Memories of moonshine and motorsports

As we scream down Bootlegger’s Highway at full throttle – this 1961 New Yorker can still fly– I imagine the legendary Willie Clay Call behind the wheel and on a mission to get his moonshine to its destination.

Riding shotgun, with Call’s son Brian at the wheel, I am getting a taste of days gone by when Wilkes County, North Carolina was the moonshine capital and bootleggers ruled the road.  

“It still runs good but with big cars like this it takes a little longer to slow down,” says Call as he calmly pumps the brakes. We are closing in on a truck that pulled out in front of us and I frantically look around for one of those “hang on for dear life” handles to grip on to. We manage to slow down in time and my heart races a bit. 

Instead of anxiety I feel exhilarated as I listen to the engine roar. So this is what it was like for the bootleggers! Well not quite. We weren’t dodging bullets or being chased by police. For many, moonshine was a way to pay the bills, given there were few other ways to make a living at the time.  

According to author Alex Gabbard in his book, Return to Thunder Road, Wilkes County laid claim to being the moonshine capital of the world in the 40s and 50s. When Holly Farms brought chicken farming into the Western Carolina Mountain area, it created jobs and the moonshining business declined.

While Willie Clay Call has since passed away, he is featured prominently in the book and known to make some of the best moonshine in the county. The New Yorker was one of his favorite cars for moving the product.

“He fooled the police a lot because it looked like a fancy businessman’s car so they didn’t suspect anything,” say Brian Call who now owns the vehicle (the bullet holes have been painted over – so he didn’t fool them all the time).

He and Brad Call (grandson of Willie Clay’s brother) are now taking the family business legit with their own craft spirits distillery located Wilkes County, a short drive from Bootleggers Highway – the road named for its frequent use by moonshiners.

“It was really a dream of mine,” says Brian, who insists he will be staying true to the roots of traditional steam distillation that he learned from his dad. In fact, the spirits business runs much deeper – they are descendants of Dan Call who they say taught Jack Daniels how to make whiskey.

Call Family Distillers is set to open in March 2015 and visitors can enjoy tours from Brian, Brad and other family members and taste some “Willie Clay Call’s Uncatchable Moonshine” including a number of fruit flavored secret recipes. www.callfamilydistillers.com

“We are definitely going to be hands on,” he says. 

As a novice to motor sport racing, I had no idea that moonshine and motorsports were so closely connected. But of course, it makes sense – the guys with the fast cars were the bootleggers. And the money from moonshine paid for faster cars.

NASCAR racing legend Junior Johnson is one example of someone who went from moonshine to driving race cars. 

And the transformation from moonshine to motorsports has been incredible. Less than two hours down the road in Concord, NC, the roaring sounds of engines and smell of rubber draw thousands to the Charlotte Motor Speedway for NASCAR. The complex encompasses nearly 2,000 acres and became the first modern superspeedway to host night racing in 1992.

Regardless of whether you have any interest in racing, the pure energy of the event combined with some of the friendliest fans make it well worth checking out. Fans give new meaning to the term “tailgating” as they camp out well in advance to celebrate with like-minded individuals.

“I just love the smell of tires,” says Tami Evans of Charleston, South Carolina. She and her husband have been life-long fans of racing and love the social side of the sport as well as hanging out track side.

While earplugs are a must, you also have the option to pick up earphones and a scanner – something I jumped on. I could block out the engines and instead hear conversations of drivers and the pit crew. I couldn’t imagine any other sport that let’s you do that.

But it gets better. With the proper tickets you can get right into pit road. As we prepped for the driver introductions, I was on a mission to photograph some of the drivers up close and personal. In particular, I was on the hunt for Dale Earnhardt Jr. He had just celebrated his 40th birthday the day previous.

Julie Hinson of the Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau was not going to let me down. While others crowded around the stage for driver introductions, we staked out the entrance area near one of the driver pits.

One by one the driver’s walked right under my nose and I had close up shots of several of the top drivers. But alas, no Dale.

We decide to make our way back to our viewing area when we get caught in the commotion of a crowd leaving the stage. I hear Hinson whisper to me. “It’s Dale!”

I turn and like a slow motion dive in a football game, I fly across the path of Earnhardt clicking my camera in the process. Victorious, I immediately tweet out a perfect close-up photo of the home town favorite just minutes before the race begins.

This area lives and breathes racing and it makes sure fans get the most out of their visit. The Charlotte Motor Speedway   Race Shop Tour took us to various nearby race shops such as Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Hass Racing where you can buy memorabilia, check out some cool cars and even buy the“nose’ of a race car. The nose is the front panel of the car.  

Grahame Kavanagh of New York emerged from his tour bus with his gigantic “nose” held high above his head like he had just won a race himself. He sent a text to his wife with a picture to which she responded “WHY?” But his NASCAR buddies understood. In fact, two others were loading up on tires that had been used on race cars. I’d like to see the look on their spouses’ faces when they get home.

One of my favorite stops was Curb Museum for Music and Motorsports, owned by record executive Mike Curb. His label has represented such stars at Tim McGraw and Willie Nelson. Not only does he have on display cars from the top racers but he also has some collectibles from country stars including LeAnn Rimes first car. The museum is located in the city of Kannapolis, Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s home town – another excellent stop for his fans. A larger than life statute of him is the centerpiece of the Dale Earnhardt tribute site.

The slogan Where Racing Lives does really fit as everything a race car fan could want is a short drive away.

There are also a number of hotels near the track but for families the absolute top pick should be the Great Wolf Lodge which was packed on this weekend and has the largest indoor water park in the Carolinas. And of course if a break from the track is needed, Concord’s factory outlet mall will not disappoint with 200 shops. The entire area has many quaint shops and museums. www.VisitCabarrus.com

The beautiful city of Charlotte is only about 20 minutes away from Concord. I stayed at the historic Dunhill Hotel which is a charming and comfortable hotel with a central location and super friendly front desk staff. www.dunhillhotel.com

Another bonus is the hotel’s restaurant Asbury which features farm fresh fare and now has the bragging rights to having lured one of its city’s top chefs Chris Coleman.

Coleman says the restaurant is very committed to locally grown and sourced items and is a dream for any young chef. He describes the restaurant as a place to make memories and connections around the table.

“We want our guests to connect – to create a dining experience that is something more than just refueling,” said Coleman.

The cozy intimate style led a stranger to embrace that concept and invited me to join him so we both wouldn’t be dining alone.

The downtown location of the Dunhill also means it is close to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, a definite must for any race fan. If you can track down historian Buzz McKim you are in luck. He seems to know everything there is to know about racing and can tell you inside stories about all the incredible vehicles, clothes and other personal items that the Hall of Fame managed to obtain from race car drivers and their families.

Perhaps the best part is the chance to take a simulated drive on a NASCAR track. It’s a bit scary because it is so real but once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. (Buzz did help me and was kind enough not to laugh when my shoe fell off and got caught under the brake).  I’m thinking a career in racing might not be in the future. 

Sherri Haigh is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer. Follow Sherri @fishinggal30 

Flight, meals and accommodations provided by Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, Call Family Distillers, Great Wolf Lodge in Concord and Dunhill Hotel and Asbury Restaurant in Charlotte.