Racing Friends

 The 25th annual Inman Farm Heritage Days, held each year on our family farm, wrapped up last Sunday.

 By most all accounts, it was one of the best, if not the best, Heritage Days yet.

 Like most everything else in my life, Inman Farm Heritage Days has strong ties to the racing community.

 As we get back to Senoia Raceway after a few weeks off and take in the Michael Head Jr. Memorial Southern All Stars race, I can’t help but think of the death of young Michael Head and how it’s related to Inman Farm Heritage Days.

 Back on a Sunday in April of 1997, on Joanne’s birthday, she and I were picking up rocks, by hand, on what would become our showgrounds in a few months. (Some birthday celebration, right?)

 My pager went off. It was Carolyn Head calling. I immediately called her back. In a calm, measured voice she informed me that her son had been killed.

 Joanne and I can take you to within a few feet of exactly where we were standing when we got that call.

  Carolyn and Mike Head and their family obviously took that death hard. It also led to a change in Mike. He spent his remaining years sharing the Gospel.

 As long as he and Carolyn were able, they attended our shows, usually making sure to be here for the Sunday morning worship services.

 Others from the racing world have been a big part of our show, which is put on by a large volunteer crew.

 Tommy Hicks, a former driver and crew chief at Senoia, works daily for weeks preparing for the show and helping run numerous exhibits once the gates open.

 Former Senoia driver Chad Caldwell and his family bring a fleet of rare antique crawlers, tractors, trucks and a steam roller to the show each year.

Cheryl and Glenn Morris have made dozens of signs for our exhibits. Roscoe Smith builds carburetors for our old engines and has attended most of our 25 shows.

 Senoia regular John Puckett runs our oil field engines in addition to exhibiting his own equipment.

 Hotshot racer Charlie Oxenford and his dad Chuck display their old Ford tractors. Christopher Peeples, who runs our grist mill, is the son of Danny and Ruth Peeples, who were active participants when Senoia was an asphalt track.

 The Williams clan from Fayetteville pitch in to help. David Adams, a one-time driver, cooks barbecue and advertises in our program.

 Georgia Hall of Fame racer Ronnie Sanders installed most of the plumbing on the show grounds.

 Andy Cash, who raced at Senoia on both dirt and asphalt, arranges the fly-overs for our opening ceremonies and brings exhibits.

 Senoia tech man Hal Fowler helped us move in an antique lathe. The Pollards, advertisers as well, furnish dumpsters and toilets. Ron Johnson, former Senoia racer, advertises heavily in our souvenir programs as well.

 Marc Leath participates as a vendor. Olivia Gentry has exhibited her Great Race rides in the past. Her uncle and fellow racer Jerry Knowles brings immaculate road tractors to all of our shows as well as supporting our souvenir program and making financial contributions.

 Steve “the Duze” Dluzniewki, a long-time NASCAR crew member and a winning crew chief in the old Hooters Pro Cup Series, drives down from Charlotte each year in an antique car or wrecker and performs the National Anthem on his saxophone.

 He's accompanied by John Denniston, a former Modified racer who regularly operates his classic wreckers at short tracks from Florida to the Northeast.

  Senoia driver Morgan Alexander and his family have been big supporters over the years, as have Matt Dooley and his family. Matt’s crewmembers Daniel and Bailey Moss are among our most active tractor exhibitors. Daniel’s parents Kevin and Donna Moss play big roles here as well.

 Robert Akin, who has helped the show since the beginning, rarely misses a race at Senoia.

 Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Garry Dingler and his late brother John have exhibited their family tractor here, as has former Senoia driver Keith Fields.

 NASCAR Hall of Famer Rex White was a fixture here as long as he was able. For years, NASCAR VP Mike Helton has loaned us his people mover.

 Many others, like Senoia flagman Eric Spencer and his wife Rhonda, who works in the ticket booth, attend, as does another gate worker, Wayne Lauzon. Former Senoia driver Paul Gibson and his wife Diane drove over from Alabama for this past weekend. Bill Frye, the dirt racer from Arkansas, has driven a steel-wheel tractor in our parade. The late Sammy Duke, owner of West Ga. Speedway, was a regular attendee.

 Former Senoia racer, David “Gracie” Thompson attends the show regularly. And this year it was good to see Martha Phillips Daniel, whose brother Arthur Lyle “Fatso” Phillips was killed at Zebulon Speedway, yet she remains a racing fan.

 There are countless others. If I left you out, I hope you’ll forgive me. It’s been a busy couple of months.

 I’m looking forward to some good racing on a new surface Saturday night. I hope y’all are too.



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