Driving with the Devil
Page 41
page 102, stock car racing's first team owner: Paul Hemp hill, Wheels: A Season on NASCAR's Winston Cup Circuit (New York: Berkley Books, 1998), 83.
page 104, “The right side of the road is the Atlantic”: Interview with Bill Watson,
page 106, “They knew I had money”: Hemphill, Wheels, 83.
page 106, “The look-alikes could pass for brothers”: “Driver, Owner, Mechanic Collaborate to Win Race,” Daytona Beach News Journal, Aug. 25, 1941.
page 107, “Until then, I have nothing to lose”: “Young Atlantan Has No Respect for Life or Limb,” Daytona Beach News Journal, Mar. 3, 1941.
page 108, “dirt-smeared, wind-burned Georgian”… “piloting hooch”: Ibid,
page 108, Police… cornered him on the highway: “Police Admit Hall Is Demon at Wheel,” Atlanta Journal, Sept. 3, 1939.
page 108, cop who called Hall “a genius at the wheel”: Ibid,
page 109, Bob Flock—the “wild-eyed Atlantan”: Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide, 44.
page 109, “nerveless … no respect for life or limb”: “Young Atlantan Has No Respect.”
page 109, “Hall had the best of me”: Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide, 44.
page 114, “Every car owner in the country wants to see…”: Ibid., 13.
page 114, “The guy who uses his head…”: Ibid., 15.
page 115, “stay off the track today. … A fatal accident”: “Stock Car Race at 3 Today,” Daytona Beach News Journal, Mar. 2, 1941.
page 116, “This is my last race”: “Parks Purchased Two Costly Cars and Both Were Wrecked before Race Started: Happy Ending,” unknown Daytona Beach newspaper, 1941, date unknown (from Raymond Parks's scrapbook).
page 119, France… known to carry a pistol: Dan Pierce, “The Most Southern Sport on Earth: NASCAR and the Unions,” Southern Cultures, 2001.
page 120, “It feels a lot harder to me when I don't win”: “Seay Stages One-Man Race,” Daytona Beach Sun Record, Aug. 25, 1941.
page 120, “Seay and Hall have a bitter rivalry on the track”: “Driver, Owner, Mechanic Collaborate.”
page 121, “one of the finest exhibitions of driving”: “Seay Stages One-Man Race.”
page 121, “It's about time I won here”: Ibid.; and Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide, 74.
page 122, Late in life… France often put Lloyd Seay on his list: Larry Fielden, Tim Flock, Race Driver (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1991), 44.
7. “Yesterday his luck ran out”
Unless otherwise noted, the story of Lloyd Seay's final days and his murder is from the court documents and trial transcripts of “The State vs. Woodrow Anderson,” Lumpkin Superior Court, as well as interviews with Raymond Parks. Also: Ed Hinton, “The Legend: Lloyd Seay Was the Young Sport's Brightest Star until He Was Gunned Down,” Sports Illustrated Presents 50 Years of NASCAR, Jan. 28, 1998; Greg Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1993); Eddie Samples, “Garhofa's Raymond Dawson Parks,” Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association's Pioneer Pages 5, no. 1 (Feb. 2002); Paul Hemphill, Wheels: A Season on NASCAR's Winston Cup Circuit (New York: Berkley Books, 1998); and numerous articles in the Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution, including “Seay, Winner of Lakewood Race, Is Killed,” Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 4, 1941, and “Racer Lloyd Seay Shot to Death in Disagreement with Cousin,” Atlanta Journal, Sept. 4, 1941.
page 123, Earlier that summer, a driver from Macon…: Hemphill, Wheels, 89.
page 124, “the greatest stock car race ever held here”: “Dust Being Eliminated for Labor Day Races,” Atlanta Constitution, Aug. 28, 1941.
page 124, “Seay… just one of the boys”: Atlanta Constitution, Aug. 31, 1941.
page 125, “the parked cars were red-topped…”: Malcolm Davis, “Lloyd Seay Tops Field in Labor Day Races,” Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 2, 1941.
page 130, Woodrow… later worked at Ford's new postwar factory: Samples, “Garhofa's Raymond Dawson Parks,” Pioneer Pages.
page 131, “liquor haulers and race fans and thrill seekers: Hemphill, Wheels, 80.
page 131, As one southern writer said…: Ibid., 81.
