"If I'd had just one more lap I'd have won that race!"

My father, Ralph Rose, was born in Kenly, NC and started racing in the Tidewater, VA area in the late 1940's with Joe Weatherly, Ray Platte & Bill Champion.

In the early 1950's, he raced at a track in "Little" Washington, NC. There were about 30 cars starting in the main event, but due to wrecks and mechanical failures, only two were left on the final lap, Ralph & Ray Platte. They were side by side going into the second turn, but Ralph slid off the backside of the track and all you could see was the corn being chopped down as he raced along the outside of the backstretch! In the meantime, Ray's car blew an engine going into the third turn, and he literally coasted across the finish line to take the checkered flag. Ralph raced back onto the track in the third turn and "roared" past Ray just after he had taken the checkered flag. He always said "if I'd had just one more lap I'd have won that race!" Only trouble is, he would have been the only car left on the track.

June Rose Hudgins Chesapeake, VA