2007 Top Moments: Dale, Jr. And “The Big Time”

A quick note about Matt Lincoln.
He LOVES countdowns, lists, anything that could spring debate about what really is the top moment, top soundbite, top song, top show...anything.
I've debated these many times, either in the newsroom, or over a beer at Handley's in Carolina Forest.
So, if you like that sort of thing, check out his list on this very website.
My list includes something his does as well: Dale Earnhardt, Junior, and his announcement he would leave his late father's race team to play the field.
What makes this most remarkable for me, Matt, and the rest of WBTW, is that Junior made that announcement the day before he showed up for the Mothers Day weekend race at Darlington back in May.
I remember discussing our plans that Thursday night in the sports office on TV Road.
Matt and I decided we would both camp out outside Junior's hauler the next day, just to get any soundbite we could from him.
However, my day turned dramatically the next morning, when Managing Editor Eric Walters called and woke me up.
He said the "CBS Evening News" wanted a story from me about Earnhardt's announcement, with the hopes he would announce later that day, the day before the race, where he would be in 2008.
I didn't believe Eric.
Honestly.
What would Katie Couric and the big boys in New York care about Darlington?
That thought was brief, because as soon as I hung up with Eric, someone named Cliff was calling, and talking very fast.
This is because he is a producer, based out of Atlanta, and CBS was putting him on a plane for Florence, and he needed my help.
So I told Cliff our plan, and he said he would see me later that day.
That day was a blur, and I couldn't believe I was really going to be on CBS that night.
Avery, my photographer that day, helped me knock out the most important element to our story quickly. We found a fan sitting atop his RV in the infield, and asked him what he thought about the decision. We could use that guy to frame the story, and supply some Earnhardt sound.
We camped out, along with about 25 other cameras and microphones, and waited for Earnhardt.
He finally showed, and of course didnt announce where he was going.
But we got sound, and my arms hurt from holding three microphones--two from WBTW, and one from WLTX-- up to Dale's face for more than a half hour.
We eventually met up with Cliff back in Florence, and put together my WBTW story, which I was going live with at 5 and 6 that night, and then headed to the track, where we caught up with a freelance photographer from Charleston, and a rented satellite truck from Charleston.
CBS New York had a script waiting for me, and all we had to do was plug in the soundbites. That was Cliff's job.
We did that, and then I had to record my voice track for the network piece.
Here is the silly part.
While I was reading into the microphone in the back of that big satellite truck in the field in Darlington, untold number of people were huddled around a speaker in New York City, listening, and asking me to "Do it again. No. Do it again. Slower. No. Do it again."
Talk about pressure!
But we got a take or two they could live with, and then it was back inside the track for my WBTW live shots.
On the way in, around 4:45 p.m., New York called me back, and said they were dropping the story, based solely on the fact that Earnhardt didn't really announce where he was going.
New York instructed Cliff to set me up to do the story for CBS's "Saturday Early Show," so we did, and it ran the next morning. I've since lost the DVR copy of it.
Cliff also was instructed to take me out to dinner.
Don't think I didn't order EXACTLY what I wanted down at Red Bone Alley that night!
It was an amazing experience for me, far more excitng than the race that weekend, which was still great.
I can't believe how close I came to going live on network TV, and how much I learned about "the big time" in one short day.
Matt Lincoln can argue his lists all he wants, but that sunny day in Darlington will always be near the top of my list.

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