Cherokee Speedway

One of the great things about living in North Carolina is the racing heritage of the entire area – people simply live and breath racing here and I love it.

This is the home of NASCAR and for many of the locals racing is in their blood.

You cannot go more than a few miles without passing a race shop, racing themed bar or little dirt short track where locals go at it almost every Friday and Saturday night of the year.

I have admired the dirt-track guys from afar and on television, but an invitation to be involved in ‘Prelude to the Dream’ at Tony Stewart’s place at Eldora meant that I had to start getting my act together on clay.

Bob Straight from Stoney Point, South Carolina took the brave move and threw his hand up to supply my Late Model for Tony’s event, which takes place at Eldora Speedway each year and raises an amazing amount of money for charity – a cheque for US$1 million was written for the Victory Junction Gang Children’s Charity last year.

All proceeds from the HBO pay-per-view telecast this year benefit four charities - the Wounded Warrior Project, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Operation Homefront and Fisher House.

Cup drivers Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, Robby Gordon, David Reutimann, Bill Elliott, Dave Blaney, Aric Almirola, Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, David Stremme as well as team co-owner Ray Evernham have re-committed to the event.

Then there is me, who’s only experience with dirt was laying a few bricks as a laborer when I was a kid trying to get enough bucks together for my next ride.

I headed to Bob’s shop for a seat fitting and to meet some of his boys and they were keen to get me on track as soon as possible – so off to Cherokee Speedway at Gaffney it was.

The Cherokee Speedway celebrated its 50th anniversary a couple of years ago and marked the event by actually shortening the track from just over half a mile to 3/8th of a mile – its original length when it opened in 1957.

I am not sure how much has been done to the place since that opening night, but that does not stop the local fans from coming out in their hundreds each weekend to be covered in dirt and dust and to see some of the best racing there is to see.

Bob was excited that he was handing me a car with an engine that had apparently produced more horsepower on the dyno than any other before it - a whopping 875 horses!

If I was a little nervous before, then I certainly was when we finally cranked it over – man, that thing sounded cool.

I wasted no time hooking into it, but I can assure you that my eyes were the size of dinner plates at turn one and they just got bigger the more laps I did.

This is the most horsepower you are going to get in a modern age circuit car of any type and to think you are trying to get it all down on to a clay surface is just madness – but the boys seem to make it work. Me? – I have a bit of work to do.

While my first run was OK, I still have a long way to go to live up to some of the legends of the sport that cut a few laps at Cherokee.

Local and national heroes like Charlie Blanton, CL Pritchett, Paul Ghost, Buddy Baker, Cotton Owens, Richard Petty, Mike Duvall, Bill Morgan, Doug Osteen, Johnny Hightower, Fat Cat Robbs, Roger and Ronald Leagon, Doug Jones, Billy Scott, Butch Bowen, the Bullocks, 3 generations of Smiths Grassy, Freddy and Jeff, Preston Humphries, Stick Elliott, Toby Porter, Jason Keller, Jeff Purvis and Rodney Combs all apparently had a starts at Cherokee.

Cheokee Speedway is in Gaffney South Carolina, which was born in 1803 when Michael Garrney set up a store where two Indian trails crossed (the current intersection of U.S 29 and S.C 11).

The area grew on agriculture and textiles and after World War II cotton gave into peaches as the main industry.

In fact, The “Million Gallon Peach” water storage facility located at I-85 and the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway landmarks Gaffney on the South Carolina landscape.

I should have gotten a feeling for what was about to happen when we drove past the entrance and hanging on the wall was a sign that read – “The wildest, fastest, baddest short track in the South.”

It added “Where drivers are born and legends are made” – I think I have a few more laps to do!