Thrill Shows, Chitwoods et al - Joie Chitwood, Jr. 1970 TV Interview
General
Carnival of Speed: The Auto Racing Businessin the Emerging South, 1930-1950
RANDAL L HALL
By mid-October, the air in North Carolina has the crispness of autumn, and theleaves begin to turn bright colors under the harvest moon. For many people, itis time to head to the nearest fair. On October 19, 1939, about twenty-fivehundred spectators, including the local congressman, flocked to the WilsonCounty Fair for one of the favorite events at southern carnivalsautomobileraces. The races in Wilson were typical of those that took place around the nation,and in every southem state, during the 1920s through the 1940s. They weresanctioned by the American Automobile Association (AAA) and staged by Walter Stebbins of New York City. Six short qualifying races led up to tlie featureevent, a fifteen-mile contest on a Thursday afternoon. Joie Chitwood, a native ofOklahoma, held off Tony Willman of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to win. The localnewspaper breathlessly captured the reason the sport attracted (and continues toattract) crowds of eager fans: "A stocky little racing driver rocketing around like ameteor on the half-mile dirt track of the Wilson County Fair here yesterdayafternoon broke a world's record for the 15-mile distance on the half-mile dirttrack for single seated racers and smashed two track records at the same time. .. .There were plenty of thrills packed into the afternoon of racing and when it was allover everyone came out of it unscathed."'The motorized fun was not over for spectators in Wilson. Recognizing thedemand for racing and urged by the secretary of the fair's board, Stebbins phonedthe AAA and asked for sanction to repeat the card of open-cockpit races onSaturday afternoon. Buster Warke of West Virginia was the fastest in time trials, butin Saturday's feature he finished second to a nationally popular driver, Len Duncan.On Sunday afternoon, another four thousand encertait\ment-hungry residentstook in a second type of automotive spectacle. Carnival attraction "Suicide"Hayes and His Hell Drivers closed Wilson's sixth annual fair with a two-hourprogram. According to the Wilson Daily Times, it was a varied performance: "TheHell Drivers gave the huge crowd thrill after thrill as they drove speeding stockcars ovet inclines or ramps which sent them careening wildly ikwn the track;accomplished barrel rolls, crashed cars head-on, tumbled them end over end,crashed through flaming barriers, and successfully leaped a string of 18 cars in adaring leap with a stock car."- Onlookers in Wilsonand at untold numbers ofother fairgrounds dirt tracksbreathed in the clouds of dust that spurted frombeneath the churning tires. They could literally taste the excitement.Industrial America spawned automobile racing.
