Yeah, these guys were good at the wheel in their prime....but that was years ago.....

  
   Can't believe ol' DW (L) would turn down a shot to put his former boss Junior Johnson (R) in the wall at Bristol (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   BRISTOL, Tenn.
   Uh, Junior: Junior Johnson – now these may be soft walls, softer than when you were racing here in your prime, but they're still a hard hit at 150 mph. Is Saturday night's charity race here, with Rusty Wallace in the field too, really such a good idea?
   Well, can't blame promoter Jeff Byrd for not pulling out all the stops to fill these 160,000 seats at Bruton Smith's space-ship arena up here in the Blue Ridge.
   But, golly gee, ol' Junior -- the Ronda Roadrunner, Tom Wolfe's Last American Hero -- is 77 now…and he hasn't been in a real race car since, when was it, 1966? October 30th, 1966…at Rockingham?
   Oh well, should make for good drama…and maybe good TV ratings (ESPN2, live, 5:20 p.m. EDT, right after the afternoon's Nationwide race).
   Junior, ageless Harry Gant, Cale Yarborough (and you know he doesn't work for free), Ironman Jack Ingram…though Darrell Waltrip has backed out, for some reason (maybe because he's a Fox guy and this is an ESPN event).
   First, a 15-lap heat race to set the starting grid for the 35-lap feature.
   Others playing including Ray Evernham, a Modified racer before turning crew chief and then car owner, and Andy Petree, likewise first a racer and crew chief, then car owner.