Dick Vermeil [head coach of the NFL Kansas City Chiefs] remembers one of his first days on the job as an auto-racing pit reporter for a national television network. He remembers what he was ordered to do. It was at an International Race of Champions [IROC] event and Cale Yarborough had just flipped his car. I go over, and he’s just crawling out of the car, said Vermeil. So he sticks a microphone in gruff old Cale’s face, and He was fine about it, Vermeil said. Which is why Vermeil, who grew up around racing (his father is enshrined in the Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa), still holds a special place in his heart for that other group of athletes who wear helmets. I just recognized what class guys they were, Vermeil says. They were never offended, no egos, nothing. Vermeil, quite obviously, has not been in a Nextel Cup pit for a while.(Kansas City Star)(3-13-2005)
