Driving with the Devil a review and a wonderful look into Nascar’s past and true lineage
Driving with the Devil is an amazing book that lets you really envision what it was like to be around in the early, exciting days of NASCAR racing.
The book Driving with the Devil by Neal Thompson is a fascinating look at Nascar’s true and somewhat hidden past. I have to say the word hidden because for over 50 years Nascar has tried to hide it’s true heritage and lineage other than to say the sport started in 1948 with the start of Nascar by Big Bill France. That is far from the truth and fortunately now books like Driving with the Devil are clearing the air about Nascar and its true beginnings which go back as far as the first automobiles in the early 1900’s.
Bill France (aka Big Bill) deplored the original history and the whisky runners from the 1930’s and 40’s. He needed these guys back in the day to get Nascar off the ground but then he basically left them in the dirt as he crafted out what he wanted Nascar to be. Names of great racing legends like Lloyd Seay, Roy Hall and Red Byron along with the first big team owner Raymond Parks and mechanics like Red Vogt were forgotten or overlooked by many.
Their hand or part in the development or creation of Nascar and the sport of the south was crucial as it probably would never have happened or turned out like it did without them. They were every bit as important as Nascar founder Bill France’s role or maybe even more important. The racers back in the pre Nascar days raced without any safety equipment and little compensation when compared to the NASCAR drivers of today. Many died or were maimed in the sport and they should not be forgotten as these early days in stock car racing might just be the most interesting of all.
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Prohibition which was enacted from 1920 to 1933 probably did more to help create stock car racing and Nascar then anything except the invention of the automobile itself. In the south during these years most people were uneducated and poor. They didn’t have much of a chance to accumulate anything nice in life. Many southerners were born into extreme poverty, broken homes, etc…
But by getting involved in the illegal moonshine trade they found they could make a good or, as in Raymond Park’s case, a great living. Whether they were actually manning the stills and creating the corn liquor or driving it into the towns where most of the demand was, there was plenty of money to be had. Many southerners quickly found they could earn more money in one night of hauling illegal hooch then they could in a week or two of regular hard labor (and that was if they could even find legal work).
For many it was a no brainer. Then came the revenuers, the tax agents and police going after untaxed and illegal moonshine. They tried their best to catch the whisky runners through the dirt roads from places like Dawsonville to cities like Atlanta. It was mostly a game of cat and mouse with the revenuers playing catch up. When it came to some of these moonshine runners like Roy Hall and Lloyd Seay the police and tax agents found they were up against some of the best drivers around.
With their new found whisky money the moonshiners would all start tinkering with their cars to make them go faster and handle better. Mechanics that had the knowhow and could make these cars faster, more powerful and better able to outrun the police were highly sought after. Red Vogt was inarguably the best mechanic of these days. He was so well known for his abilities that even the police and revenuers sought him out – of course, they didn’t get his best work. Only the moonshine runners could afford the best and they got exactly what they paid for – speed.
It was inevitable that these whisky trippers or moonshiners or whatever you want to call them get together and brag or compete with one another as to who has the faster and better handling car. They would compare their vehicles on homemade dirt circles and tracks made out of corn fields or, as in Roy Hall’s case, on streets of town. Roy Hall was quite the character and he along with the Flock brothers had a great disdain for law enforcement and were always either taunting them or running from them. It was a good thing for them that the police and revenue agents of those days were more like a mix between the Three Stooges, the Dukes of Hazard (specifically Boss Hogg, Rosco, Cletus and Enos), Gomer Pyle and his cousin Goober.
Back in those days the whisky trippers would race in these cornfields and other places and if the law enforcement came, well, that was just more excitement. They would all take off and lose them in the dirt roads. Eventually some of this racing started making it to dirt tracks in places like Lakewood, Daytona, and others. These Moonshiners found they could make some extra cash racing and it was a lot of fun.
The early tracks were tough and full of chaos, wrecks and danger. Some were of just plain red clay dirt which packs well, but it creates a red fog or dust cloud really fast and soon gets to the point where no one can see and driving becomes completely unsafe. It was dangerous for both drivers and fans alike. Many drivers during the early years were killed or maimed along with many fans. But they kept coming back for the sheer exhilaration and adrenaline of this racing.
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And what really set this racing apart from the racing that was already going on in northern states was the fact that this was their racing. This was not the racing tracks and cars of rich oil barons, steel magnates and lawyers from up north. This was southern style racing. It was a sport that at the time any person with a car could have joined. Yes, most mechanics, like Red Vogt, were seriously tinkering with the performance of these cars, but it was still affordable when compared to today’s stock car races.
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