Dad told me this story about Hickory Speedway.
In 1963 Wayne Andrews was driving a '57 Chevrolet owned by Pete Brewer at the old Rockingham Speedway dirt track. The track was getting a reputation for good racing and John McNeill was asked to bring the show to different tracks. I know they did at least once as they brought the Rockingham drivers to Shelby and held a race that included the Shelby regulars. The Rockingham regulars did well as Jack Smith won the race. This gave the Rockingham regulars the confidence to go to different tracks and expect to compete. Wayne heard about a Sunday afternoon race at Hickory and thought since they were running well at Rockingham they could go there and run good. Hickory was dirt and NASCAR sanctioned. Being the only one with NASCAR license Wayne was alone in the pits. After the drivers meeting Roby Combs (pronounced Row-bee) called Wayne to the side and said. "You know, race drivers are like a pack of dogs. And these are MY DOGS. And nobody is going to come in here and cause any trouble with my dogs.". Wayne got the message and agreed. The race started and Wayne quickly found out the gear he had ran the night before at Rockingham was the wrong one for Hickory. Hickory was not much bigger but you carried a lot more speed through the corners so he ran out of gear way before the end of the straightaway. He finished near the end of the field. After the race Roby came over and told Wayne "You're welcome to come back anytime".
'57 Chevy Wayne Andrews drove for Pete and Bea Brewer in 1963.
Dad ended the story there but I remember being told the rest of the story. As stated above dad was alone in the pit but he had not gone to Hickory alone. Crew members R.D. Dorsett, Jack Scott and Wesley Binkley were there but had no NASCAR license so they sat in the grandstand. Dad had made crew shirts for the team that had a #4 sewn on the back. After the race started and seeing how bad dad was running they took off their shirts and sat on them. Remember the race was run in the day light so they got sunburned. They got mad at dad and blamed him for the sunburn. After all, if he had run better they would not have taken off the shirts.
