Met Mr Martin at Carlisle this morning

The first time I got to meet him and spend a little time talking to him was in the late 80's. He came to the New Asheville Speedway to endorse Bill Hendon when he was running for US Congress. I decided to go, and drive my Superbird I had at the time. I parked it in the pits, and Richard spied it as soon as he stepped out of the limo carrying the entourage. When I got to the table where all the hand shaking was going on, I told him if he had time, to come back to the pits and check out my Bird. He said, "Don't you leave! I wanna see it!" I told him I would, and after all the hoopla was done, he made a bee line to come see it. He asked a bunch of questions, told a few stories about his race Bird and his street Bird too. It was a good visit that I'll never forget. The next time was about 8 years ago when an ice storm went thru Randleman and I was overseeing some line crews getting the lights back on. I got to be the one that closed the switch that got his power on. This was during the time that his wife Linda was very sick, and Richards property maintenance guy had asked me to come let him know when it was back on. I stopped to tell him, and there sat Richard on the Gator with him. I asked him if he remembered seeing the Superbird at New Asheville Speedway, and he said "Yeah...that Lime Green one." I told him that was mine, and he grinned and said "Dang son, you done got gray headed!" We shot the bull for a little bit, and he handed me a pack of post cards he had sat and signed for all of the linemen and tree guys who worked to get the lights back on. He wanted me to be sure and thank all of them for the job they had done, and I assured him I would.