Latest / Tigs Bits Podcast / NASCAR Legends, Cheaters & That Jeff Gordon Moment!

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NASCAR Legends, Cheaters & That Jeff Gordon Moment! · Tigs Bits Podcast

• 0:08
  From the Magic City of Birmingham, AL to North Carolina
• 0:11
  back to South Alabama, chasing that checkered flag and now with
• 0:16
  with taking over the spot. His best hair on this podcast,
• 0:20
  My brother. He's got you edged out Blasey.
• 0:24
  I totally agree. Absolutely.
• 0:25
  I'm kind of jealous. It's my new buddy.
• 0:28
  Beautiful locker. Here, But you know, and I meet
• 0:29
  people, most people I've ever brought on here as guests I've
• 0:32
  met in the through music. And this is similar, but not it
• 0:35
  was a whole different route and we'll get into that later.
• 0:37
  But my new buddy and one of my favorite new friends I've met in
• 0:39
  the last I don't know how long. Mr. Hutt Strickland.
• 0:42
  How are you, Hutt? Good Jr.
• 0:43
  How are you doing? I just knew after we met, I said
• 0:46
  I got to get Hutt on the podcast.
• 0:47
  So thank you for joining us. You know, I know, I know
• 0:52
  everyone's heard you on the Dale Junior podcast and that was a is
• 0:55
  a excellent podcast. I mean, that is a great, just a
• 0:58
  great podcast. And he and I still think you're
• 1:00
  the better of the eights out of that bunch.
• 1:02
  But but so we won't, we won't go down that same road and and make
• 1:07
  you relive your life story again.
• 1:09
  But, and, and like you and I talked about, it's funny, when
• 1:12
  you talk to people who do a lot of interviews, you really only
• 1:15
  get 5 or 6 answers out of them. No matter how you spin it, it
• 1:18
  all goes back the same questions, you get the same
• 1:20
  answer. So we won't go into all that,
• 1:23
  but we'll give a brief 1 if you don't mind.
• 1:25
  Like I mentioned, you're from the Birmingham area originally.
• 1:28
  If you give us a little breakdown, how a little boy that
• 1:31
  grew up in Birmingham and you know, hard working family, love
• 1:35
  race cars, end up living out his dream and becoming a
• 1:38
  professional NASCAR driver for years.
• 1:42
  Yeah. And then end up probably living
• 1:44
  out some of your dreams you made along the way and going into
• 1:47
  being a crew chief and owning a shop and all that fun stuff you
• 1:50
  did later on. But just and then now ending up
• 1:53
  down here. Just give us the skinny if you
• 1:55
  don't mind. Well, actually, I was born in
• 1:58
  Birmingham, AL, like you said, and I grew up in, in, in Clear,
• 2:02
  Alabama, you know, spent a lot of time there.
• 2:05
  And then I guess in 1996, you know, we've Pam and I, you know,
• 2:11
  well, we've actually been, I've been in cup racing since about
• 2:13
  89, but wasn't really getting to see my family any or anything
• 2:17
  like that. So we moved to North Carolina so
• 2:20
  I could have more family time with them.
• 2:21
  And, you know, just that was in 96 and we lived in North
• 2:28
  Carolina until October 2021 when when we moved to Orange Beach,
• 2:32
  AL And, you know, we love being back to our roots.
• 2:36
  You know, Orange Beach is a great little town and you know,
• 2:40
  great people and, you know, Gulf Shores area, you know, same way.
• 2:44
  And you know, we just you know, it's it's you know, my wife Pam
• 2:50
  and I just didn't really care for the snow too much.
• 2:54
  And you know, of course, when we moved down here, the kids like,
• 2:57
  well, you know, I think you guys are eating crow now since.
• 3:01
  It's snowed. A record snow here for.
• 3:04
  Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
• 3:06
  You know. Whatever you who brought it.
• 3:07
  So we figured out how we got 9 inches of snow.
• 3:10
  First time 300. Years you.
• 3:12
  Know, but move hard. Didn't mean to.
• 3:14
  I can assure you I do not like that stuff.
• 3:17
  But a little bit of drafting coming down it just.
• 3:20
  Yeah, man, I tell you. Yeah, something happened.
• 3:24
  I don't know, but you know, I, I definitely I'm, I'm definitely
• 3:27
  not a snowbird for sure. I don't like that And but but
• 3:31
  anyway, but that's kind of how I arrived down here and, you know,
• 3:35
  really, like I said, fell in love with the area and, you
• 3:39
  know, get to go see a race every now and then over five flags,
• 3:42
  which is, you know, takes me back to a place where I raced a
• 3:45
  few times there with snowball derbies, you know, years ago
• 3:49
  and, you know, met a lot of good friends over there.
