Adventures in Broadcasting
-Dale Wilkerson
Sometimes there is nothing like the pressure of getting everything online for a live remote broadcast. With every road trip, the adventure sometimes is just getting on the air. This past weekend’s live remote from the 5th Annual Legends helping Legends benefit at the Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville, NC was a true adventure.
Britt was ready to call in the broadcast Saturday morning; all we needed was to hook the phone line to the nearest phone jack. Where we set up the first time, there was a small kitchen area off to our right. There were three phone-jacks in that room, but all there were disabled.
I found Alex Beam, the owner of the Memory Lane Museum, and he directed me to the nearest phone. That one was some 55’ from our broadcast location, but it had the new style computer friendly phone jacks. Working basketball games last year with Tom Dixon, the voice of the Boiling Springs Bulldogs, we had discovered that problem at several area high school gyms.
Alex thought for a moment and told me he had a small room near the front of the building, and he was sure we would find that had phone-jacks that were still active. So we moved everything from the back of the museum to the front, in the store area in an office used for storage. It was a little cramped and with a card table we had just enough room to get set up.
Britt fought through some interference issues to get the wireless microphone working while Jerry Crane tried to keep the room in order, putting the equipment bags out of the way, but close by when Britt needed another cable.
Ronnie Black and Greg Moore we back in the studio in Spartanburg, and they after a report from Devon Holder from the races at Anderson Motor Speedway Friday and a interview from Donnie Wingo, they carried the first part of the show as Britt worked to find the right set-up for the wireless microphone.
With the sound system in use for the auction, we had to get the legends to come out to the main showroom. Perry Allen Wood kept a steady flow of legends going for the last hour and fifteen minutes of the show. Each was quick to tell a story with a smile, because for them, this day was like a family or class reunion.
Many of them reminded us the reason for the event, as funds were being raised for Harold Elliott. Harold was one of the best engine builders in NASCAR, working with owners like Junior Johnson and Raymond Beadle, and drivers like Cale Yarborough and Rusty Wallace. Harold was able to attend the event Saturday for a short time and you could see the excitement in his eyes as he visited with old friends.
Duane Goins worked the crowd into bidding frenzy when the auction started. Many autographed items, drivers uniform coats, pit-crew shirts and car parts crossed the table with all the proceeds going to Harold Elliott’s medical expenses.
Fans that had never attended the Legends helping Legends event were overwhelmed at the chance to see so many NASCAR greats in one location. For the folks that walked in the showroom of the museum for the first time, they were blown away at the 150+ cars and over 1,500 items on display.
“You really need to come here twice just to see what is here. It is too much for one trip and for me I was surprised at the cars that Alex has added since last year,” said Perry Allen Wood on Droppin’ the Hammer Saturday morning.
On my first pass, I tried to take a quick glance but it was like watching a three ring circus. Cars were everywhere I looked. There were race cars, street cars, die-cast cars, peddle cars, and then there were the other items. Numerous motorcycles, bicycles, racing go-carts, garage/race shop items including Bud Moore’s desk and tool box. There were farm tractors, antique seats from race cars, hoods, deck lids, door panels, and really more items than I can recall.
Some of the vehicles on display inside the museum include cars from used in the movie Leatherheads, Richard Petty’s 1969 Ford Torino, Bill Elliott’s 1982 Ford Thunderbird, a Harry Gant Skoal Bandit ride, Dale Earnhardt’s Oldsmobile that he drove during the 1980 season, David Pearson’s 1986 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The truck that Geoff Bodine crashed at Daytona in 2000 (yes that truck that tore down the fence) and Johnny Rutherford’s Smoky Yunik prepared Chevrolet.
If you find yourself in the Mooresville area, you need to take time for your own adventure down Memory Lane.
Memory Lane Museum is located on Hwy-150, exit 36 off I-77. Their address is 769 River Hwy Mooresville, NC and it is about one mile from I-77 traveling west. For more information call them at 704-662-3673 or visit their website at www.memorylaneautomuseum.com