8. “MIRACULOUS DEATH ESCAPE”
Unless otherwise noted, all information on Red Byron's childhood is from a lengthy written response to questions provided by his sister, Virginia Gassaway, as well as some input from her son, Steve Gassaway. Other information about Byron comes from Byron's wife, Nell Byron; her sister, Sarah Atha; and Nell's daughters, Beverly and Betty. Also: various articles in the Anniston Star and Speed Age magazine; Greg Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1993), 80; and interviews with Raymond Parks and others. Descriptions of Indy cars versus stock cars are from interviews with Dick Berggren and Chris Economacki; David Burgess-Wise's Ultimate Race Car (London: Dorling Kindersley, 1999); and Brock W. Yates's Against Death and Time: One Fatal Season in Racing's Glory Years (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2004).
page 137, He drove made-from-scratch… three-quarter cars: Interview with Buddy Starr,
pages 137, 138, “a disturbance of their peace” and “might as well write our obituary”: “Auto Races Today Officially Barred,” Anniston Star, Aug. 27, 1938.
page 138, “easily the greatest race meet ever conducted in Atlanta”: “25,000 Thrilled By 2 Crack-ups at July 4 Races,” Atlanta Journal, July 5, 1938.
page 139, “a little rough in appearance”: “The Boss of the Beach; Racing's Redheaded Huck Finn,” Speed Age, Mar. 1949.
page 139, “MIRACULOUS DEATH ESCAPE”: “25,000 Thrilled By 2 Crack-ups.”
page 141, “mass of spilled vehicles and drivers”: “Five Drivers Injured on Lakewood Track,” Atlanta Journal, July 13, 1941.
page 142, By late 1941, he had spent seven thousand dollars: “Driver, Owner, Mechanic Collaborate to Win Race,” Daytona Beach News Journal, Aug. 25, 1941.
9. Body bags and B-24 bombers
Unless otherwise noted, descriptions of Raymond Parks's wartime experiences come from interviews with and documents provided by Raymond Parks. Also: William C. Cavanaugh, Dauntless: A History of the 99th Infantry Division (Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1994); David P. Colley, Blood for Dignity: The Story of the First Integrated Combat Unit in the U.S. Army (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003); Hugh M. Cole, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge (published by the Center for Military History, www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_cont.htm, 1965); and Eddie Samples, “Garhofa's Raymond Dawson Parks,” Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association's Pioneer Pages 5, no. 1 (Feb. 2002). Information on Ford and the B-24 is mostly from Douglas Brinkley's Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress (New York: Viking, 2003). Byron's wartime experiences were more difficult to piece together (partly because his ex-wife has Alzheimer's), but the descriptions were assisted greatly by the following wonderful books: Stephen E. Ambrose, The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany, 1944—45 (New York: Simon& Schuster, 2001); Samuel Eliot Morison, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, vol. 7, Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, June 1942-April 1944 (Boston: Little Brown, 1951); and Brinkley's Wheels. Also: Elmendorf Air Force Base, 11th Air Force (www.elmendorf.af.mil/llAF/webdocs/history.htm).
page 147, “shot the Seays while their hands were raised…”: “Justifiable Homicide Is Anderson's Plea in Killing,” Atlanta Constitution, 1941 (exact date unknown),
page 147, “stand up as free men and fight”: “FDR Warns Hitler,” Atlanta Journal, Sept. 1, 1941.
page 148, the Lloyd Seay Memorial Race…: “Full Field of 23 Cars to Race at Lakewood,” Atlanta Journal, Nov. 3, 1941.
page 149, In an awkward display…: Vogt's sons are C. Thomas and L. Jerome but went by the names Tom and Jerry,
page 151, “I hate the cold. Men are miserable, too”: Cavanaugh, Dauntless, 60.
page 154, “They couldn't bag us fast enough”: Samples, “Garhofa's Raymond Dawson Parks,” Pioneer Pages.
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nbsp; page 160, “the biggest challenge of my life”: Brinkley, Wheels, 459.
page 160, “Look out, Hitler. Here comes the flood!”: Ibid., 464.
page 161, a mix of “Daniel Boone and Henry Ford”: Ambrose, Wild Blue, 108.
page 161, “… exhausted every resource of mind and body…”: Ibid., 262.
page 161, “gaunt and majestic” landscape: Morison, History of U.S. Naval Operations, vol. 7, Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, 38.
page 162, “not smart enough to be afraid”: Ambrose, Wild Blue, 184.
page 162, “the flak was so thick you could walk on it”: Ibid., 161.
page 163, “hold the western Aleutians at all cost”: Morison, History of U.S. Naval Operations, vol. 7, Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, 18.
page 164, not a single U.S. plane was lost: Norman Bell, “Paramushiro Hit on Schedule,” Associated Press, Jan. 24, 1944.
page 165, one of the only U.S. planes damaged in that campaign: “Paramushiro Raids Put Japs on Spot,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb. 15, 1944.
