I just watched the Southern 500 which was run at the famous old Darlington, SC track. The young guys ran up front a lot but when the checkered flag waved it was for Terry LaBonte, 46 years old.

Terry is a very low-key guy, but he got about as excited as I have seen him. That means he smiled a lot.

When the young guys win, they do burnouts in front of the main grandstand. Terry took the checkered flag in his left hand and did a traditional victory lap.

Terry LaBonte is a soft spoken Texan. No, I'm not making that up. Even Texas has some of those. He had a long losing streak going before today and even rival drivers seemed happy to see him win. He has won two championships, but his team seemed to be in a slump until just a few weeks ago. Then suddenly, he began running up front and it was obvious that he was ready to start a new winning streak. He qualified well for this race and stayed in the top ten most of the day. I could see it coming. Experienced drivers tend to drive conservatively at Darlington. They protect their car from wear and tear until the last 50 laps or so, and then just as Terry did today, they go for the win. There was no photo finish today. Once out front, he opened up a good lead and kept pulling away. The margin of victory was about 2.6 seconds, but at those speeds, it's a long way ahead of second place.

I can't remember when I've enjoyed a race so much.
Howard