Martinsville Singing

The King and John Andretti in victory lane at Martinsville, April 18, 1999.



Source: Daffi's AndPetti World

For the first few races of this season, I've tried to add a race-relevant song to this blog. I was pleasantly surprised at how many choices of song titles are available involving race track names or cities.

This week I got my first real challenge. Martinsville, Virginia is rich in racing tradition. The little 1/2 mile track originally opened by Clay Earles pre-dates the formation of NASCAR itself. Its a track that's still stuck in time as compared to the big speedways with all their modern amenities. Yet with all the racing lore there, songwriters or poets haven't exactly flocked to it to inspire their words. So I was stuck. Matter of fact, I just shrugged it off and found me a good Ft. Worth song to bridge the gap between Bristol and Texas.

And then mid-week, it hit me. My ol' bud Monte Dutton - racing writer extraordinaire - is a songwriter as well as a NASCAR beat writer and blogger. He wrote a song last year titled appropriately enough "Martinsville".

This week, he added the tune to this NASCAR This Week blog & saved me the trouble of having to embed it here.

So grab a Marty hot dog, smell the azaleas, expect a win from Hendrick Motorsports on Sunday, and listen to Monte Dutton's rendition of "Martinsville".

Monte Sings Martinsville

TMC