dway@heraldsun.com
HILLSBOROUGH -- Standing at the front of the tractor-drawn tram in a pose reminiscent of George Washington crossing the Delaware, Charles Lankford stretched out his arm and pointed at the thick vegetation creating a border to the curving dirt road.
"This is Turn No. 1. Richard Petty used to say there was a rock right here and if he hit that rock it would shoot him into Turn 2. And they call it the Petty Rock," Lankford told the dozen folks on his guided tour of the Historic Occoneechee Speedway off Elizabeth Brady Road on Saturday.
The history lesson was part of the 3rd annual 2009 Occoneechee-Orange Speedway Celebration of the Automobile Car Show and Racers Reunion.
Lankford, an Efland resident, was one of many volunteers on the trams, which resembled the workers on an ant pile as they criss-crossed the woods where NASCAR's pioneers once roared to the cheers of the crowd more than four decades ago.
When not orating a historical script about what is now the last of the three NASCAR tracks in the country from the inaugural 1948 season, Lankford recounted his personal history with the track to those sitting near him.
"People would come from every which way" to see the races, he said.
"I came out once or maybe twice a month, but we had to climb a tree because we couldn't afford it," he said of the admission price to the races and the elevated roost on the other side of the Eno River where all the action could be seen on the back stretch. "I wasn't but 12 years old."
He admits he was breaking the rules.
"My daddy used to tell us, 'Don't you go to that race track.' We were supposed to be pulling tobacco. That was the only way we had to make money," Lankford said.
Gene Hobby of Apex, who ran 35 Grand National cup races from 1964-66, and had five Top 10 finishes, remembers the old Hillsborough track well.
"The straightaways were about 100 miles per hour, maybe 125," he said. "The turns were like washboards. It's dirt, so it got real wavy" from the spinning tires propelling the metal beasts around and around.
"There were as many people in the trees in the back stretch as there was in the grandstands," Hobby said. "It was a tough track, but it was a fast track."
And running on the dirt tracks posed risky challenges for the drivers in an era where makeshift innovation preceded high-tech.
Hobby recalls using a handkerchief pulled up over his face, bandit-style, to keep from breathing in the clouds of dust. Double metal screens were installed on the grill to protect the radiators from showers of flying grit and gravel. And then there was the shaker screen - empty oil cans placed between the metal screens to bounce around and shake off the accumulating mud.
Those sorts of tricks honed in the pioneering purity of the sport is why Ronnie McRae of Denton believes the independent drivers who raced in NASCAR were superior to today's celebrities.
"Racers today, they couldn't hold a candle to these guys," said McRae, who was having an off day selling racing memorabilia from a table laden with his posters, vintage souvenir booklets and trading cards.
"I've been going to races since probably late '59," he said. "I wouldn't get out of the electric chair to go to a race today."
Billy Biscoe, who started racing in 1965 at the age of 15 and later worked in the crews of Richard Petty and Junior Johnson, now restores vintage cars. But he said that's similar to what drivers did back in the early days.
"These cars were built in the garage, in the gas station, in the barn and in the chicken coop," Biscoe said. "You could build a car for $700 and race it and be competitive."
He pulls a photo out of a bulging album that depicts his car barreling down the track while another spins off the track.
"I knocked the sh-- out of some Chevrolet," he said, grinning but insisting he and the other driver are friends today.
Reminiscing over his years in the business and who he looks up to, he said, "Lee Petty was probably the most influential as far as knowledge. As far as paying, I'd say Junior Johnson paid the most and gave the most freedom" for developing ideas.
"If you would do something and it was illegal, all you had to do was tell him and he'd get it through inspection. That has to do with the politics of racing," Biscoe said.
While discussions around memorabilia tables and the 300-plus classic cars swirled around torque, rods and pistons, speed and debates over the greats of the sport, Frank Craig said he was pleased with the 4,000 people who showed up on Saturday.
Craig, president of the Historic Speedway Group sponsoring the weekend events, said the day's highlight, for him, was honoring Gene Hobby.
"He is the epitome of the independent driver who came up without a sponsorship," Craig said.
Money raised from this weekend's event, which continues today, will help to continue restoring the old track.
"Our next goal is to build a concession stand/press box," Craig said. "Our long-term goal is to build a museum to recognize the drivers and the people who were involved" in the sport's infancy.
