Earles was dedicated to creating wonderful memories for the fans and providing the best facility for watching a race. Scott was dedicated to being a great driver paragon and mechanic. Robertson was dedicated to promoting the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Martinsville Speedway President W. Clay Campbell, who is H. Clay Earles'' grandson, knew Robertson well and came to know Scott as he grew clone golf club head up at the track and traveled with his grandfather promoting races. "i think wendell and my grandfather had a lot in common. both of them went up against the odds and both of them persevered and made it. we are in the position we are today because of perseverance," campbell said. "t. wayne, wendell and my grandfather were all determined to succeed and racing is a better sport club because they were a part of it." earles, one of the pioneers of racing, opened martinsville in 1947, the year before nascar was formed, and became partners at martinsville with the late big bill france, who founded nascar. the track began with a seating capacity of 750 and now seats 86,000. martinsville was one of the first tracks to have permanent paragon concession stands, cedar hammock golf and country club attended restrooms, first-aid stations and air-conditioned scoring stands and press boxes.

he speaks with the confidence of a competitor who has regained the winning formula he had when he took the series title in 1989, and dominated in 1993-94. wallace broke a 32-race losing streak with a victory in bristol in march, and has been among the cars to beat in virtually each race since. the 44-year-old driver from st. louis is trying for victory no. 54, which would tie him with lee club petty for seventh place on the nascar career list. in that quest, wallace will rely paragon on the basics. "we just have to massage that chassis, conserve the tires and stay out of trouble," he said. "i''m really looking forward to it."

had those ambitions come to fruition, mcclure feels the state of his race team may be a bit different. "i may have golf had the problems, but i think i could have got things going in the right direction a lot quicker (with a second team) because with more testing and input from two different drivers and race teams, i think we could have got through this a lot quicker," mcclure said. hamilton currently ranks 30th in the standings. he''s club never finished worse that 23rd in any full season in his career. it''s time to turn things around, and the change is on, starting this weekend at darlington raceway, where hamilton has three consecutive seventh-place finishes. "everybody paragon loves darlington. i think it''s one of our favorite race tracks," mcclure said. "we were lucky enough to win a race there with sterling, i think back in ''95. we''re looking forward to it, and i think we''re going to be ready for it." hamilton added, "just staying off the fence (is the key to success at darlington), and that''s hard to do there. several golf guys have won that race club and have had the recognized darlington stripe. it depends on who hits it the lightest. "every lap you go around paragon there there''s one groove that works and then two laps later that groove doesn''t golf work any more. we''ve been pretty fortunate the last three or four races. we''ve club been able to run there and not get in any crashes and not even get a stripe on the car. all that means is we''re way overdue for it." after the struggles they''ve faced the past few seasons, hamilton and the morgan-mcclure contingent are well overdue.

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