10. “It's too late now to bring this crowd under control”
The first postwar race scene and all related quotes come from numerous articles and editorials in both the Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 2-5,1945, unless otherwise noted. Red Byron's victory at Daytona Beach in early 1946 is mostly from Greg Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1993), and Bernard Kahn, “Spins, Wrecks Chill Fans as Bob Byron Whizzes to Beach Race Victory,” Daytona Beach News Journal, Apr. 15, 1946.
page 168, always admired the Daniel Boone lifestyle: Tim McLaurin, Keeper of the Moon: A Southern Boyhood (New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1991), 244.
page 169, “the most intensely patriotic segment of the country”: James Webb, Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. (New York: Broadway Books, 2004), 328.
page 169, Henry blamed his son's “high flying lifestyle”: Douglas Brinkley, Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress (New York: Viking, 2003), 405.
page 170, “Beat Chevrolet”: Ibid., 506.
page 170, cars sold faster in the South: Louis Rubin, ed., The American South: Portrait of a Culture (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1980).
page 170, “worship of a newfound power—and freedom”: Jerry Bledsoe, The World's Number One, Fiat-Out, Ail-Time Great, Stock Car Racing Book (New York: Bantam Books, 1976), 43.
page 170, “rude, violent, uncouth, and proud of it…”: Pete Daniel, Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 117.
page 172, “bootlegger sweepstakes”: “5 Labor Day Lakewood Racers Possess Lengthy Police Records,” Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 2, 1945.
page 177, France even told the editor, Wilton Garrison: Brock Yates, “The Force: Bill France's Vision Made NASCAR the World's Premier Racing Organization,” Sports Illustrated Presents 50 Years of NASCAR, Jan. 28, 1998, 70.
page 177, “Who's going to be in this race of yours?”: Ibid,
page 177, “We're only interested in big races”: Leo Levine, Ford, the Dust and the Glory: A Racing History, 1901—1967 (Warrendale, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, 2001), 128.
page 178, Fonty Flock… rushed over and scooped brother Bob: Del Baggett, “Cracker Driver Is Race Winner Here,” Charlotte Observer, Oct. 28, 1945.
page 178, France planned… unveiling his own… sanctioning body: Yates, Sports Illustrated, 71; also Mike Hembree, NASCAR: The Definitive History (New York: Harper Entertainment/Tehabi Books, 2000).
page 186, “I realize I did some things that went against me”: Jack Troy, “All in the Game,” Atlanta Constitution, May 9, 1946.
page 186, “What, no sheets?” Hall complained: Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide, 86.
page 187, “Give that boy a set of tools…”: Jennings, “We Spectators.”
page 187, The next morning, he told Anne… they were going home: Interview with J. B. Day.
page 187, “I ain't going back there,” he said: Ibid,
page 188, Choking traffic jams forced police to turn away another five thousand: Greensboro News, July 5, 1946.
page 188, “That was the start of NASCAR”: Interview with J. B. Day.
page 191, “Atlanta produce dealer”: “Famous Racer Waives Extradition to Georgia,” Greensboro Record, Aug. 5, 1946.
page 191, charged Hall with abetting the “desperate criminal”: Ibid,
page 191, “Take care of your momma”: Interview with Ronnie Hall,
page 192, “I never raced a day in my life”: Eddie Samples, “Garhofa's Raymond Dawson Parks,” Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association's Pioneer Pages 5, no. 1 (Feb. 2002).
