Remembering Richmond

By DAVID EXUM, The Boston Herald

ESPN's Dr. Jerry Punch believes NASCAR should make a place in its proposed Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C. for legendary driver Tim Richmond.

Richmond, considered by many to be one of the best drivers in NASCAR Winston Cup racing during the late 1980s, had his remarkable career cut short in 1989 due to complications from AIDS.

"I do believe he should be remembered and revered as a driver," Punch said, a former emergency room physician, who began covering NASCAR for ESPN in 1984.

"Whether that happens at the Hall of Fame in Charlotte, or elsewhere, I hope all the controversy of his life and tragic death can be set aside to give him a rightful place to be remembered as one of the best of his time."

In 1986, when Richmond was offered a ride from rising NASCAR owner Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports, Richmond turned to Punch to help him clean up his act and focus his attention more towards racing.

"Once Tim realized the magnitude of this opportunity, he was more than willing to do whatever he was asked to do to help the team," Punch said.

After the phone call, Punch still didn't think Richmond was serious. That is before he got a surprise visit at the hospital the next morning.

"To my surprise, about 10 a.m. the next morning, (Richmond) came strolling into the ER, looking rather tethered in a pair of torn jean short and a wrinkled Hawaiian shirt," Punch said.

"That was the beginning of our friendship," Punch said. "He reluctantly told me much later in his career of his fatal diagnosis. He had tears in his eyes."

In the span of just seven years, 1980 to 1987, Richmond won 13 races, seven during his first year at Hendrick Motosports in 1986. Richmond also finished third in the series standings that year.

Richmond's life was loosely based on the 1989 movie "Days of Thunder" that Punch had a cameo appearance in. Richmond's life was also portrayed in a biography written by Charlotte Observer writer David Poole in 2005, Tim Richmond: The Fast Life and Remarkable Times of NASCAR's Top Gun.

"Tim was as raw a talent as I've seen come along in a long time," Punch said. "(Dale Earnhardt) once told me that he could run wheel to wheel with anyone all day, except Tim Richmond."