Running moonshine... any good stories?

[Clik]

The 'shine is still flowin' down here in Southern Maryland but the cops are so geared up for drugs that a plastic jug of spring water doesn't even catch their eye. I don't drink or move product, so, I don't have to worry about 'em tailin' me.

[4 pedals]

My dad ran some in OK in the early 50's, was kindly greeted by some gentlemen in nice suits and asked to stop. Guess I oughta get more details from him these days. He's not so young anymore.

I live in Humboldt County, CA now, where pot is so common it's hardly a crime. I don't know any well, but have frequent dealings with people who make more in a year than I will in a lifetime.

Devin

[TagMan]

"I don't know any well, but have frequent dealings with people who make more in a year than I will in a lifetime."

Yeah, but you don't have to spend your lifetime looking over your shoulder - that's worth a lot!

[johnnie]

This was my cousin's runner from Caneyville K.Y. Still have the springs that
were in the back. Without any weight, it was like a solid suspension! Ain't
gonna say much more ( he still does it!).

[coletrickle]

to every body that posted stories thankyou very much been a great read,If anybody has relatives/freinds etc that may have stories like these don't let them dissapear it history and people like me on the otherside of the world have no idea what went/goes on!Again thanks hambers

[Woogeroo]

Raymond Parks:

North Georgia bootlegger/tripper

world war two vet

stock car race team owner

one of the founders of NASCAR



Sad News - Raymond Parks:

Raymond Parks 96, (born June 5, 1914) owner of Red Byron's car which won NASCAR's first Strictly Stock (now Sprint Cup) championship in 1949 passed away at his home this morning in Atlanta, GA.

Parks was the first child of Alfred and Leila Parks and great-great-nephew of settler Benny Parks, who found gold in the state of Georgia in the early nineteenth century. Born in Dawsonville, Georgia, Raymond was the oldest of his father's sixteen children, six of whom were born to Leila, and ten of whom were born to Leila's sister, Ila. Parks left home at age 14 and began driving moonshine. He served nine months of a one-year and one-day sentence in the federal penitentiary in Chillicothe, Ohio, from 1936 to 1937. Parks served in World War II during the famous Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. He served in the 99th Infantry Division and was briefly stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Most famous for being a moonshine runner who helped to start NASCAR, Parks was the car owner for moonshine runner and nephew Lloyd Seay. He won the first two ever NASCAR championships. Parks is the last living member of the group who created NASCAR at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1947. He was one of eight drivers inducted in the first class of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2002, along with his cousin Lloyd Seay, Byron, Tim Flock, and Bill Elliott. He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2009.

Parks, is honored at the NASCAR Hall of Fame with a life size statue and depiction of his old race shop where his chief mechanic Red Vogt, built his cars. Parks, car the #22 "Novelty Machine Co." driven by Red Byron leads the field of cars at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.(6-20-2010)


source : Jayksi's sad news page

A Eulogy of Raymond Parks, by Ed Hinton, a motorsports writer.

A eulogy for Mr. Parks on the Georgia Racing History site

[dirty old man]

For more on Mr. Raymond, whose hand I have had the honor of shaking more than once, and a wealth of info on GA and Southern Stock car racing, go here: http://georgiaracinghistory.com/
Dave

[Grifta32]

This may be a bit OT but here goes. I saw this as a kid at the drive-in outside Jackson, TN and again several years ago on A&E and never again.
Moonrunners, from 1975. I believe the Dukes of Hazzard was inspired by this flick.
I haven't been able to obtain a copy for love nor money. Anyone know a source for this film??

[Woogeroo]

Grifta32 - I saw that movie one night when they had a moonshine themed night on one of the old movie channels.

It isn't that good, tho' it does have some comedic moments like the Dukes show did. So it is watchable in a popcorn movie kinda way.

Almost all of the characters go straight to the dukes... in the movie the uncle jesse charecter was still making liquor. The boss hogg character had a slightly different name and wore black, instead of white. The cars, were just cars and they drove 'em crazy.

-W

[porknbeaner]

When I was young there was an awful lot of contraband carried all over the place but there wasn't much alcohol being hauled any more.

Originally Posted by 4t64rd

My buddy told me his story again, and while it it still fresh I thought I'd type it up for posterity.

