FROM THE OLE DAYS
A Buck Baker Tale
told by Buck Baker
“I recall several funny incidents, considering that no one got hurt, particularly at Darlington. We were there for the first Southern 500 in 1950. It was miserably hot as usual on Labor Day, and I’d never driven 500 miles. I thought what a treat it would be to have something cool to drink in my thermos bottle, located behind the seat and fitted with a rubber hose for sipping. So I filled mine with tomato juice. I wrecked early. I wasn’t hurt, but the juice splattered all over me. The first person to the car looked inside and saw me covered with what he thought was blood.
‘Gawd, get an ambulance,’ he exclaims, ‘Baker’s done cut his head off!’"
“Another time, at Hillsboro, North Carolina, I put beer in my thermos. After a few laps, the beer, jostled by the bumpy ride, foamed and the top came off the jug. The inside of the car looked like a washing machine. I had to explain that one to Bill France”
Buck Baker with the rest of the story