• 3:51
  So it's kind of like homecoming. A lot of times when I go over
• 3:54
  there to, to watch a race. So it's, you know, it's, it's
• 3:57
  kind of cool. We actually mentioned that on
• 3:59
  the podcast last week. We were talking about just good
• 4:02
  old earnest, you know, American rural things to do.
• 4:06
  And it was like, you know, going to a dirt track or going to a
• 4:08
  track somewhere that was used to that was what only entertainment
• 4:11
  you had for miles and miles, you know, for rural America to go do
• 4:15
  stuff and and you'll see some sights, buddy, But but.
• 4:20
  But. But.
• 4:21
  A bunch of good people in a good time and is that you know, and I
• 4:25
  know, like I said, you've you've told this story and you know,
• 4:27
  your dad was in the race and, and, and on the junkyard there
• 4:30
  and then that kind of you was always tinkering in the new cars
• 4:33
  and fell in love early. But then when but then when you
• 4:37
  first got the bug, what did you have?
• 4:40
  What was the first thing you did to start?
• 4:42
  I'm going to drive this first time and then that into.
• 4:46
  I'm going to do this a whole lot.
• 4:48
  Well, I guess I was fortunate or misfortunate, however you want
• 4:53
  to say in the early 70s, I guess it was actually 60, late 60s.
• 5:00
  I went out to be our Birmingham International Raceway and, and
• 5:05
  watch the races out there and went to Midfield Speedway at the
• 5:09
  old Midfield Speedway is not there anymore.
• 5:11
  And then of course, Savory Speedway and, you know, just
• 5:16
  fell in love with a with, with, with racing in general at a very
• 5:21
  young age. Like you said there.
• 5:24
  My, my dad used to race, used to go and help him and became very
• 5:27
  knowledgeable in the about automobiles, about the race cars
• 5:31
  in particular. And, you know, I just, I was, I
• 5:34
  was a very lucky child, you know, to, I knew what I wanted
• 5:39
  to do, you know, you know, from probably six years old on,
• 5:45
  didn't know if I'd ever get the chance.
• 5:47
  But I just always felt like that whatever, whatever I did,
• 5:51
  everything I did was going to be towards driving a race car for,
• 5:55
  you know, as long as I possibly could.
• 5:57
  And, and I just pursued my dream continuously.
• 6:00
  And, you know, just, you know, a lot of hard work and had a lot
• 6:06
  of help along the way. You know, I met Pam, you know, I
• 6:09
  was when I was 19 years old and in Panama City and her cousin
• 6:14
  Davy introduced us and, you know, it kind of went, went from
• 6:19
  there and, you know, had a had a partner for, you know, virtually
• 6:25
  most of my life now. You know, she's been right,
• 6:28
  right beside me and you know, it, it really, it worked well
• 6:32
  having somebody that supports your, you know, your, your
• 6:35
  dream. And, and I was lucky enough to
• 6:38
  to go, you know, get make it to the top and, you know, have some
• 6:41
  decent rides and, you know, a few really good rides, you know,
• 6:47
  but you know, just, you know, wasn't lucky enough to win a Cup
• 6:52
  race. I finished second a few times
• 6:54
  and thirds and fourths and things like that.
• 6:56
  And but, you know, it just wasn't meant to be for whatever
• 7:00
  reason. And you know, and like I said,
• 7:03
  it just I was very lucky and fortunate to.
• 7:07
  So you knew from six, 5-6 years old that's what you wanted to
• 7:10
  do. Most definitely, Yeah, It it
• 7:13
  wasn't any doubt. I, you know, I just, I loved it
• 7:16
  so much. Did you, were you doing other
• 7:18
  stuff with you? Were you into baseball too?
• 7:20
  Or, you know, any motorcycles or just race cars.
• 7:26
  No Well I had a motorcycle at you know probably 13 or 14 years
• 7:31
  old and until I about killed myself on it and had a had a
• 7:37
  wreck on on it and running to the back was stopped car.
• 7:41
  Our car stopped in front of me and I'll never forget it was a
• 7:45
  1977 Ford Fairmont and a lady with about 3 or 4 kids in it.
• 7:51
  The whole line of traffic in front of me and I stopped
• 7:54
  running. I turn around and look see if
• 7:55
  it's OK to get on the other lane and when I turned back around
• 7:59
  the whole line was stopped in front of me and next thing I
• 8:03
  know I'm laying. I ended up on the trunk of the
• 8:06
  of the that fair there. Was.
• 8:09
  No, no. Just steel.
• 8:12
  Where, what? Where was that?
• 8:13
  Where did you have that? This was in in Alabaster, AL
• 8:17
  where the where Interstate 65 ended used to end and come
• 8:22
  around and went back into 31 and there was some a Shell station
• 8:26
  right there on the right when you got off the Interstate.
• 8:28
  And anyway, I, of course, my dad was always against motorcycles.
• 8:34
  My mom loved motorcycles. And so, you know, they got in a
• 8:37
  big fight, of course, when, when that come about.
