I don't know if you noticed, but we took a short vacation from this series, not due to all the activity in Daytona, though that has certainly been fun, but because Johnny has been fighting an inner ear infection that has had him literally reeling. Because of that, his plans to be in Daytona had to be canceled this year. I feel so bad for him, as I know he was looking forward so much to being there, especially for that Beach parade on February 16, which included several Bell & Bell Vintage Series cars from right here at RacersReunion.

Johnny, I do hope this finds you feeling much better than when last we talked, and that you're doing just what the good doctor tells you to do. As he reminded you, you're not as young as you used to be and not as tough as you think you are. Since you were unable to do a video of the Beach Parade, I borrowed one from YouTube so that both you and our readers can see a bit of what all the fuss was about. MAN, do I wish I'd been there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqz-OPv-q1g

How awesome was that, seeing the race cars of the period, back on the Road and Beach Course and this year, actually ON THE BEACH? My understanding is that because it was so well handled and went on without a hitch, the Beach will be part of the parade once again in 2014. Maybe next year... and with that sweet vision of Southern Days in my mind, I'll turn you over to Johnny, telling another tale of racing on Southern Nights.

We had been running Dublin for a few weeks when we heard talk about a track being built just south of McRae Georgia.  It was to be another half-mile like Dublin was. When Opening Day came, we stayed over at the local motel in Dublin.  The parking lot looked like the pits at Daytona, because there must have been twenty cars parked in the back lot along with ours.

Guys were up early, getting ready to go to this new track; some had gone to see it and said it was a long half, with wide turns. We pulled out along with several others... maybe fifteen of us all heading down 441 towards McRae and what this new adventure would bring. In  McRae, you head south about 6 miles to a crossroad, where if you go left you go to Scotland, or a right turn will take you to the track.  About three miles up on the left is the sign for the track , "WELCOME to the fastest half-mile in South Georgia", and that was an understatement! Unloading here wasn't tricky because it was kinda sandy and getting stuck was no problem .

Finally, out on the track we go for warm-ups, and after a lap or two I hit the pits.  I was running out of rpms about at the flag-stand. My dad had everything waiting when I stopped.  The rear went up on jack-stands and the third member was changed to the highest gear we had with us. Now mind you, we were not by ourselves on this, because that other black car from Augusta was up and swapping gears too.  The need for rear end grease was a priority because not everyone caught their grease to re-use.

[caption id="attachment_3779" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Harold Fountain
Augusta GA[/caption]

Back out, and we were sailing; about two-thirds of the way down the track you better start making preparations for getting around that long turn coming up.  After a few laps around the place, a certain driver showed his real potential.  He would never lift but got up close to the high bank and kinda threw it gently into the curve and he was gone, so a new technique was out there for anyone who dared.

These guys were in for  a wild race that day and the track obliged them with plenty of room to spare.  There was no fencing here either, except in front of the stands, so the trees in the distance were the boundaries and some tested that too.

The track was fast, and that is an understatement because more than a  few motors were blown down there.  I blew a right rear tire in the main, took a wild ride over the bank and sand was everywhere in the car.

Later, races here got better and then some Florida cars started coming up and there you have the field full.  We were starting forty-plus cars in the feature and it was a stellar show.  The stands were full; the pits were full and the owner was grinning.  Have you noticed that I haven't talked of any fights yet?  Well that hasn't happened...YET... My dad actually went out in the truck and measured the track and well yes, it was a half-mile if you ran way down on the inside, but as wide as it was, it got up over 5/8 mile up on the high side.

More people are building cars it seems; as you travel the roads, almost every farm has a car of some sort out back of the barn or under the old oak tree. A good friend of my dad went off and bought a Ford from over in Alabama and brought it home.  He gave it a try but it scared him to death. Well, luck had it that I tore up my car on a pole at the beginning of the fence in Dublin, so I crawled into that demon car. It had a set up under it that was too rigid and would hook a rut in a second. I drove that car for about 6 weeks and won a couple of races. This set up a guy in Waycross to buy that car. I sure was glad to get out of it, because man, that car hunted those tall pines in McRae every time you went out. (Remember this guy, because he comes into play again.)

Next year yet another track gets into the system and then decisions are going to be made. Until then, it's Christmas and everyone is enjoying the holidays or building a new ride for next year.

A new year is coming  so look up and enjoy the Southern Nights.

-Johnny

So now the track count, just in this small area Johnny calls the "Warner Robins area", is up to five, and that still does not include Middle Georgia, which I know is lurking down in Byron. Next trip out, he promises yet another track, and if I'm not mistaken, we'll be hearing of some good ol' boys mixing it up off the track as well as on.

I do so hope you are all enjoying our trip around Georgia and her rich racing history. I've never asked Johnny's exact age, but I know it's close to mine, and I promise you, both he and I are having a ball taking this extended trip down Memory Lane, albeit all the memories here are Johnny's. My Western New York upbringing didn't lend as much to racing excitement, as there was but one track within a 50-mile drive of where we lived. Nothing even came close to all the activity that once hummed through beautiful Georgia on those Southern Nights.

Did I say "once?" While it's true that a lot of the old tracks have been given back to the woods from whence they came, or paved and planted for sub-divisions or shopping centers, a large number have either risen to take their place a bit further from town or managed to stay in operation over the long years. A couple weeks back, we heard our young historian, Cody Dinsmore, telling about his (and my) home track, Dixie Speedway, which he called "The Ghost Track That's Alive and Well." 

Close by where I live, there was once a track in Canton and another up in Blue Ridge, which I believe just ceased operation in the past year. I'm sure there were more, but I've only been in this area a short time. Sometime during our tour of Georgia, Johnny has promised to take me back to where my husband and I made our home for many years, Toccoa, the beautiful. (That is what it translates to from Cherokee) There, the tracks had not gone away and there were engines being fired everywhere, providing the background music for those Southern Nights. 

There was one in Toccoa itself, Toccoa Speedway, which I could hear from my front porch when the wind was right; there was another in Carnesville, the 106 Speedway, the Lavonia Speedway in Lavonia, about 17 miles south, the Westminster Speedway, about 15 miles East in South Carolina and the big one in Anderson SC, about a 45-minute drive east on I-85.

In the opposite direction, that 45 minutes would take you to Lanier Raceway or Road Atlanta. Drive a bit farther, down to Jefferson and you had Peach State Speedway, now Gresham Motorsports Park. Closer to home, a stop off at Commerce would bring you to Atlanta Dragway if straight-line was to your liking.

All that racing, with all the exhaust fumes and red dirt rising... and a spouse with congestive heart failure and COPD. My trip with Johnny will be my introduction to the racing paradise in which I lived but could never visit.

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