Rockingham

Persons interested in North Carolina politics have been all abuzz over the last two weeks about the surprise decision of Senate Majority Leader and uber-lawmaker Tony Rand to retire.

Equally surprising – and yet still related to Senator Rand – is the most common reason for visitors to my Wayne’s World blog over the last year, including as recently as yesterday.

Specifically, these Internet guests from around the globe (including Japan, Norway and Australia) all want to read about the legendary Rockingham Peachtree Rock Festival held in Richmond County, North Carolina at the North Carolina Motor Speedway.

What is this guy's problem?

I've joined the ranks of other good dems and am being slandered by him. One of his mails was forwarded to me. He took something our chair wrote about the convention that has been posted on our website, twisted it up, and acted like I was an idiot for inviting any democrats who wanted to come to our convention...whew.

He made a case out of my going by my middle name, which is weird. When a friend tried to correct him but got my first name wrong (understandable, as I don't really use it), Gene jumped all over him for not "fact checking", and then spewed more garbage-completely ignoring that my friend was referring to September being my name and not a "moniker".

LOL, and Mr. Messick STILL has my last name wrong! He actually wrote that according to ME, my name is McGrady.
Um, NO, it's McCrady. I'm pretty freakin' sure....being it's MINE.

What we have with this entry is a convergence of politics past, politics present, rock-and-roll, motorsports, and flower power. ... Yes, you can say Alice Cooper, Three Dog Night, Rod Stewart, and Sen. Tony Rand in the same sentence.

The history of racing in the south is pretty interesting. The most popular and purely American of theses stories is of Moonshine Runners who souped up their cars to be able to out-run the law. Before I was even a twinkle in my parent's eyes, they were both racing on the beaches in Daytona.

Rockingham Speedway, "The Rock" is a paper clip shaped track on US 1 in Richmond County between Hoffman and the town of Rockingham. This large structure, a monument to all things racing, stands all alone surrounded by fields that twice a year were filled with cars, trucks, campers and motor homes. One small mom and pop gas station is close by, all other businesses require at least a 15-minute drive. This county, like many of its neighboring counties, had earlier been dealt quite a blow as the textile jobs were shipped to Mexico courtesy of NAFTA and CAFTA