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Back to the Charlotte race – Flock sat shiner who claimed he used to seek out face,” in which, if the Alcohol Tax agents
on the pole for NASCAR’s first race, but the sheriff just to get in a chase. He went had a roadblock up for you or were too
he failed to win (he would win twice that on to win the NASCAR National Modified close behind, you threw the car into
first season). Instead, Jim Roper and his Championship in 1949. second gear, cocked the wheel, stepped
34 car took the win in NASCAR’s first on the accelerator and made the car’s
dance. It was the only race he ever won. Moonshining’s biggest contribution to rear end skid around in a complete
He had reportedly heard about the race NASCAR is giving the sport an early 180-degree arc, a complete about-face,
by reading the newspaper. collection of great drivers and great per- and tore on back up the road exactly the
sonalities. Those personalities endeared way you came from. God! The alcohol
Complicating the first showdown is themselves to fans, and the mega-sen- tax agents used to burn over Junior
the fact that Roper’s 34 car was not sation was born. Johnson.”
the first across the finish line when the
checkered flag dropped. That distinction North Wilkesboro is considered the birth- So that’s how it began.
belongs to Glenn Dunaway who failed place of the sport. It gave us moonshine
inspection. He won the race by what and Junior Johnson, and their stories Alcohol Tax agents. Copper stills. Outlaws.
would be considered an unimaginable linger in Appalachia like a morning dew
margin now-a-days. He was three laps in springtime. Sadly, North Wilkesboro motor speed-
ahead of Roper because nearly every way sits empty now. Lingering behind is
driver’s car was overheating. Johnson owes much of his legend to the the old scoring tower and the red Win-
1965 Esquire story that dubbed him the ston Cup paint. It still feels quaint. There
Dunaway tried to sue France and last American hero. Author Tom Wolfe are ghosts there, but it’s not haunted.
NASCAR for disqualifying him, but lost wrote, “The legend of Junior Johnson! In Instead, those ghosts are the images
the case, giving NASCAR legal precedent this legend, here is a country boy, Junior of Junior Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, and
to preside over its own races. Johnson, one of the biggest copper still legend after legend.
operators of all times… It was Junior
Another Flock brother, Fonty, finished Johnson specifically, however, who was The speedway represents a different era
second in the race. Flock was a moon- famous for the “bootleg turn” or “about- of NASCAR. A simpler time when things
moved slower – and I do not mean just
the cars. The billion-dollar industry got
too big for North Wilkesboro, and it’s
sad, really. You look at the pavement,
and it seems – however old – that cars
could still make it around.

A man named Bruton Smith owns the
North Wilkesboro track. It’s hard to
imagine it could be safe enough, feasi-
ble enough and reasonable enough for
NASCAR to ever run a race there again.
Fees are just too high for single man
owning a small track that now lives in the
shadow of Bristol.

But visit sometime. If you listen hard
enough, you may hear the subtle sound
of a thumper and condenser running, the
ghosts of the ole Flock brothers firing up
a still. It’s almost enough to make even
the least sappy among us, feel nostalgic.

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