I don’t think we’re missing the point here at all. A convicted drug smuggler that caused auto racing a major black eye should be celebrated?
Sorry, but the whole “we all make mistakes” doesn’t apply to convicted drug traffickers. There is a big difference between, “sorry officer, I didn’t know how fast I was going, you got me” and “oh…all those drugs in the back…whoops.” They know full well what they are doing and they aren’t forced into it. It’s a choice made full well of what the consequences are. He did it, he got caught and he was a convicted felon. Those are the facts. I’m sure he was a great guy and made lots of friends, but if you get busted for a major crime in the public eye like that, of course you open yourself up to public scorn and rightfully so.
I too mean no harm to any family left behind by Billy, but “honoring” a drug trafficker that brought the sport into disrepute with a special race? Come on…
If all Billie Harvey had wanted to do was drive race cars and not smuggle drugs, the Memorial race would have been fine. The next thing someone will want to do is immortalize Gary Balough. Both these men were fantastic race car drivers with tons of talent. To bad they had to try and make the “easy” money. billy
i dont know any of the people mentioned so i will not give an opinion on them personally…however, ive said this before…i think there are way too many memorial races… why doesnt each track have a yearly memorial race honoring all of their fallen racers. then no one will be offended or hurt or left out. no matter what kind of a person one is…someone loves them …
carolwicks aka OZ
No matter what, someone loved this man and you need to respect his family. I did not know Billie Harvey or anything really about him but obviously he did some good in racing and the good is what he is being paid tribute for. Hey, everyone has something dark in their past, maybe not as bad as some, but we are not saints either. Sometimes it is better to keep silent than hurt the ones who are left behind. Billie has 4 kids and out of respect for them, please be respectful. What is it they say, “the past is the past” we are suppose to get over it and move on. So please move on now and remember the good instead of the bad.
Jane thanks for some wise input. As for the critics what about one of the sports greatest Jr Johnson, the convicted felon for running moonshine which in it’s day was highly illegal. Or the fact that most of the sports early star s did the same as Billie and used dirty money from running shine to fund their racing, the same as Billie did. We pay tribute to them for their acomplishments in the racing world the same as is being done for Billie.
So as I said before R.I.P. Billie, I hope your racing the wheels off the 31 where ever you are. Atleast you are remembered, more than most will be. Have a nice day all and god bless.
I never met Billie, and have no personal issues with the man, and maybe I went a little overboard with my comments.
What I do feel bad about, and Jane pointed out, that he does have a family of surviviors that loved the guy, and my timing couldn’t have been worse for trashing the guy like I did. I don’t agree with his choices in life, and will never condone them… but deciding that now would be a good time to talk bad about him was in very poor taste on my part. You don’t go to a funeral or memorial and talk badly about the departed, no matter what your personal feelings are.
