Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 26, 1993 TAG: 9312260070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: STAUNTON LENGTH: Medium
In fact, sometimes you can, during the 1950s-revival "cruise-ins" that pack the parking lot of the Staunton eatery on warm summer evenings.
The nostalgia at Wright's is almost as thick as the famous chocolate malts; Staunton's homegrown country music group, the Statler Brothers, considered the place so authentic they posed there for an album cover. Remember their song "Are the Kids Still Driving Around Hamburger Dan's"? It's really about Wright's.
For years, an autographed picture of the quartet has hung in an honored spot beside the menu, and the Statlers are still regular patrons.
Wright's has another celebrity customer as a regular - Rep. Bob Goodlatte.
A visit to Wright's has become a ritual for Goodlatte whenever he passes through Staunton.
He first discovered the place during his 1992 campaign. "It reminded me a little of the kind of place I used to work," growing up back in Springfield, Mass., Goodlatte says.
A stop by Wright's soon became a required activity whenever Goodlatte was in the Shenandoah Valley. If he is in a hurry, Goodlatte will settle for a chocolate malt; if he has more time, he will add a small burger and a foot-long hot dog.
Ever the politician, he always finds time to shake hands with customers.
"We see him anytime," says Wright's owner, Elwood Cash. "You're liable to see him in here on a Saturday morning with his kids, or at 10:30 at night heading home."
What does Cash think of his congressional visitor?
He has added Goodlatte's photo to the wall, right beside the Statlers.
"McDonald's has the clown," Cash says. "I have Bob and the Statler Brothers on my team."
by CNB