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At the University of Florida's huge Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the public address announcer has heralded the arrival of the home football team on the field with "Hereeeee come the Gators'. It is March and here comes a different type of Gators.
"It's almost March," she fairly bubbled, "and you know what that means, Gatornationals. My daughters tell me I almost live from March to March and that's true." She's a Gatornationals fan and Ms Barnum would probably qualify as a contender for the title of Gainesville's No. 1 hometown Gatornationals fan. But, there are many others here in this university city. They don't have to travel -- at least very far -- they can sleep in their own beds and except for snacks at the raceway can eat in their own dining rooms. For those, like Barnum, the hometowners, Gatornationals is a big plus. They see it start when those big rigs with the gaudy and gaily colored and paint jobs begin pulling into town on about Monday of race week. As one who has covered this event for all of its 36 years, I can attest to that fact. Maybe beating the first robin red breast by a couple of weeks or so, these big rigs are a sure harbinger, not of spring, but of nitro. And about the same time, those big cutout displays begin appearing in the grocery stores and beer cartons -- Miller and Bud -- suddenly are arranged in the shape of a dragster. The Gators -- as in Mac Tools 36th Gatornationals -- are here and those University of Florida athletic Gators have to share the newspaper print and the electronic media time with over 600 racing automobiles and motorcycles. It's a welcome time for hometown fans like Barnum, who don't have to try the Jaycee campground for a place to stay at nightfall. They're home and it's the Gators. *** After 36 years, I've been asked frequently what is my fondest memory of the Gatornationals or do I enjoy covering drag racing more than stock car racing. Second things first. My answer has been and continues to be, my favorite form of motorsports is the one which I am covering at that time. In February and the Daytona 500, that's it. Come March, you know the answer and it's the same for any trips I take, whether it be Indy in May or Sebring, also in March. Now, my fondest memory? How can I say this delicately? On the strip or personal? Hey, as far as on the strip, anybody who was there, will probably list Kenny Bernstein's first 300 mph run, 301.70 in 1992 as No. 1, but there have been dozens, going all the way back to Herm Petersen and naturally Big Daddy and Shirley Muldowney, Raymond Beadle, Don Prudhomme and...well, you get the idea. Oh, and probably my favorite trivia question on Bernstein's run was who was the driver in the other lane? Answer at the end. Personally, it would be false modesty if I didn't say having the press room named in my honor was probably tops and then in my 50th year of writing receiving the Driver of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award and Swiss watch at the Gators two years ago. Before that, five years ago, there was a meeting by two cigar smokers outside that press room. That was when Rick Green of FastNews Network and DragRaceCentral invited me to become a regular contributor to this site. Hopefully you enjoy these offerings which were a result of that meeting. Trivia Answer. Yep, if you said Al Segrini, you win the cigar (just kidding, naturally). He was in the other lane. Now, I think that's nitro music I hear in the background, so let's mosey over to the 36th annual Mac Tools Gatornationals. It's at Georgette's and my hometown.
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