlight of the year for me came at 311 when I was standing in front of the press box, talking to fans, and the announcer introduced me to the crowd. The ovation I got was nice, not huge, but it warmed me. Still does.

I only got to cover one race last year, at Rockingham Speedway, but the first ARCA race at The Rock’s return was special for me. I felt like I was coming home when I drove past the rock, went to the credential building and then drove into the infield.

Some tracks weren’t interested in working with us; it was their loss, but I felt a loss, too. We could have grown together.

That’s why being the managing editor of the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene is so important to me. We have a chance to do something that was never fully accomplished with The Racing Journal.

I have high hopes for the MARC Times Racing News & Michigan Racing Scene. I’ve written for NASCAR Scene, Beckett Racing Monthly and other top publications, and I think this one can rival the quality of the National Speed Sport News.

My wife, two dogs and I still live in North Carolina, and I’m working via Internet and telephone. I’ve been a sports writer for 30 years and a racing writer for 23, but this is a brand-new ballgame for me.

And I’m happy; let’s go racin’!

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