Driving with the Devil
Page 42
page 219, “I just drove where they wasn't”: Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide, 93.
page 219, Parks… invested twenty thousand dollars halfway through 1947: Sample's, “Garhofa's Raymond Dawson Parks,” Pioneer
Pages; also “Red Byron Wins Feature Race at Martinsville's New Track,” Sept. 7, 1947 (unknown newspaper, Danville, Va.).
page 219, still barely breaking even: “Red Byron Wins Feature Race at Martinsville's New Track.”
page 219, “You take a huge fortune…”: Samples, “Garhofa's Raymond Dawson Parks, Pioneer Pages.
page 220, “If there was a better mech…”: Bernard Kahn, “Race Winner Byron Tosses Orchids to Motor Builder Vogt,” Daytona Beach News Journal, Feb. 16, 1948.
page 221, [Peachtree Williams's story]: Larry Fielden, Tim Flock, Race Driver (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1991), 36.
page 221, Osiecki… “also ran”: Vic Brannon, “Red Byron Wins Season Finale,” National Speed Sport News, Nov. 16, 1947.
page 222, “I know they like action…”: Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide, 91.
page 223, year-end bonuses… first time: Ibid., 95.
page 223, France announced the current point standings: All information about the final races of 1947 comes from various unknown newspaper articles, Dec. 6-9, 1947. Also: Speed Age, Dec. 1947 and Jan. 1948.
page 224, “I am lucky to have Raymond Parks…”: Speed Age, Jan. 1948.
page 225, “It is the opinion of this writer…”: Ibid.
12. “Next thing we know, NASCAR belongs to Bill France”
Unless otherwise noted, the entire scene of NASCAR's organizational meeting is based on the following: National Championship Stock Car Circuit, original minutes, “Annual Convention, The National Championship Stock Car Circuit, Ebony Room, Streamline Hotel, Daytona Beach, Florida, Dec. 14-17, 1947”; Speed Age, Jan. 1948; William Neely, Daytona USA: The Official History of Daytona and Ormond Beach Racing from 1902 to Today's NASCAR Super Speedways (Tucson, Ariz.: AZTEX Corp., 1979); Ben White, “The Formation of NASCAR,” American Racing Classics, multiple vols. (Concord, N.C.: Griggs Publishing; Talladega, Ala.: International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Jan. 1992); UMI Publications, NASCAR: The Early Years (Charlotte, N.C.: UMI Publications, 2002); W E. Butterworth, The High Wind: The Story of NASCAR Racing (New York: Norton, 1971); Greg Fielden, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing, 4 vols. (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1992); Greg Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1993); Mike Hembree, NASCAR: The Definitive History (New York: Harper Entertainment/Tehabi Books, 2000). Also: interviews with Raymond Parks, Tom Vogt, Mike Bell, Eddie Samples, and Buz McKim. Also consulted were the following books by Peter Golenbock: The Last Lap: The Life and Times of NASCAR's Legendary Heroes (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1998); American Zoom: Stock Car Racing—From the Dirt Tracks to Daytona (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1994); NASCAR Confidential: Stories of Men and Women Who Made Stock Car Racing Great (Osceola, Wis.: MBI Publishing, 2004); and Peter Golenbock, ed., NASCAR Encyclopedia: The Complete Record of America's Most Popular Sport (Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks International, 2003).
page 227, “If there's ever a stock car race in your area…”: “Their Business Is Stock,” Speed Age, June 1947.
pages 228-229, France felt… AAA was an “outsider”: Brock Yates, “The Force: Bill France's Vision Made NASCAR the World's Premier Racing Organization,”
Sports Illustrated Presents 50 Years of NASCAR, Jan. 28, 1998, 87.
page 229, “junk car events”… “dying out”: D. Randy Riggs, Flat-out Racing: An Insider's Look at the World of Stock Cars (New York: MetroBooks, Michael Friedman Publishing Group, 1995), 36.
page 229, “I was one of them”: Yates, Sports Illustrated, 87.
page 232, a “ruse”… “rivals”: Neely, Daytona USA, 58.
page 234, “the dawn of a new era”: Speed Age, Jan. 1948.
page 235, “The democratic method… never worked”: Neely, Daytona USA, 58.
page 235, France and Tuthill had therefore schemed: Ibid,
page 235, “The next thing we know, NASCAR belongs to Bill France”: Gerald Hodges, “NASCAR Racing—Before There Was NASCAR, There Was Daw- sonville,” Susquehanna County Transcript, Dec. 24, 2002 (http://www.susquehannatranscript.com/archives/12_17_02v4n25/sports.htm).
page 235, France's plan all along: Neely, Daytona USA, 58.
