The Big One at Phenix City

   A couple of roll-over crashes at Senoia Raceway last Saturday night got me to wondering what role wrecks play in attracting fans to race tracks.

 While no one wants to see anyone get hurt or killed, TV networks and racing promoters often use replays of the “Big One” crashes at Daytona and Talladega to promote upcoming races at those tracks.

Personally, I don’t care for the Big Ones. I’m not particularly close to many of the drivers as I once was, but it’s different when you know the drivers involved on a personal basis. I consider Ryan Newman a pretty close friend, and I was sickened to see his crash at Daytona in 2020.

 Last Saturday at Senoia, I saw my friends Jody Knowles and John Wayne Harbin flip their cars in separate incidents. Both wound up being OK, but it is unsettling when someone whose phone number is stored in your phone is upside down in a race car.

But I also heard a story Saturday night back in the day that made me want to write about a big roll-over wreck.

David “Gracie” Thompson, a former Senoia racer who I’ve often said is like Fonzie on Happy Days to my generation, was there visiting with the folks watching from trackside.

Jennifer Couch Graham, who does more on her own dime to promote dirt racing than many who are paid to do so, was making her rounds, taking pictures that she would post on her Jennifer’s Dirt Life Live Facebook page, where they could be seen by her 9,000 followers.

She, of course knew of Gracie, but didn’t recognize him.

After Marvin Williams told her who he was, the two of them were recounting a story from May of 1973.

Seven days after Jennifer was born, she and her mom had just gotten home from the hospital. She was born by C-section, thus the long stay.

Her father, the late Ray Couch, at that time was sharing a race car with Sammy Cooper, who was unable to drive that Saturday night. Ray somehow managed to get a “kitchen pass” to race that night at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City.

There was one condition. He had to get someone to make the trip with him.

No problem. He simply stopped by Fayetteville’s racing central at that time, Williams Body Shop, which was then on the corner of Highway 85 and Georgia Avenue in Fayetteville.

Gracie, who raced a car with Marvin “Booga” Williams at the time, was there and said he didn’t have anything planned, so he hopped in the truck and off to Phenix City they went.

During the race, Couch tumbled out of the track. (There’s no outside wall around much of the track.)

 “As Ricky Williams would say, ‘he went out of the arena,’” Gracie said. The battery, strapped in the back seat of Couch’s car, became dislodged and bounced around in the cockpit, spraying him with battery acid.

Gracie recalled how he had to load up the wrecked race car and go find the local emergency room so he fetch his driver and head home.

Jennifer recalled the side of the story from the home front.

“They called mama from the hospital, and she said: ‘I knew you should’ve stayed home. I’m here with a newborn baby,’” she said. “He made the newspaper. We still have the newspaper clipping.”

After Jennifer left, Gracie told another story about Couch and their time racing together.

In a race at West Atlanta Raceway in Douglasville, Couch and Mackey Motes were racing door-to-door for the lead, which allowed Gracie and Buddy Morris to close on them as the checkered flag was about to wave.

With no room to make a clean pass, Gracie did the next best thing. “I put the bumper to (Couch) and shoved him,” he said. “He won, Mackey finished second and I was third.”

I have a feeling that long after I’ve forgotten everything else that happened Saturday night, I’ll still remember those two tales.

See y’all at the races.

(David "Gracie" Thompson & Rick - photo cred: Jennifer Graham)