buckaroo
02-06-2003, 09:20 PM
The year was 1994 and I was visiting who turned out later to be my wife here in Winston Salem. We had been friends for a while. She took me west of town to meet up with another friend and we shot the breeze at a restaurant for about three hours before our friend had to get back to work in Charlotte. When he left, my lady took me further west to the track at North Wilkesboro where she had season tickets. We were able to get out and tour the track. She took me to the seats that were her's. She had six of them. It was time to head back to WS, but since Junior Johnson's complex was on the way back at Ingle Hollow, we decided to check it out. We are both Elliott fans. She pulled the van into the shop area and we could see lots of people working and hustling around. There were a couple of people with Bud uniforms out in front of the garages talking to Junior. We watched as they left and Junior played a bit with two of his dogs before he too left. Since it was during a weekend between races, the crew was busy working on one of Bill's cars. My lady said she was going to get out and look things over closer. I was afraid that we would get thrown out and objected, albiet slightly. I finally gave in and we walked over to the garages and watched as the crew continued working on a car. All of the sudden, from behind us came a voice "How y'all doin'"? Turning around, we were face to face with Junior Johnson. My lady was an RN and worked in the hospital that Junior's wife had just had her baby. So my lady said to Junior, "I work at the hospital Lisa had her baby. This is my friend, CB". Junior extended his hand and I shook it. We chatted a short time and Junior told us to go where ever we wanted, with the exception of that big house over there. That's where Flossie lives and she wouldn't like it. He then turned around and left and we didn't see him again. I had not been a fan of his before that, but he was so very nice to us that I immediately began to like him. Since that time, he's done some things that were a bit too much for me, but that's another story. That day was, for many reasons, the best day of my life until I married that lady, and then that day became the very best. :)