13. “Racing Car Plunges into Throng”
All information about the corporate details of NASCAR's creation, the stock split, and the alleged exclusion of Vogt and Parks is from interviews with Raymond Parks, Billy Watson, George Moore, Tom Vogt, and June Wendt. Also: William Neely, Daytona USA: The Official History of Daytona and Ormond Beach Racing from 1902 to Today's NASCAR Super Speedways (Tucson, Ariz.: AZTEX Corp., 1979), 58; W E. Butterworth, The High Wind: The Story of NASCAR Racing (New York: Norton, 1971), 19; Jerry Bledsoe, The World's Number One, Flat-Out, Ail-Time Great, Stock Car Racing Book (New York: Bantam Books, 1976), 35, 43; Greg Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1993); and Ben White, “The Formation of NASCAR,” American Racing Classics (Concord, N.C.: Griggs Publishing; Talladega, Ala.: International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Jan. 1992). Regarding Raymond Parks's alleged loans to France: Parks has, at times—with the author and with others—denied that he loaned money to France. But his wife, Violet, and sister, Lucille Shirley, have confirmed that he has confessed this fact to them; Lucille said she was personally aware of and witnessed such loans. Others, including Billy Watson and Gordon Pirkle, have backed this up, and some of Parks's colleagues suspect he had vowed never to divulge this information and likely swore many friends to secrecy. The author contacted NASCAR officials about this, but there wasn't enough information for NASCAR to confirm or deny it. Bill France Sr. apparently took the full truth to his grave. The entire Feb. 15 race is from the following: Bernard Kahn, “14,000 Watch Byron Win Auto Race,” Daytona Beach News Journal, Feb. 16, 1948; Illustrated Speedway News, Feb. 1948; Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide, 100-102; Larry Fielden, Tim Flock, Race Driver (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1991); and Tom Higgins, NASCAR Greatest Races: The 25 Most Thrilling Races in NASCAR History (New York: Harper Entertainment / Tehabi Books, 1999), 10, 12.
page 237, “With the gentleness of a lover…”: Harry Crews, Classic Crews: A Harry Crews Reader (New York: Poseidon Press, 1993), 340.
page 238, Red accused her of stealing all his money: Interviews with Tom Vogt.
page 239, France had seemed almost to have conspired: Interviews with June Wendt and Billy Watson,
page 240, “He stayed mad the rest of his days”: Interview with June Wendt.
page 240, “… who the hell would do any better?” Interview with George Moore,
page 243, “We weren't businessmen, just car owners…”: Gerald Hodges, “NASCAR Racing—Before There Was NASCAR, There Was Dawsonville,” Susquehanna County Transcript, Dec. 24, 2002.
page 243, “That's how Bill France stole…”: Ibid,
pages 244-245, a “real corker” and “one of the greatest days…”: Higgins, NASCAR Greatest Races, 10, 12.
page 245, France leased the property for the track: Interview with Buz McKim (written replies to questions from the author).
page 253, [Lee Preston Flock and the Flock family]: Fielden, Tim Flock, 14-17; and Russ Catlin, “The Fabulous Flock Family,” Speed Age, Oct. 1950.
page 254, “two Atlanta crackers”: “New Lakeview Speedway to Open for NASCAR in NC,” Apr. 11, 1948 (unknown newspaper, Concord or Lexington, N.C.).
page 255, “a bouncing rubber ball…”: Catlin, “Fabulous Flock Family.”
page 255, “a little older and smarter than the rest of us”: Transcript of 1990 interview by Rick Minter (reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) with Ed Samples, shared with the author by Samples's son, Eddie,
page 255, “Although there has been no outright hostility…”: “New Lakeview Speedway.”
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br /> page 257, “time to let Fonty eat a little dust”: “Byron to have ‘Indy’ Engine for Opening of Lakeview Race,” May 2, 1948 (unknown newspaper, Concord, N.C.).
page 260, Which gave him a perfect view…: Eddie Samples, “Columbus Speedway's Historic 1948 Inaugural Season; Red Byron's Bittersweet Championship,” Pioneer Pages 8, no. 2 (June 2005); interview with Charles Jenkins,
page 262, “17 Injured When Racing Car Plunges into Throng”: The entire story of this race is from interview with Charles Jenkins; Samples, “Columbus Speedway's Historic 1948 Inaugural Season,” Pioneer Pages; and Associated Press stories and photographs of July 26 and 27, 1948.
