A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. – Obrey Brown
His connections included plenty of racing’s top drivers – Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip. Speaking of NASCAR: You wonder what Redlands product Gary Nelson’s high points were over his racing days. Top success, no matter how anyone might see things.
Lots of connections. DiGard Racing. Hendrick Motorsports. Junior Johnson’s team. ESPN commentator. NASCAR. More drivers: Kyle Petty. Geoff Bodine.
On reporting Nelson, I could go on and on for quite a bit. First up around January 1980, though, came with Mildred Nelson, his mom. “He’s just like his dad,” she said. “When Gary was 16, his dad gave him the family van. The first thing he did with it was take the engine out and put a bigger one in.”
How’s that again, Mildred?
“He’s always been interested in anything with wheels,” said. “I always worried about him, but he knew he was very careful. He wasn’t a wild driver.”
My chat with Mildred’s son came in Moreno Valley, site of that Riverside International Raceway, a seven-turn track that switched racers into far-different competitors for that race, Winston Western 500. Mechanics, guys like Nelson, had plenty of different approaches.
Said that son, “I like to think I can look at a car and say ‘this area’s weak’,” he told me a couple days before that Riverside Winston Western 500, “and then spend more time with that.”
First up, though, was gratitude he had over a decade earlier, starting in 1969. “I owe Ivan Baldwin a ton of thanks,” said this 26-year-old Nelson – born in Illinois, moving on to Redlands. “If I didn’t get on with Ivan, who was called ‘The Terrible,’ I wouldn’t be here today. I really don’t think I would.
“We had a lot of fun,” he said, nailing down virtually each Saturday night in San Bernardino – getting him ready for NASCAR.”
It was simple. Baldwin was a short-track driver nearby.
“I started,” said Nelson, “well, he started me when I was just 16. We went everywhere around the west, racing in Bakersfield, around Central California, tracks around here … you name it.”
Cheap racing, said Nelson, plus cheap engines. In NASCAR, he chuckled, saying, “Nowadays, with the price of engines and tires, it’s hard to get into.”
That was stated in January, 1980. Imagine costs nowadays.
ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY SPECIAL
There is, basically, story after story on this high-level mechanic who eventually went to work for some of NASCAR’s top teams. Considering large cash spending into this sport, figure it this way: Nelson was caught up in racing’s top flow.
Redlands educators won’t like this: Nelson, now 72, left school at age 16 to log into his racing lifestyle. “Stopped going (to school) after ninth grade,” he said. Think he made that pay off?
Sure, “The Terrible” got him started. Next stop? DiGard Racing. By 1978, Nelson took over as DiGard’s chief mechanic. Their driver? Waltrip, who got off to a nice start in his brilliant career.
A West Coast Stock Car Hall of Famer? Nelson’s had a hand in plenty — make that amazingly large — modifications in stock car racing. All the oldsters around Redlands will point to his early days when he headed Baldwin’s team.
Funny thing about that West Coast Stock Hall of Fame induction for Nelson. It came in 2006. Another one that same year was none other than Baldwin.
“One year,” noted Nelson over a quarter-century before that moment, “we won almost 30 races. I think we rumbled in, oh, 40, 45 races … 1974.”
Nelson chuckled. At RIR, it almost seemed like he spoke more on Baldwin than anyone else. “He won, crashed … it almost seemed like there was nothing else, no matter where we were at.”
NASCAR’s days came when that Winston Western 500 kicked off that year’s annual season at that old RIR, then culminated with the season-ending Ontario 500 at nearby Ontario Motor Speedway.
Southerners, though, hated that. They “own” NASCAR. Right? It’s why, eventually, it begins in Daytona Beach, Fla. Eventually, Nelson resided down south, North Carolina, then with his wife, Christine. His kids? Two sons, William and John.
Who knew what lied ahead? Working for NASCAR, then ESPN, you name it. That was far off from that 1980 connection Nelson had with me at RIR.
