The story starts when I was in the cardiac care unit of the Richmond Veterans Affairs Hospital (VAMC) and I met a man named Harry Bowles. Harry was a "DIE HARD EARNHARDT FAN". He wore an Earnhardt t-shirt and cap all the time and would talk about last weeks race all the time if you didn't manage to slip another subject in on him.

It turned out that Harry was already a friend of my daughters, they lived in the same apartment complex and she did some housecleaning and cooking for him.

When we were released from VAMC my daughter brought Harry over to my house for a visit and the first thing he noticed was my 37" TV set. He had cataracts on both eyes and kept saying how much better he could see my set than the one he had at home Before he left, he happened to mention that he would love to watch the race on my TV on Sunday. I naturally said "come on over and we will watch it".

Sunday came and there was Harry ready for the race. The first thing he did when he came in was to lay a 5 dollar bill on the coffee table and say "This $5.00 says that Earnhardt can come in in front of anybody you pick. I was a complete novice and didn't' know any driver's name, but when I looked at the TV, they were showing the Dupont car. I said, "I'll take that Dupont car with the rainbows on it."

Such was the beginning of many Sunday afternoons with me and Harry sitting in front of my TV watching every Winston Cup race run for almost four years. And me developing into a real NASCAR fan and Jeff Gordon fanatic! There were a couple of weeks in there when either he or I would be in the hospital but the bet would go on every week.

During this time, I developed more physical ailments including a rare neurological problem with my feet which caused me to be unable to walk, at first I got a wheel chair but it soon became evident that pushing myself along caused me to lose my breath because of my emphysema. So the VA gave me a three wheeled scooter. The weekend after I got it I learned that I had been picked in the Richmond International Raceway to get a pair of handicapped tickets to the fall race. I just sort of assumed that Harry would go with me with the second ticket. We started talking about the race and I told him that I was going to get Jeff Gordon to autograph the back of my scooter. Of course his answer was something like "when pigs fly".

As the race got closer, both of us got more excited and the "Jeff Gordon autograph" became a running joke every time we were together. I was really serious about getting it and he thought that it was a huge joke.

The week before the race Harry had to go back into the hospital because his pacemaker was acting up. He didn't get out until the following week so he missed going with me. But while there I got the information on how to get on the regular mailing list and get tickets to every race in the future. So right away we started making plans for the spring. And of course every time he came into my house he walked over to the scooter and looked at the back to make some wise crack about the Jeff Gordon autograph that wasn't there. Harry didn't make it to the spring race either. After watching the first couple of races of the 1998 season with me, Harry had to go back into the hospital where his long suffering heart finally gave out. The last time I visited him, I had to back my scooter around so that he could laugh at my not having my autograph yet, but I could tell that he would have loved to have seen it back there.

Harry was buried in a brand new Dale Earnhardt t-shirt and his favorite Earnhardt cap according to his wishes.

I still watch the races every Sunday but they aren't quite the same without Harry urging Earnhardt to "just tap him to make him move over".

I still go to all of the Richmond Cup races too. And still try to get over to where the drivers are to get that Jeff Gordon autograph on the back of my scooter.

MUCH More from Richmond ..... 
Main page from Richmond!

Toms Side of Saturday's Events .... This is what Tom had to say after getting his autograph!

The second reason we headed up to Richmond was FRIENDS! Many of them, and here is the info on that ...... The Get Together from Richmond!

This links has EVERY Picture taken through out the weekend.... Click on images for larger version! Images from Richmond