On the Moonshiners Trail…

I just got back from a research trip deep in North Carolina, and came back with a different perspective and new appreciation for hot rod history in the south. After walking the paths of old forgotten race tracks, and spending some quality time with “former” bootleggers and post-war stock car racers in the South, one thing is clear; These humble mountain hot rodders loved raw speed, mechanical ingenuity and the smell of gasoline as much as any left-coast city-slicker running at the dry lakes or Bonneville. Many of these guys little or no money to fix their jalopies up with “catalog parts”, but they made do with hand-built manifolds, modified suspension, and smart ways to coax power out of their Flatheads. Their ’39 or ’40 Fords had to run double duty running moonshine (which usually meant running from the law), and running the local dirt tracks on Saturday night. You know how to run your car fast when you have to literally run for your life every week. As Junior Johnson once said, “Moonshiners put more time, energy, thought, and love into their cars than any racer ever will. Lose on the track and you go home. Lose with a load of whiskey and you go to jail.�?

I’ll share more learning from my trip in the days to come, but for now, raise a jug of White Lightning to the hot rod pioneers from south of the Mason-Dixon…