RaceBud

At first, it seemed a little iffy. The cars were sliding back and forth on the dirt road, barely missing the ditches. But once he felt the big Buick get traction on the paved county road, Joe didn’t need the rear view mirror to know he was pulling away from the cops. The siren didn’t last long as he quickly outdistanced the flashing light.

Once more, the moonshine is delivered on time – and the revenuers will have to wait for another opportunity to catch Joe delivering his goods.

Meanwhile, patrons of the southeast Missouri gin joints raise another glass in toast to the legislators who thought governing the nation’s morality by prohibition was their Bible Belt obligation to the nation.

Bootlegging illegal whiskey helped Joe make the money he needed to keep food on the table and gas in the tank. It didn’t make him rich, but he was independent. He did the engine work on the Buick himself and beefed-up the suspension to haul its illegal payload. He knew he’d outrun the cops, but he wasn’t so sure about his neighbor Leonard – he ran ‘shine, too.

Leonard’s car was a Lincoln, also modified for carrying a load and outrunning the law. Occasionally, they came upon one another out on the road and, inevitably, they raced. The races were for fun and braggin’ rights, but they raced to win, all the same. Other bootleggers were racing, too. Ultimately, they gathered and raced for prizes, providing a new form of entertainment to their spectators.

The 18th Amendment was not intended to create stock car racing any more than it was meant to create the moonshine business. But it did both. It took a special kind of driver to load a car with whiskey and head out to race against the law. That’s the same kind of driver it took to let it all hang out and go for the win at a local racetrack.

In 1933 the 21st Amendment passed. And with it, the national thirst for moonshine passed, too. As for racing:

• The need for speed grew, particularly in the southeast. A willing audience would pay to watch the hot-shoes and their overpowered cars compete for the purse;
• Race promoters took to disappearing while the races were running, leaving the winner with nothing more than a kiss from the track sweetheart and, maybe a trophy;
• In 1948 Big Bill France held the famous driver meeting that set the foundation for the organization known today as NASCAR;
• NASCAR’s success story includes:
  • Fortune 500 sponsors, multi-million dollar sponsorships,
  • A fan base second only to the NFL,
  • The largest sporting venues in the country, consistently sold out,
  • International audience
  • Races in Japan, Mexico and Canada
  • Multi-billion dollar industry

And what about Joe? Was he busted? Did he go on to race stock cars? No, neither.

Joseph T. Allison went back to the water-well drilling business in southeast Missouri. He always drove a big Buick, and he usually drove fast. A big, somber fellow whose smile was reserved for the people and things he really cared about most.

As his grandson, it was my good fortune to be on the receiving end of some of those smiles. But, family being what family is, I didn’t spend a lot of time with Joe. All the same, I sometimes feel a twisted sense of pride as the son of the son of a bootlegger.

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