• 8:40
  But, you know, I guess I was very fortunate on that and, you
• 8:44
  know, didn't break any bones. I got some pretty good burns
• 8:47
  from the exhaust and knocked all my, my front four or five teeth
• 8:52
  out there in the front. Yeah, my, I tried eating a, it
• 8:56
  had a like 1/4 inch Lexan windshield on it with the
• 9:00
  fairing and stuff and I I guess my open face helmet.
• 9:03
  Then it got time come down. Yeah, they don't wake up like
• 9:06
  they used to, Johnny. Wow.
• 9:08
  No, no. And they don't.
• 9:09
  And I'll tell you what, I bet that didn't taste nothing like
• 9:11
  that old meat in a piece you get at Milo's either, did it?
• 9:13
  I mean, it tastes. A little, not quite.
• 9:17
  No. Kidding.
• 9:19
  Hey Hut what? What was the first like, Like
• 9:21
  the first thing that you ever raced?
• 9:23
  What what did you get in? Was it a go Kart or something?
• 9:25
  I mean, what? How did you start out?
• 9:27
  I, I, I, you know, at that time when I was a kid, you know, go
• 9:31
  karts wasn't as big as they are now.
• 9:33
  You know, the go karts, you know, now they gosh, man, I
• 9:37
  mean, they're unbelievable. What the, how they build go
• 9:40
  karts now. Basically, we had had basically
• 9:45
  souped up yard cart as you'd if you'd say, but that was about
• 9:51
  it. Me and my cousin used to, we had
• 9:53
  a circular driveway in, in my house and clear.
• 9:56
  And we, we would, we would race around the driveway.
• 9:59
  He, he, he'd bring his, I'd bring mine and we'd, we'd run
• 10:02
  into each other a few times and, and then we'd in between trying
• 10:05
  to race each other. And then we'd door it out in the
• 10:08
  highway and go down the hill and turn right back in the other end
• 10:10
  of the driveway. And we had to, we had to look,
• 10:12
  look to our left when we went out in the highway, look to our
• 10:15
  left and right, make sure it wasn't in traffic so we could,
• 10:18
  you know, get get into the oncoming lane and then cut back.
• 10:21
  In get the straightaway. And yeah, make the straightaway
• 10:24
  and, and in between that we're trying to race each other and
• 10:27
  watch for traffic too. But we had it was it was a, you
• 10:31
  know, luckily we we survived that.
• 10:33
  Don't know how did. He end up racing.
• 10:37
  Was he a race racer too? He, he was, he raced local.
• 10:41
  He, he, he was two or three years younger than me, my cousin
• 10:46
  Frankie, He and I grew up together.
• 10:47
  He stayed with us during the summer.
• 10:49
  He'd bring his go Kart down and he'd stay out, stay with us all
• 10:54
  summer. His family was on the other side
• 10:56
  of Birmingham, but we, we, we were still like brothers more
• 10:59
  than cousins, But you know, we, we learned a lot of racing
• 11:03
  tricks from each other. And but he, he went on, he had a
• 11:07
  he got into the late models too down there and just he won about
• 11:12
  everything he could in the street stock racing down there.
• 11:15
  And of course I was helping him and stuff.
• 11:17
  And you know, what helped him money wise, but I was helping
• 11:20
  him work wise. I set his card up and, you know,
• 11:24
  try to teach him everything that I knew.
• 11:26
  And, and he was, you know, like I said, he, he stepped up into
• 11:30
  the late model stuff and, you know, had some little bit of
• 11:33
  success. But when he stepped up in that
• 11:35
  division, the, you know, you had to it, it, it got pretty costly
• 11:39
  and it was pretty hard for him to continue on like, you know,
• 11:41
  in that in that stuff, yeah. It's like a lot of it.
• 11:43
  Once you get to that level, you got to have a sponsor, you got
• 11:45
  to have a metal, a metal dealership or a car dealership
• 11:49
  or somebody. I just saw a thing on Facebook
• 11:53
  or somewhere like that that was showing Smokey and the Bandit
• 11:57
  shooting at and they shot a lot of it down in Tampa because Burt
• 11:59
  Reynolds was good friends with the Buick dealer down there and
• 12:02
  they got to use a lot of the vehicles and stuff.
• 12:03
  You know, that was that was a a key in and you know, talking
• 12:07
  about that, what was the the first car you ever had was one
• 12:11
  y'all you and your daddy built, wasn't it?
• 12:13
  My dad had a, a 1964 Chevelle that was kind of sitting back in
• 12:18
  the far back corner of the shop and he was running his Camaro.
• 12:24
  They'd stepped up built a Camaro and all that stuff.
• 12:27
  And and anyway, that Chevelle had set back there for a couple
• 12:30
  years and wasn't anything going on with it and, and savory
• 12:35
  Speedway opened a new division up for that where we could run
• 12:41
  the Chevelle. And so I went to my dad and
• 12:43
  asked him, I said, you know, would would you mind if I put
• 12:46
  that car together? Could I race it?
