Enjoying Stuart, Virginia

After the race in Martinsville, Linda and I headed west on highway 58 and found a great little town, Stuart, Virginia. We enjoyed a very good dinner at a mexican restuarant in the evening, spent the night, and then stopped in at the Coffee Break Cafe in the morning.

The cafe is slender with tables down the left, booths down the right, and a counter overlooking the grill at the back. When we walked in, there were a few people at a couple of booths and it looked like every stool at the counter was occupied; mostly women in the booths, all men at the counter.

We placed our order and, as we waited, I noticed that the wall by our booth was decorated with items with a clear NASCAR theme. There was a side panel from the 21 and photos of men at race tracks; one of them looked like it could have been racing star Cale Yarborough at a dirt track; this fans roots went deep.

As we waited for our food, a woman who was leaving the cafe stopped at our booth, introduced herself, and asked if we were new in town. We explained that we were from Iowa, passing through after the race, and on an exporation of western Virginia. She quickly promoted stopping at Mabry Mill at Meadows of Dan. When we shared that it was our next stop, she gave directions and shared that we would be passing right by her business, the Best Little Hairhouse in Vesta, a few miles up the road. Pretty cute. When another couple left, our new friend hooked them and introduced us as travellers from Iowa. "Wow, is there anybody left up there?" Ah... humor... nice.

I commented that I'd been admiring some of the decorating and our new friend from Vesta explained that yes, folks around here are mostly Wood Brothers racing fans. It's not uncommon to see Glen Wood and his wife stop in for breakfast. Stuart was their base of operations until just a few years ago. Our food came and our new friend went on her way. Pretty fun.

Evidently, we'd stumbled onto the home town of legendary Wood Brothers racing, recognized as one of the top racing teams in NASCAR and innovators who changed racing. One of their greatest contributions was the pit stop.

The Wood Brothers invented the modern Pit Stop. In the early days of all types of motor racing, it was common for the drivers, when service was needed during the race, to pull into the pits; turn off the car; get out and even smoke a cigarette as the crew took their time changing tires and servicing the cars. The Wood Brothers recognized that by limiting the time off the track, it could increase their position on the track. Thus, they created and perfected what is now known as the Pit Stop, and is as common to all types of racing as the checkered flag itself. - Wikipedia

The success of this style of pit stop got the Wood Brothers hired as the crew for Driver Jim Clark from England in the 1965 Indianapolis 500. Clark consistently improved his positions in the pits and went on to victory.

Curious little fact about the town: originally incorporated in 1792 as Taylorsville, it was renamed in 1884 to honor Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart who was born twenty miles away.