That Daytona 500, one of NASCAR’s top events? Consider that Nelson helped on Allison’s 1982 triumph and, four years later, ”mechanicked” Bodine finishing ahead of everyone.
Petty, that son of legendary Richard Petty? Hard to look past that little boy’s best season, one led by, well, that Redlands guy.
Auto safety improvements?
I had no contact with Nelson a couple decades after we chatted in that RIR track area. Two decades later, in Dale Earnhardt, Sr.’s 2001 driving accident death, this Redlands-based auto specialist developed a huge set of safety precautions for anyone sitting behind steering wheels.
It was quite a switch.
Back in 1980 at RIR, chatting with that Illinois-born Redlands product went through some interesting moments. “Sure,” he said, smiling, “I do what I can to increase fuel in my driver’s car.”
Who knows if other chief mechanics were doing something similar. Truth is, some of Nelson’s race-drivers might have had fuel dripping through other portions of that car. He didn’t say where, but other mechanics told me that some fuel could be seeking through a car door.
No, Nelson didn’t say that. His face, however, was covered with a smile. That article I wrote for a Redlands newspaper in January 1980 turned out a simple, slightly informative, insight into his quick NASCAR past.
Clever?
Waltrip? That 1979 NASCAR champion, Nelson running top of his engine. Rookie Dale Earnhardt had a full track lead at a race in College Station, Texas.
“We made a decision to put on just two tires,” Gary said, “which would put us on the track 10 seconds sooner. We gambled on the right ones (tires) holding up.”
In Moreno Valley, Waltrip recalled, telling me, “Gary made the decision to change those tires. Goddammit, that kid is so good.”
It was, said Nelson, “a quick-thinking risk.”
Nelson, meanwhile, spoke more calmly than that NASCAR driver, soft-spoken, in fact.
“We have a good crew,” he said, crediting future stars Robert Yates, Buddy Parrot and Butch Stevens in Waltrip’s group. “Over the last three years we’ve been more successful because the good mechanics have stayed. The bad ones have left.”
Allison, meanwhile, won that Texas race, hanging on to finish ahead of Waltrip – a game finish. Waltrip, 34 seconds behind, was nearly out of gas. Don Sewell, another Redlands product working in Nelson’s group, noted Waltrip trailed too much with just six laps remaining.
“A few years ago,” said Nelson, “I wouldn’t have predicted where I am today. It’s hard but I rely on a lot of luck.”
Incidentally, Nelson wound up taking over Allison’s racing in 1982, taking second to Waltrip, but winning a year later with seven Winston Cup events and that year’s Winston Cup championship. Waltrip took second.
Taking off from Baldwin, Nelson had a full career lying ahead. Gas? Extra spots? Years later, one could easily imagine, yeah, Nelson came a long way.
As for Baldwin, “The Terrible?” Nelson’s opening act driver died in a 1996 crash back east. Years earlier, Nelson was right beside Baldwin at races in Riverside, Laguna Seca, Irwindale, plus nearby Ontario and San Bernardino, you name it.
Back in 1980 at RIR, long before Baldwin was killed in that crash, Nelson said, “Tell you the truth, I learned so much from Ivan. This guy knew so much – racing, driving, preparing, mechanics, letting me know so much.”
Baldwin? Present at that Riverside track while I was chatting with Nelson? You bet. That mechanic pointed at his driver. “That’s him.
“Sure, he was a driver,” said Nelson, “a great one. He was his own best mechanic. I learned. I learned a ton.”
Nelson paused, finally saying, “Really don’t know if I’d be here on this day if it wasn’t for Ivan.”
Riverside? Too bad it’s no longer being used for racing, torn down in the mid-1980s, replaced by a shopping mall. That track had seven total shifts each lap, Waltrip telling me “I’d have to depend on my mechanics’ ability to maintain the brake and clutch systems.”
Said Nelson: “On a super speedway, you don’t even use (brake and clutch) them, that is, until you come to a pit stop.”
Mildred talked about Gary’s dad, Arnold, who still resided in Redlands. “My dad,” said Gary, “is a real good mechanic.”
