Jimmie Lewallen

I came across this great article in a December 1985 Stock Car Racing magazine -

Lash LaRue and co-star with Jimmie Lewallen and Curtis Turner -

Interesting article, Robert. For a short while, stock car racing p.a. and radio announcer, Sammy Bland traveled with Alfred "Lash" LaRue announcing the master of the bull whip's western show.

After reading the excerpt below from a 1986 interview with Lash LaRue in The Sagebrush Journal , you've got to wonder if Bruton Smith was involved with the Charlotte group that hoodwinked Lash.

And... the Francis White mentioned by Lash LaRue above (actually it is J. Francis White, Jr.) went on to produce the film Thunder in Carolina!

"Red Dirt Rising"

Thanks Robert, great article.

I raced against and knew most of those mentioned in the above article.

I learned about how to build a stock car by hanging around Buddy Teasley's Garage.

Jimmy was one of my heroes.

I learned a lot from him.

Most of us have probably seen this, but here is Rich Brenner interviewing Jimmie in 1995 -

The July 7, 1955 Tuscaloosa (AL) News has an ad for a Lash Larue movie on the same sports page that features a stock car preview story of the upcoming Birmingham Fairgrounds race highlighting Hugh Babb's fabulous Studebaker driven by "Cracker Jack" Smith and a Negro race as requested by the fans.

Thanks for sharing that, Dave. We haven't seen a lot of the old Birmingham Fairgrounds Speedway history here. A lot of big names in that race.