R.I.P. David Poole, NASCAR Media Veteran

DAVID POOLE: 1959-2009

A Gastonia, N.C., native, David Poole became the Charlotte Observer’s

 NASCAR writer in 1997. He became a familiar figure at tracks across

 the country and built a national following through ThatsRacin.com and a daily program he hosted on Sirius NASCAR Radio. The National 

Motorsports Press Association four times recognized Poole as its writer of the year. (Photo Credit: Charlotte Observer)

I was heading back home after my brother dropped off his car at the mechanic's to fix a persistent link in his BMW, when I heard Fox Sports Radio's Chris Meyers, who anchors the FOX Sports pre-race show for their NASCAR Package that my friend and colleague, David Poole, died after the conclusion of his daily radio show, "The Morning Drive," on Sirius XM Satellite Radio on Monday. He was only 50 years old and is survived by his wife and three children and one grandchild.

Already, the word is spreading like wildfire across the blogosphere, as my friends at the Daly Planet have posted a blog for its' readers to comment on his passing today. His death has made the front pages of NASCAR Scene magazine, as well as SPEED TV, where he was a frequent guest on their various NASCAR Shows. The writers at the new website That's Racin' have also paid tribute to him today with this piece on what everyone else is saying about what a man David was.

Even Sports Illustrated ran the AP story about it, no doubt written by our mutual friend and another writer I consider a mentor, Mike Harris, the outstanding Motorsports Writer for the AP who is retiring later this year. David's friend and sometimes traveling companion, Monte Dutton, provided a special rememberance of David for his hometown paper, and previous employer, the Gaston Gazette.  

Most recently, David did a major mitzvah in helping raise money for the "Pennies for Wessa" foundation. The foundation helps in assisting the family of Wessa Miller, a young disabled girl who, in 1998, gave a penny to the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. before he drove in the Daytona 500, which became his most legendary win at the venerable track. He wrote a story for the Observer last year, revisiting the little girl who helped give Big E his only Daytona 500 win, and chronicled the struggles her family was dealing with due to Wessa's continuing battle with spina bifida. Eleven years ago, Earnhardt Sr. presented the family with a new van to help transporting Wessa to her doctor's visits in Lexington, 175 miles from her hometown of Phyllis, Kentucky.

Charlotte Observer writer David Poole talks during a news conference

 in March at Bristol Motor Speedway where he helped create awaremess

 for Pennies for Wessa as Wessa Miller and her father, Booker, look on.

 Wessa gave Dale Earnhardt a penny before the 1998 Daytona 500, 

Earnhardt's one and only win in the Great American Race. 

(Photo Credit: NASCAR Public Relations) 

At this year's spring stop in Bristol, Tennessee, The Millers were once again in the spotlight as the NASCAR Foundation, Motor Racing Outreach, the motorsports ministry, and a number of teams all helped out the family through a large auction and donations to the Pennies for Wessa foundation. 

That was the kind of man David was. When I went through my problems with my heart in 2007, I heard from him. When I saw him after my first hospitalization, he got on me to keep losing the weight I had gained from the heart trouble. Every time he saw me, he always told me to keep up with my health. He never gave up on anyone, and he always would be encouraging towards my continued development as a motor sports writer.

I will miss that hearty laugh and his no-nonesense approach to motor sports. He was a character and he will be missed. I know that he's sitting in a perfect press box with my mentors Mike Hollander and Shav Glick, watching a race at the perfect oval in heaven. 

So long, Pal. I know we'll work together again some day.

UPDATE: I found this today on YouTube, it was created by the Performance Radio Network, one of the radio networks that covers the NASCAR series. A number of NASCAR Media members made recollections of David, especially those that saw him this past weekend in Talladega.