THE GRAY-HAIRED gentleman in the garage area at New Jersey Motorsports Park last weekend is old enough to be the grandfather of the racers competing in Sunday's ARCA series event.
James Hylton, who will turn 76 on Aug. 26, wasn't just visiting NJMP in Millville. He is still racing.
Hylton, the 1966 NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) Rookie of the Year, still hopes to qualify for a Daytona 500. Driving a Richard Childress-owned Chevrolet, Hylton almost qualified 3 years ago.
"In order to be eligible to drive [at Daytona], I have to stay active as a driver," Hylton said Tuesday from his Inman, S.C., shop. "At my age, I can't give NASCAR any kind of excuse [to prohibit him from qualifying]."
Driving the No. 48 Ford, Hylton lasted only four laps in the ARCA race. He finished 27th in the 35-car field.
Hylton recorded only two wins in 601 Cup series starts - at Richmond in 1970 and Talladega in '72. He finished runner-up in the Cup standings three times and was third four times.
Younger ARCA racers might not know all the details of Hylton's history, but they're aware that he's been around forever.
"They show me all the respect anybody could hope for," he said. "On the racetrack, they don't play roughhouse with me, they show respect."
The Virginia-born Hylton, one of 13 children, says such racing contemporaries as Richard Petty also treat him with respect.
"When Richard comes around, he goes out of his way to come over and talk," Hylton said. "We ran thousands of laps together. I think [Petty and others] are kind of in awe that I can still race at this age."
How much longer will he race?
"As long as I'm healthy and can still do it, not just ride around but actually race, I'll do it as long as I can," he replied. "I've retired three or four times. Each time for about a month."
Fred Hayter was at the first Cup series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, won by Jack Smith in 1961. And Hayter has attended every Cup race since.
Hayter, 71, will be in the grandstands Saturday night for the 100th Cup race there. The Bristol resident estimates the first crowd was about 14,000. Ticket prices ranged from $5 to $8.
"I bought the $8 ticket: I went first class," Hayter told nascar.com.
The .533-oval, site of some of NASCAR's most entertaining races, now seats 160,000.
Lighting for the first few night races at Bristol wasn't exactly major league quality.