14. An “ambience” of death
page 264, As early as 1911, a race car had plunged: Brock Yates, Against Death and Time: One Fatal Season in Racing's Glory Years (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2004), 57.
page 265, “I'll die with two hands…”: Smith Barrier, “Three Stock Car Racers Grin at Sports Injuries,” Greensboro Daily News, Apr. 17, 1948.
page 266, “extra barricades will be erected…”: Greg Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1993), 103.
page 267, “Fans marveled at the power…”: Earl Kelley, “Fonty Flock Wins Daytona Beach? 50',” Speed Age, October, 1948.
page 267, “I'm glad I won”: Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide, 104.
page 268, A boosterish sportswriter… “very rare”: “You Have to Ride in a Stock Car before Thrills Really Come Your Way,” Sept. 5, 1948 (unknown Columbus, Ga., newspaper),
page 269, France decided to call off the race. The entire scene of the final NASCAR race of the year is from Samples, “Columbus Speedway's Historic 1948 Inaugural Season,” Pioneer Pages; and interview with Charles Jenkins,
page 270, “sort of lost heart after that”: Interview with Mitzi Teague.
page 270, “… the death of that little boy never left him”: Interview with Charles Jenkins,
page 270, the “ambience” of death: Samples, “Columbus Speedway's Historic 1948 Inaugural Season, Pioneer Pages.”
page 270, “Maybe think about a less spectacular profession”: Race program: “Souvenir Autograph Program—200-Mile Stock Car Race,” Jan. 16, 1949.
page 271, Fonty… ten thousand and fifteen thousand dollars: “You Have to Ride in a Stock Car.”
page 271, [Byron's split from Parks]: “Byron to Field Own Car,” International Speed Sport News, Jan. 1949 (unknown writer),
page 273, NASCAR had taken in sixty-four thousand dollars: William Neely, Daytona USA: The Official History of Daytona and Ormond Beach Racing from 1902 to Today's NASCAR Super Speedways (Tucson, Ariz.: AZTEX Corp., 1979), 59.
page 274, “… this is the point fund you've heard about”: Ben White, “The Formation of NASCAR,” American Racing Classics (Concord, N.C.: Griggs Publishing; Talladega, Ala.: International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Jan. 1992), 11.
page 274, “keep everything totally above board”: Ibid,
page 275, the “Atlanta sportsman”: “Raymond D. Parks, Parks Novelty Company,” Atlanta Constitution, Jan. 2, 1948.
page 275, Georgia led the nation: Jess Carr, The Second Oldest Profession: An Informal History of Moonshining in America (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1972), 129.
page 278, “found God in cars…”: Harry Crews, Classic Crews: A Harry Crews Reader (New York: Poseidon Press, 1993), 325.
page 278, Parks agreed to share a larger cut: Interview with Raymond Parks. (Note: Parks couldn't remember what the split was, but typical owner-driver splits at the time ranged from 50-50 to 60-40 to 70-30.)
15. The first race, a bootlegger, and a disqualification
Unless otherwise noted, sources for NASCAR's first strictly stock race include: Gary McCredie, “The First Race,” American Racing Classics (Concord, N.C.: Griggs Publishing; Talladega, Ala.: International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Apr. 1992); William Neely, Daytona USA: The Official History of Daytona and Ormond Beach Racing from 1902 to Today's NASCAR Super Speedways (Tucson, Ariz.: AZTEK Corp., 1979), 64-65; Greg Fielden, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing, 4 vols. (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1992), vol. 1. References to drivers' protests, NASCAR's “guarantee,” and punishment of misbehaving drivers are from Fielden, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing, vol. 1, 7; various newspapers, including “Stock Car Drivers Want More Money” (unknown newspaper, Concord, N.C.), Mar. 25, 1949, and “Stock Car ‘Jumpers’ Reinstated” (unknown newspaper, Charlotte, N.C.), June 19, 1949, and “Jim Roper Wins ‘Official’ First NASCAR ‘Stock’ Race,” National Speed Sport News, June 19, 1949.
page 279, resembled a Civil War encampment: Scott Huler, A Little Bit Sideways: One Week inside a NASCAR Winston Cup Team (Osceola, Wis.: MBI Publishing, 1999), 35.
pages 279-280, insurance… one hundred dollars per race: Neely, Daytona USA, 59.
page 280, Where's all the money going?: Fielden, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing, vol. 1, 7; and “Stock Car Drivers Want More Money.”
page 280, Teague was soon joined by two moonshiners: Ibid,
page 281, Shuman… “very much satisfied”: “Stock Car Drivers Want More Money.”
page 281, “It's too much,” France said: Ibid,
page 281, Teague also withdrew … in protest: Fielden, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing, vol. 1, 7.
page 282, “conduct detrimental to the best interests…”: “Stock Car Drivers Want More Money.”
