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Cinncinati Father and Son Enjoy "Racing" Visit to Southside Virginia
By Steve Price
 Steve Price, Austin Price, and SBS General Manager Cathy Rice |
When speaking of South Boston, Virginia the words "Southern Hospitality" is a huge understatement.
My son Austin and I recently made the trip from Cincinnati, Ohio to South Boston, Virginia. The primary purpose for this trip was to witness the USAC midgets on Big Daddy’s South Boston Speedway and to get Tony Stewart’s autograph on a newspaper article which was published in the November 2001 issue of The Breeze newsmagazine. This article was primarily about Tony Stewart winning the 2001 USAC midget race at South Boston and his Midwestern upbringing. The article then goes on to mention my son, Austin, and how he is getting his start in racing go karts on some of the same tracks in Indiana where Tony Stewart got his start in racing.
Austin has just completed his fourth full season of go kart racing on several of the dirt ovals in South Eastern Indiana. From the moment I had first read the article I knew that I just had to make sure that Tony and Austin got to meet each other and that we got Tony’s autograph on the article for a keepsake for my son.
 Austin Price and Tony Stewart. (Photo By Steve Price) |
From the moment that we got off the plane on the morning of Friday, October 19th we began to experience that famous Southern Hospitality. We were escorted by Bruce Wilkins who knows every nook and cranny of the area. He picked us up at the airport and was an extremely gracious host through the entire weekend.
We first went for a preliminary visit to Big Daddy’s South Boston Speedway. We were immediately introduced to Cathy Rice who is in charge of the entire speedway facility. I was especially happy to meet Cathy as I had contacted her a few weeks prior to ask for her help in making sure that we got Tony’s autograph on Saturday. She responded with her generous assurance that she would do everything she could to help this happen.
Cathy welcomed us to the speedway and took us to a roof level observation deck for a full view of the facility. I have been to many race tracks in my day, however, only a very few as professional as Big Daddy’s South Boston Speedway. We were treated like we were old friends and we felt very welcome right away.
 Exciting VIR Tour |
After our visit to South Boston Speedway we then went on to tour the Virginia International Raceway facility. Again, I have been to many race tracks, several road course facilities, but let me tell you, if God were to build a road course facility, there is no doubt in my mind it would be just like VIR. We were welcomed and given clearance to tour the facility as we pleased. There was a vintage race car event underway and we were treated to quite a show of cars and talents. We watched some racing from several vantage points around the track, not a bad seat in the house.
Then it was on to the historical Halifax County Fair. We had a blast! This is a true county fair, the way they should be, a real taste of Americana.
From the minute that we arrived at Big Daddy’s South Boston Speedway on Saturday, Cathy made certain that our visit was a pleasant one. The race was awesome as expected and our visit with Tony Stewart was even better than expected. Tony actually read the entire article, congratulated Austin on his racing accomplishments, and then wished Austin well with his future racing. Tony autographed the article and allowed me to take a photo of himself and Austin together. He was a true gentleman.
We came away from South Boston knowing that we had made new friends. This was a trip that I will never forget and I know Austin had a great time. This was a great experience for a young boy.