• 12:49
  And he said, he said, sure, you know, he said, but you're going
• 12:52
  to do it all. You know, I can't help you or
• 12:54
  anything like that. And I said, I don't need your
• 12:56
  help. I knew how to do it anyway, but.
• 12:59
  How old were you then? About it I was I was still 14
• 13:05
  then yeah but I but I had I had helped him all all along and had
• 13:10
  a had a mentor there guys name guy named Paul Robinson, who was
• 13:16
  like a mentor to me as I was coming up and my dad was in his
• 13:21
  parks place selling parts and trying to make money to Ford
• 13:24
  race cars. And anyway, but, and Paul was,
• 13:28
  you know, he, he would teach me a lot, you know, the right way
• 13:31
  of doing things and what have you.
• 13:32
  And, but anyway, I learned so much from him.
• 13:36
  But anyway, I went on, went on and put the car together and got
• 13:39
  it all going and got ready one Saturday to get ready to go and,
• 13:45
  or actually one Friday night. And I said everything was done.
• 13:49
  I said, you know, all I need's a new set of tires because we
• 13:52
  hadn't run any to have any old tires yet.
• 13:54
  And so anyway, I didn't thought I wasn't going to be able to
• 13:57
  race that that first night. And next morning I had come in
• 14:02
  there had four brand new Mccreary's sitting there.
• 14:04
  Actually I had 6 brand new McCreary tires my dad had bought
• 14:08
  me and left them there. So when I come in there didn't
• 14:11
  tell anybody. So anyway, I got all them
• 14:13
  mounted and we went the racetrack that night with him
• 14:16
  and, and he carried his car in my car and his car was priority.
• 14:21
  He was racing for a championship and I was just racing for fun
• 14:25
  and but he, you know, we had to always get his car unloaded
• 14:29
  first and and then get him going through tech and then whatever's
• 14:33
  left is my time. But so anyway, after getting his
• 14:38
  car going, we got all through tech and got all, you know, he
• 14:41
  went and practiced and and then I started working on my car and,
• 14:45
  and got it all ready to go for the first heat race because they
• 14:50
  their way it worked. I didn't have any time.
• 14:52
  I didn't get any practice and you know, like I said, because
• 14:57
  dad's car was priority, not mine.
• 14:59
  Mine was fine and his his was for real.
• 15:02
  But but anyway, I started at the back on the heat race and I
• 15:07
  literally couldn't pass not one car.
• 15:10
  It it the car was so loose. And so anyway, I probably heard
• 15:15
  me telling a story and on Adele junior download.
• 15:18
  But but anyway, I brought it in. I had one little kid help me.
• 15:23
  He was probably, he was younger than I was, but wasn't too
• 15:27
  mechanically inclined, but he was a bigger guy.
• 15:29
  And but anyway, I told him, he said, what do you need me to do?
• 15:33
  I said I need to get the Jack out and Jack up back of the car.
• 15:36
  I'm going to change the leaf springs.
• 15:37
  And so he said, you know how to do that.
• 15:40
  I said, yeah, I know how to do it.
• 15:41
  Know how I know everything's got to be done.
• 15:43
  So. But anyway, so he jacked it up
• 15:46
  and I went and got the springs and we, we, I don't know if you
• 15:50
  know anything about leaf springs, but there was about 6-6
• 15:53
  Leafs. It was kind of like bolted
• 15:54
  together like a leaf is is kind of hard to explain without stack
• 16:01
  on top. That's right.
• 16:02
  And these things was bolted, had one center bolt in it.
• 16:05
  I got on there and undone that. And when I undone that center
• 16:09
  bolt, all the springs just fell out.
• 16:11
  All none of the cars. And he said, Oh my God, what are
• 16:14
  we going to do? You know, that's, you know,
• 16:16
  we'll never get this put back together in time.
• 16:18
  I said, yeah, we're good, we're good, you know, so, so anyway, I
• 16:20
  said, took my you know, we didn't have dial gauges, check
• 16:25
  thickness of the spring, but I knew I need a stronger left rear
• 16:28
  spring and to make it where the car wouldn't be loose.
• 16:33
  And so anyway, I took go over and get my opening opening
• 16:37
  wrenches and just started sticking them on each spring and
• 16:41
  you know, found many thicker spring leaves than what I had
• 16:44
  put. Put them all back together and
• 16:47
  went out there and started dead last in the feature and they
• 16:51
  dropped the green flag and I still don't gas and OK, this
• 16:54
  ain't bad. So then we went down in one and
• 16:56
  two and I turned come off turn 2 and man, that thing was like
• 17:01
  stuck. And I was like, oh, this is
• 17:04
  going to be good, you know. So anyway, I proceeded then to
• 17:09
  go to the front. And so a guy that was winning
• 17:14
  about all the races that year, he had he had he was leading the
• 17:20
  race. And anyway, make Long story
• 17:22
  short, I come come to the stripe and now let me back up.