page 284, “civilization's newest voice”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Fords: An American Epic (New York: Summit Books, 1987), 35.
page 285, “The nice thing about this game…”: UMI Publications, NASCAR: The Early Years (Charlotte, N.C.: UMI Publications, 2002), 35.
page 285, A conviction on bootlegging charges: McCredie, “The First Race,” 9.
page 286, “not in accordance with the best interests of NASCAR”: “Stock Car Drivers Want More Money”; and “Stock Car ‘Jumpers’ Reinstated.”
page 287, Tuthill tried to assure drivers: Neely, Daytona USA, 59.
page 287, “made an honest effort not to line our own pockets”: Ibid,
page 287, “had done all the spadework”: Ibid., 58.
page 287, “Bill was gittin' to be a millionaire…”: Jerry Bledsoe, The World's Number One, Fiat-Out, Ail-Time Great, Stock Car Racing Book (New York: Bantam Books, 1976), 43.
pages 287-288, the more powerful engines… overhead valves: D. Randy Riggs, Flat-out Racing: An Insider's Look at the World of Stock Cars (New York: MetroBooks, Michael Friedman Publishing Group, 1995), 44.
page 289, with France and Tuthill shaken up but uninjured: “Jim Roper Wins ‘Official’ First NASCAR ‘Stock’ Race.”
page 291, The Petty family would hitchhike home: Other versions of this story have Petty there without the family and/or racing his own car, not a friend's.
16. “It's not cheating if you don't get caught”
page 297, experimented with minute reductions: Henry “Smokey” Yunick, Best Damn Garage in Town: The World According to Smokey, 4 vols. (Holly Hill, Fla.: Carbon Press, 2001), vol. 4, 275.
page 297, “the absolute peak of performance”: Bob Desiderio, “Mechanic Vogt Started Career at Age of 10,” Daytona Beach Morning Journal, Feb. 24, 1956.
page 298, “at best, a good-natured lie”: Yunick, Best Damn Garage in Town, vol. 4,
272; Henry “Smokey” Yunick (www.fireballroberts.com/smokey_yunickl.htm).
page 299, driving with her AM radio blasting: Suzanne Wise, “Fast Women: Female Racing Pioneers,” Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South 46, no. 2
(2004), 57.
page 299, Across the next fifty years…: Ibid,
page 300, “… Somebody must have made a mistake…”: Greg Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1993), 111.
page 300, “I doubt if Red averaged seventy-nine or eighty miles per hour”: Ibid,
page 302, “If we back down, we're through”: William Nee
ly, Daytona USA: The Official History of Daytona and Ormond Beach Racing from 1902 to Today's NASCAR Super Speedways (Tucson, Ariz.: AZTEX Corp., 1979), 65.
page 302, “If you want to keep racing…”: Ibid,
page 302, “not safe for any of us to set foot in Atlanta…”: Ibid,
page 303, “a self-made son of a bitch”: Interview with David Sosebee.
page 303, France grabbed a pen and wrote…: Ibid,
page 305, Hall “could do things with a car…”: Robert Cutter and Bob Fendell, Encyclopedia of Auto Racing Greats (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1973), 633.
page 306, “You were going pretty good”: Ibid, page 307, Combined with the few hundred bucks: “1950 NASCAR Yearbook”
(Greensboro, N.C.: Bill France Enterprises), 56. page 308, auto accident fatalities, averaging thirty thousand a year: “Motor Vehicle Accidents,” The Lincoln Library of Essential Information (Buffalo, N.Y.: Frontier Press, 1959), 2081.
17. “No way a Plymouth can beat a Cadillac. No way”
Primary sources for the Mexican Road Race include: Jack Cansler, “The World's Toughest Road Race,” Speed Age, Aug. 1950; Roland Goodman, Book of the Mexican Road Race (Los Angeles: Floyd Clymer, 1950); and Robert Edelstein, Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of Curtis Turner (New York: Overlook Hardcover, 2005). Sources for the first race at Darlington and Vogt's protests include: Gene Granger, “The 1950 Southern 500,” American Racing Classics (Concord, N.C.: Griggs Publishing; Talladega, Ala.: International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Oct. 1992); William Neely, Daytona USA: The Official History of Daytona and Ormond Beach Racing from 1902 to Today's NASCAR Super Speedways (Tucson, Ariz.: AZTEX Corp., 1979); Greg Fielden, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing, 4 vols. (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1992); and Tom Jensen, Cheating: An Inside Look at the Bad Things Good NASCAR Winston Cup Racers Do in the Pursuit of Speed (Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull Publishing, 2002).