David Poole 1959-2009

David Poole of the Charlotte Observer died of a heart attack yesterday, he was 50.

Poole was officially the Observer's NASCAR writer, which is a big job to have in Charlotte, but he was more than that. I'm not a big NASCAR fan but Poole's columns were powerful and insightful. Poole would give you his thoughts on the state of racing and back it up with facts, I didn't always agree with him but I had respect for him.

With North Carolina's changing demographics came many people who were skeptical and sometimes even hostile to it's culture, a culture of which stock car racing is a huge part. Many of these critics would rag stock car racing having never actually watched, let alone attended, a stock car race. Poole took these people to task and did it in such a fashion that no one could dare say he was wrong.

He was simply a giant in Charlotte journalism, not just Charlotte sports journalism. Poole played a role in helping Charlotte land the coveted NASCAR Hall of Fame and when it opens, he'd better be in it.