The orange 40-ish Ford coupe sat at the far end of the pits, near the 4th turn, that Saturday night at Rambi Raceway. In the dim light, the coupe's details were hidden, especially the interior. It had all of its fenders, and the top of the hood, but the hood's sides had been removed. Exiting the rear corner of the engine bay,at the junction formed by the firewall, and the fender were a collection of flexible elecrical-conduit runners serving as exhaust hedders, and they had 'smutted-up' the paint job.I could make out the thin black home-spun lettering.........."Slow-Poke Jim McKoy". The larger equally home-brewed "95" on the door seemed to perfectly mesh with the rest of the car. Even through the eyes of a seven year old, there were better and faster cars..........penty of them.........nereby too. The night's "Sun-Fun 101" for modified-sportsman cars had unquestionably established that fact. Slow-Poke Jim McKoy had named perfectly named himself. His orange and black number 95 Ford coupe was a back-markerBut, this car, humble as it was............... was special. There were others faster, and slicker, and neater, and racier, but I had not seen any of them tow through my home town. See, hours earlier, on this 1962 June Saturday, Jim 'Slow-Poke' McKoy had flat-towed his racer through my town, right past the vacant lot where all the neighborhood kids played. And we were all out in the field playing when the orange #95 cruised by, from north to south, heading to Myrtle Beach on US Hiway 17. From that moment forward, for a LOT of Satruday afternoons, waiting and watching for Rambi-bound race cars became aritual...........just to SEE them tow by. Man! What a thrill!There's a first time for everything, and, for me, this was it. 1962 became 2010, and almost everything in God's universe seems to have changed-except my passion for race cars..........old coupe bodied race cars. For me, the following 40 plus years only served to strengthen the bond. Old coupes, coaches,old late models, abandoned race tracks...........and Saturday night racing! Is it a "southern thing" to love a lost cause? If so, then I'm blessed and I thank God for the gift.But,did it really happen the way I remember? I've seen so many race cars, and read countlessracing stories and attened so many races, could I have possibly IMAGINED a "Slow-Poke Jim McKoy" and an old orange coupe? Forty Eight years IS a long time, and details can become fuzzy. Was "Slow Poke" a cumulative fictional character, a synthesis of many, but not historically 'real'?In September,2009, I received and email from good friend and fellow racing historian, Jack Walker. I'd told Jack, many times, my story of Jim McKoy...........and Jack discovered the following classified in a 1963 NASCAR newsletter:"Slowpoke" is Selling OutTwo sportsman race cars and a batch of racing equipment are for saleby James A. "Slowpoke" McKoy Rt. 2, box 525 Newport, NC. He hashad heavy medical bills lately and must sell out. His sportsman no. 95was driven by Cale Yarborough and Joe Penland last year, and the motorhas run only one race since it was completely rebuilt. That's a '38 Ford.His '39 Ford with '48 motor needs an overhaul. With the deal, he hasracing tires, towing tires, extra rear ends and transmission, and he'llsacrifice all this for $1,000.00.It WAS real.............right down to the number! Truly amazing, the stuff we remember, and the little wonderful coincidences that life and fate afford. You know, I may just check this story out a little more!