• 17:27
  I got in the wreck, you know, I don't know, 5th lap or something
• 17:33
  went to move the guy out of the way and he instead of moving
• 17:35
  them out of the way and moved them right in front of me.
• 17:37
  So I didn't really help myself. So anyway, it been all the drag
• 17:41
  link on the front of the car. They come in, guys took a Jack
• 17:45
  and got a car and we jacked it up and bowed the drag link
• 17:49
  straight with a Jack and went back out and started to back
• 17:52
  again and come to the front. And I passed the guy that was
• 17:57
  leading the race on the last lap for the win.
• 18:01
  I beat him by about a foot to the start finish line and won my
• 18:04
  first race. That's all it takes a foot and
• 18:06
  that foot right there is what hooked you.
• 18:08
  And then from then on, you knew I'm going to make a living doing
• 18:10
  this and I'm going to, I'm going to be, I'm going to whoop some
• 18:12
  butt and I'm going to have, I'm going to make this a deal here.
• 18:15
  I mean, you felt like a master car chief, crew chief and driver
• 18:18
  all in one that night didn't. You.
• 18:19
  Yeah, that's right. But it, but it was all because
• 18:22
  you had some help. Obviously, like you said, your
• 18:24
  dad helped you along the way and your mentors, but you put in the
• 18:27
  leg work, you put in the elbow grease.
• 18:29
  You wasn't scared to work. You're a hard worker.
• 18:31
  You still a hard worker. That's how we met.
• 18:33
  And and you wasn't going to sit still.
• 18:35
  You wasn't going to just take it.
• 18:36
  Well, I guess it ain't going to work out now.
• 18:38
  You pushed through and made stuff happen and that's why you
• 18:41
  had those opportunities to, to, to do those kind of things.
• 18:44
  It works out that way in life. Well, going back to to stay on
• 18:48
  your younger age for a little bit, said you weren't really in
• 18:51
  any other sports and stuff. But I do know you like music.
• 18:55
  We talked about that at dinner, the first time we ever had
• 18:57
  dinner together. Pam said you got to ask him
• 18:59
  about music or soon as she knew I worked in music.
• 19:01
  She said, oh buddy, he's going to be he's going to be all over
• 19:04
  you. He loves some music.
• 19:06
  Is that something that got passed down from your family as
• 19:09
  well or is that just being a teenager liking rock'n'roll?
• 19:11
  Or how did a did the music thing and who?
• 19:13
  What were your early? Who did you like for at first?
• 19:16
  You know, I was I was a big country music fan raised on
• 19:20
  listening to country music all time at my race shop.
• 19:23
  That's all I knew. I knew that every country song
• 19:26
  come on early words and you know, front meal from first word
• 19:31
  to the last word. And you know how you just listen
• 19:34
  to radio all the time? You can't help it do that.
• 19:36
  But but I don't know, I just I just I always, you know, I took
• 19:41
  guitar lessons when I was young and for probably six years.
• 19:45
  And, you know, matter of fact, the, the teacher used to tell my
• 19:49
  mom, you know, I've never had a student that sticks with it
• 19:52
  stuck with me for that long, you know, and so anyway, I, I did
• 19:56
  that and, and after six years, he up and left me just just
• 20:01
  stopped teaching and went to be a principal at school.
• 20:04
  Didn't care nothing about teaching anymore.
• 20:06
  And I that was the last to play in the.
• 20:07
  What age? What age?
• 20:09
  Was I, I think I was about probably about 13.
• 20:15
  When, when? Because I did it early on, you
• 20:18
  know, in school, probably from, I don't know, second grade.
• 20:22
  Did you ever did you ever play guitar and try to swoon your
• 20:25
  classmates at school? No, no, no, no.
• 20:29
  Just played you played at home. You wasn't You wasn't it?
• 20:31
  Wasn't publicly ready yet. No, no, no, no, I wasn't, I
• 20:36
  definitely wasn't publicly ready, you know, I wanted to be,
• 20:40
  but you know it. You know, we, we kind of pushed
• 20:45
  things ahead a little bit on it. We, you know, when we got moved
• 20:49
  to North Carolina, we had a, we built us a party barn there and
• 20:55
  we had a karaoke and all that stuff and that.
• 20:58
  And, you know, really more got we, I used it more as a
• 21:01
  relaxation to get away from racing from all the, all the,
• 21:05
  you know, whatever. Travel and the press and all
• 21:10
  that. Stuff take take, yeah, take your
• 21:12
  take you to another place that you know, you don't have, you
• 21:15
  don't think you're not thinking about race cars or, you know, or
• 21:19
  sponsor commitments or things like that.