My Buddy Don, said he used to run apple jack form Yakima to Seattle in his '56 Crown Victoria, 312, Paxton-McCulloch VR57 supercharger, T-85, homemade headers, one of the first sets of Michelin X radial tires, and a police speedometer. He said he had a tank made that was shaped like the rear seat, even had a little padding, that would hold 150 gallons. The back of the seat even had burlap and fake springs so that when he got pulled over, when they opened the trunk, it would look the part and they could poke at it and it would give. That was just one of the vehicles they used, it was his daily driver and it was about 1960.

He said he'd get filled up in Yakima and leave about 5 and get to Seattle about 8-8:30. Part of the reason he was able to get it through was that a sheriff of a small town in between was on the payroll, and got them a set of keys to the locks on the logging roads.

The police cars in 1960 had regular bias ply tires and, they would chase him, but he was able to go faster on wet roads with the radials and the blower than the cop cars. When he got far enough ahead, he would pull off onto a logging road, unlock the gate, drive through, and relock it, and be in thick trees before the cops could catch up to him. He's drop off the liquor in Seattle and they would wash the tank out. Apparently apple jack doesn't have a lot of smell to begin with (I wouldn't know, I've only had the stuff that smells like turpentine).

He and one of his cohorts also had a pair of dark green '56 Ford pickups, identical except one had a 8 inch thick false bottom in the bed were the tank was, they would drive the non-tanked to a halfway point a day or two before, then the tanked one a day or two later. When they got the the halfway point on a logging road, they would switch trucks and tags. If he was being chased, all the better, he would head back to Yakima in a clean truck, get himself pulled over and let them look over the truck and the search for apple jack was over. They would also switch tags and leave the clean truck around Yakima as the decoy. He never got caught for running the stuff. He got caught doing other things and was given a choice, jail or Army, but that's another story.

I read a story in a magazine a long while back about how running moonshine is how a lot of the early stock car drivers got started. CA may be the birthplace of hot rodding, but there were others building fast cars for reasons besides racing all over the country. I did a search for "moonshine" and there was a thread about the Moonshine Festival in GA, here's a link Moonshine Festival. I had the cable TV turned off, so I didn't see anything about the Discovery channel show.

Anybody else have more personal or relayed 'shine RUNNING (not drinking, stay on topic ) stories, or details or pictures of the cars?

[garacer]

The movie "MOONRUNNERS" is available often on ebay, as well as swap meets and car shows around the southeast. It was a terrible picture, but is pretty special because it is where the dukes of hazzard series came from. The stunts were done mainly by two local atlanta area racing hero's, Charlie mincey(legendary tripper) and mike head. Charlie was a legend on and off the track, with a career that began at age fourteen. Mike has won hundreds of races as well as the prestigous Alabama State Championship, The North/South 100, and many series championships, and many track championships. Charlie has won hundreds of races as well. The 1955 chevy number 54 used in the movie belonged to mike and the brief racing footage was filmed at the West Atlanta Speedway in douglasville, georgia. James Mitchum came down and was grand marshall at last year's Moonshine Festival in Dawsonville, ga. He is
a nice guy and not bashful about sampling the red eye!

[nofin]

Back just after WWII ended my grandfather was Regimental Sergeant Major of a Hospital building unit in Borneo (They built the hospitals for POWs to recover in before shipping back to Australia) and he was called in by the CO because the CO had evidence that someone was running a still at the camp and he wanted the culprit found. So my grandfather sold his still to the engineer corps.

[4t64rd]

I can't believe this thread is still going almost 5 years...

Weird thing is my GF is taking an "Organized Crime in America" college course, this semester and this thread will come in handy for her term paper... she's chosen transportation in organized crime as the subject... Bonnie and Clyde's Ford, Ridgerunners, motorcycles, cars with large trunks, the Interstate's role in modern drug operation locations and transportation, etc... And of course the most dangerous of all criminals Snowman and the Bandit... I wouldn't cross the street for Coors, let alone Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.

[ALEISTER]

Years ago I was told a story by a drywall guy named Bill Noblett bout running shine with Junior Johnson when they got busted. Bill said he had gotten his draft notice and proceeded on down to enlist, hoping to get past going to prison. He said when he wound up in court, the judge told him that he could either serve his country, or go down to Georgia and make little rocks out of big rocks. He informed the judge he was enlisted and scheduled to ship out within the next few weeks. The judge proceeded to dismiss the charges. Following Bill's case Junior entered the courtroom and the judge offered him the same options, serve or go to Georgia to bust up rocks. Junior went down to Georgia and the rest is history. That's the story as I heard it, don't know if its 100% fact or not, but it makes a great tale.

