Column: All stars, all lights, all camera, all action

            CONCORD - The first time I saw The Winston (now the Sprint All-Star Race) was the first time it was ever run at night.

            That was the one to see. No one had ever put up lights at a track as fast as Charlotte (now Lowe's) Motor Speedway. It wasn't done lightly. I was in the grandstands for the first and only time at the race. Tonight will mark my 16^th straight All-Star Race in the press box.

            At the time, I only occasionally covered races. The following year was my first writing about NASCAR full-time. A friend, who was in the press box, needed someone to take his son, who had never seen a race before. I was only too happy to oblige.

            The passage of time has led most fans to take the LMS lighting system for granted. It remains a marvel and the model for all the large tracks that have been lit since. Only the racing surface is illuminated, and it's done (literally) with mirrors. Cylinders of light are fired upward, where the light bounces off the mirrors and shines across the 1.5-mile track's asphalt surface. The light bounces across the track from behind, thus eliminating glare for the drivers.

            It was one of those gutsy decisions, hatched by H.A. (Humpy) Wheeler and his staff of visionaries, that changed the future of the sport. No one else would've tried it because no one else would've been willing to risk failure. Once Wheeler proved night races could be successfully conducted in prime time, most everyone else copied him.

            Daytona now has lights. Darlington has lights. Most tracks have lights. Every race in May is at night. The deadline pressure of getting some basic version of what happened into the next morning's paper is asphyxiating. What TV wants, TV gets.

            Then again, what I want certainly shouldn't be a consideration. The fans apparently like night races. They apparently don't mind being in traffic jams until 2 a.m. They apparently don't miss the nightlife they might otherwise enjoy if the race ended before dusk. They traveled to these cities to see racing, not dinner and shows. At the track, they can fix their own dinner, and while warming up for the big night, many in the parking lots put on quite their own shows.

             As best I remember, when I was a fan, I liked it, too. Then again, what I had stumbled upon that night was one of NASCAR's truly significant nights. The lights bouncing off the cars' metallic, neon paint schemes looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Sparks flew everywhere.

            On the final lap, Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt raced for the win. Earnhardt and Petty tangled in turn three, Earnhardt skidding into the wall. Petty's Pontiac surged ahead but with lost momentum. Davey Allison's Ford roared into the breach. The two drivers crashed at the finish line with Allison inches ahead. His No. 28 slammed into the wall at the point in Charlotte's tri-oval where the angle changes.

            The last lap was pure, raw courage divided into three equal parts. I've seldom witnessed anything more exciting or dangerous. These brave men risked their lives in pursuit of a silly checkered flag. Imagine grandstands overlooking Pickett's Charge.

            The scene might not have been admirable, but it was intoxicating. When I left that night, I wanted more. And I wanted to write about it.

            You may reach Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.