l1. Henry Ford is dead
Definitive, comprehensive information about all the racing organizations of the 1940s is hard to come by—no one kept track of such things. Information about these groups, their championships, and points systems comes from a variety of sources, including 1940s race programs, newspaper and magazine articles (especially Illustrated Speedway News and Speed Age), and the following: Kevin Conley, “NASCAR's New Track,” New Yorker, Nov. 2, 2004; Eddie Samples, “Garhofa's Raymond Dawson Parks,” Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association's Pioneer Pages 5, no. 1 (Feb. 2002); Brock Yates, “The Force: Bill France's Vision Made NASCAR the World's Premier Racing Organization,” Leigh Montville, “Dawsonville, U.S.A.,” and Ed Hinton, “The Legend: Lloyd Seay Was the Young Sport's Brightest Star until He Was Gunned Down”—all in Sports Illustrated Presents 50 Years of NASCAR, Jan. 28, 1998; and A Brief History of NASCAR (www.mindspring.com/~mike.wicks/nascarhistory.html). Information on Indy racing and open-wheel cars, unless otherwise noted, is from interviews with Dick Berggren and Chris Economacki; David Burgess-Wise's Ultimate Race Car (London; Dorling Kindersley, 1999); Brock W Yates's Against Death and Time: One Fatal Season in Racing's Glory Years (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2004). Details on Byron's attempt to qualify at Indy in 1947 were elusive. I found an article claiming that Byron was in fact struck by a bird. His wife, Nell, also says she remembers the incident. But the Indianapolis Star could find no articles about such an event, and none of Byron's peers could recall the alleged incident, so I reluctantly chose to include the bird story.
page 194, “Be careful, Red,” she'd say: “The Boss of the Beach; Racing's Red-Headed Huck Finn,” Speed Age, Mar. 1949.
page 196, Daytona's Beach-and-Road course: Interview with Buz McKim (written replies to questions from the author).
page 197, “The Contest Board is bitterly opposed…”: D. Randy Riggs, Flat-out Racing: An Insider's Look at the World of Stock Cars (New York: MetroBooks, Michael Friedman Publishing Group, 1995), 36.
page 198, “I gotta try something safer than moonshine”: Interview with Gordon Pirkle and David Sosebee.
page 199, In nearly every picture of the Flock brothers: Kim Chapin, Fast as White Lightning: The Story of Stock Car Racing (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998), 71.
pages 199-202, [Entire January 26 race]: Greg Fielden, High Speed at Low Tide (Surfside Beach, S.C.: Galfield Press, 1993), 88-90; and Bernard Kahn, “Red Byron Wins Auto Race at 77.4 MPH; 2 Spectators Hurt,” Daytona Beach News Journal, Jan. 28, 1947.
page 200, pit road: Burgess-Wise, Ultimate Race Car.
page 202, “a war injury that rendered his left leg almost useless”: “Byron Rated Tops in Race,” Associated Press, Mar. 6, 1947.
page 202, “filled with Jap shrapnel!”: Smith Barrier, “Three Stock Car Racers Grin at Sports Injuries,” Greensboro Daily News, Apr. 17, 1948.
page 204, [the dangers at Indy]: Yates, Against Death and Time, 30-50.
page 205, [Byron at Indy]: Interview with George Moore; “Speedy Stock Cars Fill Rain Date at Jacksonville,” June 1, 1947 (unknown Jacksonville newspaper); Smith Barrier, “It's a Racing Weekend—at Indianapolis, Too,” Greensboro Daily News, May 29, 1948.
page 208, [Henry Ford's death]:
Douglas Brinkley, Wheels for the World: HenryFord, His Company, and a Century of Progress (New York: Viking, 2003), 510-519.
page 209, Ford… reincarnation: Ibid., 6.
page 209, “Better drivers mean better races…”: Illustrated Speedway News, May 2, 1947.
page 210, “world's finest talent” and “nation's largest racing schedule”: Speed Age, various issues,
page 210, [France friendship with Kahn]: Leo Levine, Ford, the Dust and the Glory: A Racing History, 1901—1967 (Warrendale, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, 2001), 128.
page 212, “By establishing the national point ranking system…”: “France to Award Stock Car Drivers Trophies—Cash,” Illustrated Speedway News, May 2, 1947.
page 212, “the hottest rider in the stock car circuit”: “40 Car Field Expected for Feature Today,” May 11, 1947 (unknown Greenville newspaper).
page 213, “I saw you sideways and thought I could straighten you out”: Eddie Samples's 1996 interview with Jack Etheridge, shared with the author.
page 216, “the ultimate test of bravery”: Yates, Against Death and Time, 77.
page 217, “When that green flag goes down tomorrow…”: Eddie Samples's 2002 interview with Raymond Parks, shared with the author.
pages 217-218, [Langhorne race] and “Get in”: “Flock Wins Langhorne Race,” Speed Age, Oct. 1947; also various unknown newspapers.