It sounded great idling and talked to you on the highway through dual exhausts.  Well, a couple of places I went through had red lights, and it was not easy to get going without making a little racket. I changed the rear end so the motor wouldn’t wind up on the highway and attract too much attention and looks from John Law.

One time we were tooling down to Valdosta to a race and a big truck went by us so fast it got the truck and trailer to wiggling so bad it took a little side trip into the edge of the road to stop the wiggle. That’s not fun to do, trust me. After stopping and getting everything back in its place, including the car, we were back on the road with a better eye on the passing traffic….Whew!

I got wind of a good purse being paid over in Phoenix City, Alabama one Saturday night and we decided to go over and play with them We load up Saturday morning and head off to Tri-County Speedway, which is just north of Columbus, GA, but in the state of Alabama.

If you've never traveled highway 96 west from Warner Robins I will give you little update. It starts off flat but after you go through Reynolds, GA it begins to start having rolling hills which turn into some pretty good roller coaster hills, not to mention some neat curves.

Those of you that have ever messed with old model rear ends know the hubs have keyways in them and this is the weakest link to the whole game.  Well, on the outskirts of Columbus I started to take off and tested the strength of the key, and sure enough the left one sheared.  So there was nothing to do but roll backwards off the road and repair the problem.  Guess, what…there just happened to be spare keys in my toolbox. How did they get there? Someone at the shop was still looking out for me. As ornery a person as he was, Bob Brown always looked out for me whether dad was there or not.  Somehow he always had the stuff close by to fix most my problems.  I tell you what kind of guy he was and how he was built. Bob would take the one ton truck and take scrap to the junk yard and he always had a block or two on the truck along with a couple of heads. He could pick a short block by himself, so you see why no one gave him any static.

After the key was replaced we headed off in search of this Alabama red dirt speedway. On the west side of Columbus the hills are more predominate.  Finally out of town we see a sign to the left on Us 280 that says Tri County Speedway to the left. So, I stop and eventually get a break in traffic to turn left and up the road I go.  A few miles along and there is the entrance to the track on the right. As we turn off I see a hill and half way up it is the ticket booth.  Now the fun begins!  I get to the guy taking money and bought out pit passes and signed in. If you remember I put an aluminum flywheel in the truck and believe you me with that lightweight flywheel the little flat head it didn’t have enough torque to take off on that hill. So we had to roll back to the bottom of the hill and unload the car. Talk about embarrassed, it was even talked about on the PA system. They called it the little truck that couldn't.

Finally out on the track and the little black 55 shined and made itself known. There were a lot of heavy hitters there out of Alabama area. The track was carved out of the valley between to hills and had no guard rails on either end. Several cars made trips over those banks that night.  One noted driver there was Sam McQuagg and he won the gold that night.

Well, the dram on this trip is not over yet. As you know, the weather in the south down here has its share of nightly sprinkles and this night we got a little shower before anyone could get out of the pits. Red Alabama clay is great for racing but too much water and its slicker than hot grease. We had to wait until the majority of the folks leave before testing the hill. Brakes are another item that got hot that trip. Without those electric brakes on the trailer these stories may have had a different outcome.

Oh yeah we finished 5th that night against all those Alabama cars.We made it back Sunday and my dad said, “You better put that 348 in the truck this week after that trip along with a better rear and brakes.”

So, the car got a bath, the truck got a new heart and now we’re ready to tackle them thar hills up in north GA.

This was our first race out of the state and we were still in the 100 mile radius of home. There was a lot of racing within that 100 mile radius. I’ll share more about those other tracks later ----------------------------------Memories