• 21:21
  And, you know, but but I enjoyed, you know, you know,
• 21:26
  like I said, the music because, you know, I really feel like if
• 21:29
  I wouldn't have race race cars, that would have been my second
• 21:32
  choice. But, you know, to do something
• 21:34
  in the music industry because I still love it to this day.
• 21:37
  But of course, it's a little late to make a change in.
• 21:41
  No now, not today we got we got to get you a TikTok video we'll
• 21:45
  we'll get Brantley. We'll get you a reel together
• 21:47
  and after this and we'll get you.
• 21:49
  Hey you got any of those videos? Y'all doing karaoke at your
• 21:52
  party barn? Oh, man, there you go.
• 21:54
  There's your money right there, buddy.
• 21:56
  Your money. That's it.
• 21:58
  We got to have some of that. That's.
• 21:59
  Already punched. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we are.
• 22:03
  We used to do that. Well, every year, New Year's
• 22:05
  without throw a big New Year's party.
• 22:07
  And we'd always this this party, it turned off, turned out to be,
• 22:10
  you know, it started off about 50 people and we did it for
• 22:14
  almost 20 years and it grew to like about 350.
• 22:19
  And we never, you know, it, it was just, it was crazy.
• 22:23
  I mean it it in a 50 by 100, you know, metal building that that
• 22:28
  you know, had a rock floor, but it had a concrete dance floor
• 22:31
  over the stage and all the lights and sound system.
• 22:35
  It was unreal. Who was, who was the back then?
• 22:37
  You, if you don't want to, you got to tell it.
• 22:39
  You can tell some of them that wouldn't care if you told it.
• 22:41
  Who was some? Who was the wild?
• 22:42
  Who was the Wildman back there? Because you like to party, but
• 22:45
  you not you reserve, you keep your stuff together.
• 22:48
  You ain't no big super wild cat, but you like to have a good
• 22:51
  time. But I know you know how the boys
• 22:52
  are when everybody gets together or the OR the wives or the
• 22:56
  ladies. Yeah, well, and and you know,
• 22:59
  because you're also in the club with us of guys who out kick
• 23:01
  their coverage that way, said I and I know you and Miss Pam like
• 23:04
  to have a good time, but but I'm sure y'all got some couple
• 23:07
  friends or or it maybe the you know, they're celebrities or
• 23:10
  not, but that that used to really like to to have a good
• 23:13
  one. Right.
• 23:15
  Well, our, our motto was we always, you know, at our party
• 23:18
  barn, what happens at the barn stays at the barn.
• 23:21
  So it was always kind of, you know, kind of we kept all that,
• 23:25
  you know, under wraps and what have you.
• 23:27
  And but you know, we had some great times, you know, of
• 23:32
  course, all of it was good clean fun, you know, you know, and it
• 23:36
  it, you know, we, we, you know, like I said, the New Year's
• 23:40
  parties, everybody look forward to it.
• 23:42
  And, you know, as our kids come along, they want to do a
• 23:45
  Halloween party. So, you know, then we turned
• 23:48
  into two having two parties a year and, and it was a younger
• 23:52
  crowd for for them, obviously, but the adults, some of the
• 23:55
  adults would come anyway. But and then of course, New
• 23:58
  Year's party was adults only. And, and it was, it was, you
• 24:02
  know, I said some, you know, have a special place like that
• 24:06
  for a party, you know, with all that was just.
• 24:09
  Perfect. You know I seen.
• 24:10
  Your house, Build it at your house so you ain't got to go
• 24:13
  nowhere. Ain't got to.
• 24:14
  Oh, it's right there in your backyard.
• 24:15
  What's great Hut? What's great about that?
• 24:18
  He just asked you a question and to this day, what you said, what
• 24:21
  happens at the barn stays there. He still didn't name any names,
• 24:25
  you know, beautiful. He still didn't sell anybody
• 24:27
  out. That's so good.
• 24:28
  That's how you. That was a test.
• 24:30
  That was a test. You know, one thing I I can tell
• 24:33
  you this much, I mean, you know, we had you know, you know, of
• 24:37
  course, my dad in law, Donnie Allison and and you know, Bobby
• 24:42
  Allison, you know, my uncle in law or whatever, however it
• 24:46
  would be to me, But you know it, you know, we would have all them
• 24:52
  over for for that. And there'll be other several
• 24:56
  other race drivers show up there and you know, we just, it was
• 25:00
  just a good, clean, fun place. And you know, we just, we just,
• 25:05
  you know. I still never have live on the.
• 25:07
  Wall on the wall. Ever have live music?
• 25:10
  Did they last? You know, every year we would do
• 25:14
  a skit. I mean to tell you this, 1st
• 25:16
  every year we would do a skit. You know, it'd be like a show,
• 25:21
  you know, everybody would, you know, we had everything from the
• 25:24
  50s to the to the 70s to one year we did a salute to the
• 25:29
  military. You know, it's right after 911.
