Virginia’s Hamlin Takes Martinsville, Otto’s Book Tries To Take The Cake

A son of Virginia won the Sprint Cup’s sixth round at the Martinsville track better known for its springtime blooms than Sunday’s blustery spring weather and drizzle.

It’s a track also better known for American makes winning rather than a Toyota, this one driven by Denny Hamlin. And, it’s usually a facility showing no empty seats at a Sprint Cup race, but instead there was a cusp of blank bleachers down low in some of the corners.

There are those who would continue to see any empty seats at Martinsville as a sign of a downslide at NASCAR — one that could be accelerated by the presence of a Japanese manufacturer. Given the weather conditions and the distinct possibility a Camry might win, I see it from the other point of view. The almost sold-out grandstands in miserable racing weather at NASCAR’s version of the Masters was proof positive of the dedication of the sport’s fans.

Having bought a ticket on race day some 30 years ago at the storied Virginia track, experience confirms that it’s dead solid certain those empty seats are where the tire grit and dust flies, are the cheapest in the house and are the last to sell. They’re usually sold to walk-ups and in better weather. Ironically, on this day the drizzle kept the dust to a minimum and the mandatory right side exhausts on the Car of Today helped make those seats some of the warmest in the grandstands!

That’s the long way around to a racing book review, one that rests on the question of whether NASCAR belongs to the South, even on cold, rainy days. The book in question is an interesting history of one of America’s best racing promoters, Ed Otto. Titled NASCAR’s Silent Partner, it details how this brilliant, energetic and highly successful promoter helped bring the Northeast into the NASCAR fold in the sanctioning body’s first decade and a half.

The book, co-written by Otto’s son Edgar and Joann Biondi, is an excellent portrayal of what it took to promote over 1,000 races, including 25 NASCAR Grand National (i.e. Sprint Cup)events. On the life, times and stout character of Otto, this book is a must read for those who want more detail on the early days of American racing and NASCAR.

Perhaps the best part is the anthology of first-person accounts in the closing pages from those who knew Otto and covered racing, such as Chris Economaki, or Tom Pistone, one of the drivers in an event promoted by Otto at Solider Field in Chicago. (The book includes what I suspect was a doctored photo of stock cars racing in front of a packed Soldier Field, likely the artful juxtaposition of two events, one being a football game. If the race was a sell-out, why was only one Grand National event run?)

In sum, the book adds rich flavor and detail to how the weather was before World War II and afterward when it came to motor racing. The remarkably confident Otto, who cheerfully referred to his promotions as “swindles,” independently promoted races at Yankee Stadium, was the man behind that Jaguar victory in New Jersey (NASCAR’s lone foreign car winner until this year) and was the first to take NASCAR to Canada. The story of Otto’s role on the origin of Miami’s Orange Bowl before he retreated back to New Jersey reveals the ample breadth of his influence. An honest, reliable promoter, Otto always provided a unique edge to everything he did such as calling his races “swindles,” or introducing himself as a “crook.”

The book dishes dirt on occasion, some of it well placed, particularly when it came to the transition of Otto out of NASCAR and his 40 percent ownership, which he sold to founder Bill France for $250,000 in 1963. One of the four original officers, Otto was in the thick of things. An autobiography, in this sense, would have been phenomenal; a son’s account is the next best thing.

The book suffers from the inevitable shifting sands of time when it comes to who did what to build NASCAR and how much credit is deserved by each individual. France, in this approach, becomes an easy mark in the often misplaced view of any powerful sanctioning body by fans and participants. On the one hand, NASCAR, i.e. Bill France, is always seen as an omnipotent ruler and self-promoting publicity mongerer. On the other, the sanctioning body is often portrayed as a helpless, semi-competent giant that could hardly have survived without the guidance and participation by those who got short shrift for their efforts.

History falls somewhere in between. Given the angle of the title, it’s clear this book attempts to demonstrate the latter premise as a hook for intrigue as well as proposing to set the record straight. But the biography raises more questions than it answers when it strays from the focus on Otto due to a lack of credible detail in key areas, particularly on the now famous organizational meeting in Daytona in December of 1947 that led to the incorporation of NASCAR the following year.

The vast majority of the participants in that meeting wanted to go racing and were happy to leave the organizing to others. Those organizers were just as happy to have the former star driver and successful beach course promoter France in charge of a permanent structure.

Otto was not present at this meeting, but that doesn’t prevent a flawed re-telling of it in this book. The book places Raymond Parks at the meetings, for example, or a bevy of showgirls in swimsuits to entertain the gathered racers. In fact, Parks, the wily bootlegger from Atlanta, was nowhere in sight and the showgirls had been present at an event earlier in the year, a trophy presentation and celebration on the same top floor of the Streamline Hotel that was part of an unsuccessful effort by France to declare his regional Modified circuit winner, Fonty Flock, as a national champion.

This failure to get recognition for national status at the end of the 1947 season forced France to recognize he needed a truly national circuit. His model for simply declaring a national champion was the AAA, which before World War II had simply tallied points from selected races to name a titlist in the realm of stock cars. In 1947, France actually ran a series of races in the Southeast focused on one championship trophy for the pre-war cars that came to be known as Modifieds. But he lacked the AAA’s clout to get Flock recognized as a national champion.

Hence, the birth of NASCAR with the goal of running a truly national schedule of races in order to credibly claim to represent a national series. At a time when he faced competition from many regional promoters just like himself, France elected to divide and conquer by bringing in the best promoters he could convince to join him. Enter Otto, at the time busy promoting midget races in the Northeast. Otto was invited to participate by his friend and fellow promoter Bill Tuthill, also one of the four original partners and a France ally.

These men did battle with Southern Racing Enterprises, the Coastal States Racing Association (original promoter of the Southern 500) and the Midwest Auto Racing Club among others, as well as individual promoters such as North Carolina’s Bruton Smith and Sam Nunis at Lakewood in Atlanta.

Otto’s life as a promoter and key role in NASCAR makes an excellent read despite the slightly off-base premise of a power behind the throne and a lack of broader perspective on the over-all history of stock car racing. That, in turn, brings up Monday Morning Crew Chief’s question. Given all its action in the Northeast, Midwest, Canada and on the West Coast (through an alliance with promoter Bob Barkheimer) in the 1950’s, was NASCAR ever really just a southern sport?

Of course not. But it could not have survived or flourished over time without a permanent base run by France in the Southeast. Stock car racing really took off with the creation of the Daytona International Speedway, which resulted from the vision, labor and risk-taking of one man who saw far beyond the idea of leasing facilities all over the country to host races.

After France’s vision and sweat built Daytona, the ensuing Roaring Sixties at superspeedways in Atlanta and Charlotte brought major league scale to stock car racing and eventually more superspeedways across the country. These big tracks provided a permanent, undeniable structure to the passion for the sport, the same passion on ready display at a rainy, cold bullring in Virginia yesterday.

NASCAR’s Silent Partner conveniently downplays the role of Daytona among other important milestones and building blocks. The inanimate yet majestic track, one might say, remains the France family’s real silent partner to this day. So when it comes to history, reader beware. But there’s no denying Otto’s role in helping Bill France achieve his vision was crucial or the fact that Otto’s incredible career stands on its own as classic Americana.

conveniently downplays the role of Daytona among other important milestones and building blocks. The inanimate yet majestic track, one might say, remains the France family’s real silent partner to this day. So when it comes to history, reader beware. But there’s no denying Otto’s role in helping Bill France achieve his vision was crucial or the fact that Otto’s incredible career stands on its own as classic Americana. 

Monday, March 31st, 2008 Filed under Uncategorized |