AIKEN — Faces and places associated with such names as Richard Petty, David Pearson and Dale Earnhardt are on center stage in “Stories of NASCAR in the Rear View Mirror,” a 2025 book by former Aiken resident Richard Roberts.
Roberts, a native of Fayette County, West Virginia, has racing memories dating back more than 70 years — several decades before his own road led him through Aiken and work with such businesses as Houndslake Realty, South Point Realty and Fine Homes of Aiken.
“My brother took me to a little racetrack outside of Unionville, Virginia, in probably 1952, and everybody was still running the ’38 Fords, and it was kind of interesting,” he recalled. “I’d probably say that was my first organized race, but it wasn’t really that organized, and the bleachers probably held 150-200 people and it only lasted for a year or so and they shut it down, but it was exciting to see that.”
Roberts has some “insider” experience, as a retired employee of Illinois-based Reliance Tool, a racing sponsor at the time, and the overall combination led to “going to the races and hanging around the team.” Much of his association was through Automobile Racing Club of America, and his ARCA access sometimes meant working a few yards away from racers moving at top speed.
Roberts, a great-grandfather who now lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, near family members, also offered an overview of the challenge facing racers. “It’s physically hard, it’s mentally terrible and it takes the courage of a warrior,” he wrote.
As a young boy, he had plenty of chances to talk about the topic, as his brother was keenly interested in racing. “He wanted to be a NASCAR driver, but he was a diabetic and didn’t take care of himself, and he was in his 20s and he passed away,” Roberts said.