Work nights were a weekly staple for the 1B Crew. A homecooked meal by Diane, regular maintenance on the sprint car and sometimes a little extra-curricular activity (i.e., golfing, pond club retrieval).
The pit cart! Designed and built by Ron and his crew, it was covered in diamond plate and polished aluminum, had a quick-release steering wheel and enough cubbies for all the tools and gizmos. It even had a detachable set of cup-holders, one slot for each member of the crew plus a visitor or two. Talk about style and function!
Oh and don't forget the airtank with actual handpainted custom gold leaf lettering. RB had
skill and talent to boot. Oh and it got waxed and buffed every week just like the car.
Gold Cup...what more can I say! This was the year of the infamous fridge beer cooler. The crew retrofitted an old refrigerator for Gold Cup. It held a lot of beer and I do mean a lot of beer. Also, the caution tape/flashing safety button accesories kept the crew safe and spottable in a beer emergency. Sensuous....(or rather Since-U-Was)
The original story of how Richard and Ron teamed up.
Did you know that the black & white 1B was painted each year by none other than RB himself? He even hand painted the red & white numbers and applied the gold leaf by hand. It was an arduous process that result in a beautiful car year in and year out.
Rb loved Patsy Cline. Many, many moons ago when the family would all ride over to Pville together, he would listen to Patsy Cline all the way there, every weekend. And then one mysterious Saturday afternoon the tape went MIA. Now, I'm not naming names or giving up the name of the guilty, but I guess you could say...there is a limit to how many times you can listen to the same tape over and over again.
The tribute handout from Saturday night. 
Saturday Night...
Everyone knows RB loved clean. His race car was pristine. His trailer was washed and swept regularly...sometimes...ok most times it was swept at the track multiple times during the races. Cleaning soothed his nerves. The grass on his property was always trimmed and neat...the leaves always swept. And his shop was no different. Spider webs were rare, dust barely had time to settle and you could eat of the floor. Seriously! It was that clean. There was no 5-second rule.
Listen to an interview with Richard before the races on Saturday night.
Check out the write-up From the Granstands by Ron Rodda about Saturday night.