• 25:35
  We had gosh, I'm trying to think some of the other ones.
• 25:39
  Just theme. Parties like what A.
• 25:41
  Party theme You had a. Theme, board.
• 25:43
  Theme. Yeah, different theme.
• 25:45
  Yeah, yeah. And man, it was, it was, you
• 25:48
  know, the, the salute to the military was, was probably one
• 25:51
  of our best ones we ever did. It was the most heart felt
• 25:55
  impactful and everybody took it serious.
• 25:58
  You know, we had, we had, you know, we had it took it took
• 26:02
  roughly close to 50 people to put this show on.
• 26:07
  You know that, that, you know, from the, we had a sound guy
• 26:10
  that controlled all the sound from the sound booth there, you
• 26:15
  know, had a guy that did nothing but work the lights on the
• 26:18
  stage, you know all that. I mean, it was, yeah.
• 26:24
  And then, you know, we start, we start about 3 months prior to
• 26:28
  prior to the New Year's party. And we'd all get together and
• 26:31
  party and not party, but practice, practice everything.
• 26:35
  We'd party. We're saving the big party for
• 26:37
  the big party. But but, but it was, you know,
• 26:42
  some really good times and I'll have to tell you guys some of
• 26:46
  them tape sometimes or CD. We got some We, we, we DVDs,
• 26:51
  excuse me from Oh yeah. And I.
• 26:53
  Will have definitely have to watch some of those at some
• 26:55
  point. I can't wait.
• 26:57
  Yes, yeah. I was my designated guy that I
• 27:00
  did every year for the most part.
• 27:02
  I did Elvis. I did Elvis, you know, did that
• 27:05
  and yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Is he probably 1 of you?
• 27:10
  Is he your all time favorite? Probably without a doubt, yeah.
• 27:16
  I just, you know, I grew up in that era and, and.
• 27:19
  And like, car cars and Elvis just went together, man.
• 27:23
  I mean, that was and that was it.
• 27:24
  That was after World War 2, the 50s.
• 27:26
  I mean, that was a high, high point for America right there
• 27:28
  rolling into the 60s, you know, I mean.
• 27:30
  That's right. And.
• 27:32
  Those cars were so cool, man. And you come up in the era
• 27:35
  where, I mean, everything had character.
• 27:37
  They were built to last. And I mean, and you could fix
• 27:40
  them and work on them yourself. It wasn't a computer man, that's
• 27:44
  wild. Well hey, talking about you said
• 27:47
  you did have some live music there when you were coming up.
• 27:50
  Did you ever, did y'all go to any concerts when you were like
• 27:53
  in high school and stuff? Did you start going to rock con
• 27:56
  or country shows or anything in the area?
• 28:00
  Well, when I was when I was a kid, I went to the what called
• 28:06
  at that time. It's called the Municipal
• 28:08
  Auditorium in Birmingham. I was very fortunate enough to
• 28:13
  see three guys. It was 3 country music guys.
• 28:16
  It was that was semi popular at that time, a guy named Conway
• 28:20
  Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis and George Jones.
• 28:24
  Oh my God, that's ridiculous. All all three in one night and
• 28:29
  you know it. I mean, I didn't realize what I
• 28:32
  was getting to see then, but Jerry Lee Lewis was the was the
• 28:36
  was the, yeah, he was the one that come along at the end end
• 28:39
  of. The he closed.
• 28:41
  Yeah, closed. And man, he, he rocked the whole
• 28:44
  place. I know.
• 28:45
  Did he like his piano on fire every every show or was it?
• 28:49
  Did he just do that one time? What?
• 28:51
  What's? This.
• 28:51
  No, I didn't do it there. I think that's when he was
• 28:55
  still. Yeah.
• 28:57
  He made his money. Yeah.
• 28:59
  So this one, were they already big stars at this point?
• 29:04
  Yeah, they were. Yeah, they were.
• 29:06
  They were. Well, I assume, you know, I was
• 29:07
  probably 6 years old, something like that maybe when I went and
• 29:12
  seen them. I remember.
• 29:15
  And that and that further hooked you into loving some country
• 29:17
  music after seeing that. Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 29:20
  And then of course, as I got older, you know, I went to I
• 29:24
  seen Lee Greenwood in concert at A at a local bar there in
• 29:29
  Birmingham. Matter of fact, when I was
• 29:32
  racing and stuff, I'd see him occasionally around a racetrack.
• 29:34
  We'd always talk about place there in Birmingham, right?
• 29:39
  I think the name of Sunny Dukes or somewhere like that where
• 29:43
  where he would go to sing him there when he had ring on the
• 29:47
  new song just come out, ring on her finger, time on her hands
• 29:51
  and my some other ones I can't remember.
• 29:54
  But he was always big, you know, loved him.
• 30:00
  But it, you know, like I said, I had a, you know, throughout my
• 30:04
  race and stuff and was able to meet a lot of.