[Atwater Mike]

In the early '60s, I drove truck long haul, coast-to-coast. I had moved to Edmond, Okla., and on my days home would look for wrecking yards. There was an old gent just outside town, and he had a black '56 Ford Victoria, all there...I asked about it, and he told a tale of speed, income tax & revenuer evasion, and all the rest.
The '56 was a factory 312, ("M6RV") toploader stick, O.D. There was a tank in the front part of the trunk, which was cut into part of the rear seat. After much haggling, I bought the car, but he cautioned me: "If them Federal Bulls see this car, they'll be a-huntin' ya..." I took it home, then we went back on the road. Never did get it finished, sold it to a kid.

[Bigcheese327]

I just picked up Whiskey River by Loren D. Estleman. I haven’t started it yet, but I can tell you it’s about Prohibition-era Detroit; so there’s likely to be old cars running around hauling alcohol - albeit Canadian whiskey, not moonshine.

Several acquaintances from the Metro area have told me about encountering rusted automobile parts in the Detroit River and on the bottom of Lake St. Clair. Speculation has it that these are a result of rum runners going through the ice.

-Dave

[rixrex]

My shine gets run from from the backyard to the porch and/or the weeds depending on how it tastes...

[Castr8r]

No moonshine runner from me, but a coupla short stories about some locals here in central Illannoys.
Abiut 25 years ago, there was a guy arrested at his still hidden in a big brush pile that he'd been useing for 10-15 years. His wife said that on Saturdays he'd say "I'm going to go burn some brush" and be gone all day.
I used to help my youngest brother with farming. One day, the hitch on the plow broke, so we loaded it up and took it to the local fixit guy, Edmund- who also made his own "cough medicine" ( he and his wife were "sick" a lot). After gtting the broke part welded up, he offered us a "taste". He laughed his skinny ol' ass off at my chokin', coughin', sputterin' reaction, then offered us a sample out of another jug that was smooth as silk with a pleasant glow in yer tummy that just warmed the cockles of yer heart. Good Stuff!! He said that he kept the rotgut around for the freeloaders that dropped by all too frequently for a free shot. Copper prices got pretty out of sight about 15-20 years ago, and some lowlife stole his still. He called up a friend- Federal court judge- and told him he wouldn't be able to get his Xmas present this year, and why. They had a guy in for moonshining and had his still for evidence, and Edmund got the use of the still until it was needed in court. They had to let the 'shiner go for lack of evidence... Edmund would throw some big parties several times a year for friends in high places that included several judges, lawyers, etc. The 4th of July party started with the launching of an anvil about 8:00 in the morning- I remember hearing it when I was a kid living on a farm two miles North of his place.

[olcurmdgeon]

I really have enjoyed reading this thread. Some years ago I visited the NC Motorsports Museum and watched a great video on moonshine runners and the beginnings of NASCAR.
Somewhat of a tangent on the topic, my father was born and raised in Johnson City, TN. I can remember that the country was dry in the 1950's and that the Yellow Cab company distributed shine in mason jars wrapped in a brown paper bag. You called the cab company and give some sort of coded message and a cab would deliver the bag to you front door. My grandfather lived to almost 100, and every night a supper he had a water tumbler half full of shine and the rest water. Maybe that was the secret? Last day of his life he walked from West Maple downtown to buy a cigar and a paper, sharp as a tack.
My Uncle Milt was a wood lot buyer for Harris Flooring. His job was to estimate wood lot quantity and quality before Harris bought them. He used to regale us with stories of stumbling on stills in the wood lots and being held at gun point, forced to stoke the fire, until the still operator could check out his story of being a timber buyer.Good Appalachian people, good whiskey, from corn and spring water.
Unfortunately I grew up in NY, upstate where they made shine and used auto radiators as condensors, leaving lead levels that killed people in the finished product. No sense of quality or pride in their work.

[historynw]

I don't know much about running it...but I've sipped it on more than a few occasions. Cutting it a little helps on those long nights of imbibing.