"El Paso" #1 1/9/1960

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso...Definitely a personal all-time favorite. One of the greatest story songs of them all came from country star Marty Robbins. It was a rarity in that the edited version still ran over four minutes at a time when radio usually wouldn't touch a record that long. The full version came in at nearly five minutes. He was a pretty fair stock car driver, too, earning respect with six top 10 finishes in NASCAR's major series. He surprised folks once at Talladega by running 10-12 MPH faster in the race than in qualifying. The car failed the post-race inspection as Marty said he took the restrictor plate off just to see what it felt like to run up front there. (NASCAR fans know what I'm talking about.) The regulars said if he had raced full time, Marty would've been a star in that field as well.