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Humpy Wheeler first made the assertion when he became president of Charlotte Motor Speedway in the 1970s.

Frank Wilson and Herman Hickman, the late officials of N.C. Motor Speedway at Rockingham, later echoed it. So did Bill Kiser of Darlington Raceway and the late Enoch Staley of North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Generally, what each of them said was this:

"Without the NASCAR fans in Virginia, we would have to shut down."

I naively scoffed at the claim. “Virginia is for lovers,” I reasoned. “The state’s advertisement for tourists says so.”

Curious, I followd up on the claim. At tracks in the Carolinas I counted license tags on cars from various states. My unscientific survey showed that approximately one out of three vehicles bore Virginia plates.

Humpy and the others knew their demographics.

Take away a third of the crowds and the profit margin would be pitifully thin, if not non-existant.

This mass interest by Virginians continues to intrigue me, in part because a native son of the Old Dominion hasn’t won the Cup Series championship since the late Joe Weatherly took back-to-back tittles in 1962-63 while driving for future Bud Moore in a pairing of future NASCAR Hall of Famers. Weatherly, a Norfolk native, might have made it three in a row, but a crash on the California road course at Riverside took his life on Jan. 19, 1964 at age 41.

The NASCAR driver corps in the 1950s and ‘60s was filled with colorful characters—Junior Johnson, Curtis Turner, Tiny Lund, Lee Petty, Buck Baker, Fonty and Tim Flock to name a few. Weatherly was the most outrageous of all.

Once, wearing an outsized sombrero, he jockeyed a donkey down Main Street in Darlington’s pre-Southern 500 parade. He stayed on his "ride" all the way to the race track and into the garage area.

On another occasion he wore a Peter Pan outfit during a qualifying run.

At a 1956 race in NASCAR’s old Convertible Division in Raleigh, Weatherly’s engine blew spectacularly. With a push from another driver, "Little Joe" nevertheless crossed the finish line, standing and waving to the fans from what came to be known as his "Chariot Of Fire."

Weatherly was among the first drivers to fly his own plane to races across the country, never mind that he had no navigational skills. He simply took a road map along, flew relatively low and followed the highways to where he wanted to go.

During the 1950s another Virginian, Curtis Turner, joined his best pal Weatherly in creating a big, strong fan base in the Old Dominion. Turner was the sport’s first devil-may-care hard charger, thrilling crowds with his uncanny driving ability en route to induction this year into the NASCAR hall of fame in Charlotte.

Turner was such a terrific draw that he was nicknamed “The Babe Ruth Of Stock Car Racing.”

Through the decades Virginians also have had the storied Wood Brothers team of Stuart, Va., to cheer. Glen and Leonard Wood, followed by Glen’s sons Eddie and Lin, have fielded Ford products for such stars as David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Neil Bonnett, Buddy Baker and Kyle Petty. Their current driver is Ryan Blaney, a contender for rookie of the year.

But in the 53 years since Weatherly topped the point standings, Virginia hasn’t been home to a Cup Series champion.

Virginians James Hylton and Ricky Rudd made runs at championships. Hylton, born in Roanoke, finished second in the standings to Pearson in 1966 and was runner-up to Richard Petty in ’67. Rudd, native to Chesapeake, Va., placed second in 1991 to Dale Earnhardt.

Now, as NASCAR’s Cup Series plans its annual spring visit to Virginia and Martinsville Speedway on April 3, the state finally has another outstanding title contender in Denny Hamlin, this year’s Daytona 500 winner and a native of Chesterfield, who drives for the powerful Joe Gibbs Racing organization.

The multitude of Virginia fans, obviously, would “love” to see him become champion and end the long drought.