thedrifter
03-16-06, 06:35 AM
NASCAR fan got his final wish on turn 4
By NORM CLARKE - 03/16/06
In my home state of Montana, you couldn’t find a more die-hard NASCAR fan than my uncle, Dale Hubbert.
He had a Sunday ritual during NASCAR season.
His U.S. Marines flag, which flew all week in front of his home in Terry, population 600 on a big day, came down, and the flag of his favorite NASCAR driver went up.
When he came to Las Vegas last year with his family, he knew — and we knew — he was on the back stretch of his life. But he was adamant: He was going to hold off brain cancer until he made it to Las Vegas for the NASCAR races.
When he called in mid-January, his voice was still strong. So was his resolve.
But his health took a sudden turn, and he died Feb. 2. He was 65.
Four of his kids were in the stands at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, pulling for their dad’s favorite driver.
After the race, as a mist descended over Las Vegas, they gathered on Turn 4 and tearfully scattered Dale’s ashes.
They will head home happy today, and the flag of Dale’s favorite driver will be flying proudly.
“As they came into Turn 4, we thought Dad was giving Jimmie that extra little boost,” said Dale’s son, Kelly Hubbert of Helena.
The only time Jimmie Johnson led during his last-lap victory was coming out of Turn 4, where Dale’s family watched from row 43.
Norm Clarke is a former IR sportswriter who worked here in the mid-1960s and again in 1973. From Helena he went to work for the Associated Press as a baseball writer covering Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine. He then covered West Coast sports for AP and the Colorado Rockies for the Rocky Mountain News before moving to Las Vegas, where he presently writes a column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Ellie
By NORM CLARKE - 03/16/06
In my home state of Montana, you couldn’t find a more die-hard NASCAR fan than my uncle, Dale Hubbert.
He had a Sunday ritual during NASCAR season.
His U.S. Marines flag, which flew all week in front of his home in Terry, population 600 on a big day, came down, and the flag of his favorite NASCAR driver went up.
When he came to Las Vegas last year with his family, he knew — and we knew — he was on the back stretch of his life. But he was adamant: He was going to hold off brain cancer until he made it to Las Vegas for the NASCAR races.
When he called in mid-January, his voice was still strong. So was his resolve.
But his health took a sudden turn, and he died Feb. 2. He was 65.
Four of his kids were in the stands at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, pulling for their dad’s favorite driver.
After the race, as a mist descended over Las Vegas, they gathered on Turn 4 and tearfully scattered Dale’s ashes.
They will head home happy today, and the flag of Dale’s favorite driver will be flying proudly.
“As they came into Turn 4, we thought Dad was giving Jimmie that extra little boost,” said Dale’s son, Kelly Hubbert of Helena.
The only time Jimmie Johnson led during his last-lap victory was coming out of Turn 4, where Dale’s family watched from row 43.
Norm Clarke is a former IR sportswriter who worked here in the mid-1960s and again in 1973. From Helena he went to work for the Associated Press as a baseball writer covering Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine. He then covered West Coast sports for AP and the Colorado Rockies for the Rocky Mountain News before moving to Las Vegas, where he presently writes a column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Ellie