• 30:06
  That's what I was going to say by the time you got to be in a
• 30:09
  NASCAR driver and, and to touchback on that too.
• 30:11
  You know, you talked about the, the, the wins and losses and all
• 30:14
  that NASCAR and you know, your dad support.
• 30:17
  You know, I always think about it, you know, when it's like I
• 30:20
  hear somebody say, well, they, you know, a guy from that I went
• 30:23
  to college with or went to my high school, played in the NBA
• 30:25
  and they, yeah, he was in the NBA, but he only had like 4
• 30:28
  points and three rebounds in his career.
• 30:30
  I'm like, yeah, but he played 12 years at the NBA like he's one
• 30:34
  of the best 500 people on the planet.
• 30:37
  And that's like, you know, you unfortunately didn't get and you
• 30:40
  won't and you had some real doozies.
• 30:42
  And we can we can we've heard those stories and they're well
• 30:44
  documented because they are some legendary race stories when it
• 30:47
  when you come to nuts and bolts of racing.
• 30:50
  But to not get to get that, but to have all the the second twos
• 30:54
  and top 10s and stuff like that, it's like you were a NASCAR for
• 30:59
  to almost 2 decades earning a earning a good living and living
• 31:04
  out your dreams at the highest level.
• 31:06
  There is no slide on that. That's that's like saying
• 31:08
  Charles Barkley wasn't a good basketball player because he
• 31:10
  didn't win an NBA championship. You know what I mean?
• 31:13
  Right. Exactly, that's what they were
• 31:15
  selling out venues. Everywhere, everywhere.
• 31:17
  And NASCAR is not what it is now without you guys.
• 31:20
  Because you were kind of there, right?
• 31:22
  I mean, you were doing the, the, the, the underneath here, the
• 31:25
  dash series in. But then NASCAR comes along and
• 31:28
  its infancy of really being a cut series.
• 31:30
  When Winston put the the cigarette company put the big
• 31:33
  paycheck behind it and then it turned, you know, then the big
• 31:36
  sponsor started coming. It wasn't regional car
• 31:38
  dealerships and and steel fabricators anymore.
• 31:42
  So I mean, it wouldn't it literally wouldn't be what it
• 31:45
  was is today without without your contributions, you know,
• 31:48
  and and all you guys that ran deer in your era because of that
• 31:51
  transition into the big, big leagues, you know.
• 31:55
  I appreciate that. Yeah, it it, it, I was very
• 31:57
  fortunate. You know, it was to to, you
• 32:01
  know, when I come in and it was right into early stages of where
• 32:06
  it peaked. And then of course, being, you
• 32:09
  know, we got to race against some really top notch race
• 32:12
  drivers with Dale Senior and you know, every week, you know,
• 32:16
  week, week in and week out with, you know, people like that that
• 32:22
  of course didn't realize at the time that you know, how what she
• 32:25
  is going through. You know, you just.
• 32:28
  Well, you were lucky there. You got to do both.
• 32:30
  You got to you got to race the legends that you grew up.
• 32:33
  You know your your father-in-law and uncle and red and all these
• 32:37
  legends, Dale and all them and and Richard Petty and all them
• 32:40
  were still around. And then transition in to all
• 32:42
  the big, big stars, the Jeff Gordons and all them who end up
• 32:45
  being later on. They all came in when you
• 32:48
  towards the end of your career. So you were really in the sweet
• 32:50
  spot of getting to do all of it. That's right, no.
• 32:54
  Sides of it? Yep, that's.
• 32:55
  Very much so, Yep. You got to race against all of
• 32:57
  like the best, the best of the best on both sides.
• 33:01
  It's, it's really unbelievable. That's when I started watching
• 33:04
  NASCAR, probably around 919091, which was when you were in your
• 33:10
  heyday and, and always I just loved your name.
• 33:13
  So it was like. Straight name comes.
• 33:15
  You know, it's like what a name? It's just the coolest name ever.
• 33:19
  One question I have not heard answered but one thing that I
• 33:22
  totally do remember as a kid that I loved you and Jimmy
• 33:26
  Spencer didn't seem to get along too well on the track.
• 33:30
  Have y'all made-up now? Do you ever talk or how is that
• 33:34
  Dude was always crazy and entertaining to.
• 33:36
  Or was it a work for myself? Are y'all just working
• 33:39
  everybody? Or was it a work?
• 33:40
  Let me clarify something Jim Jimmy Spencer never got along
• 33:43
  with. Anybody it it?
• 33:45
  Wasn't I? Was going to say it, I don't
• 33:47
  know how anybody could get along with Hut.
• 33:49
  Hut's about as easy going as they get.
• 33:51
  Well, he is. Yeah, Spencer and I got it.
• 33:55
  You know, he, he would, you know, every ride, every cup ride
• 33:59
  I had from, from the Heinz ketchup car, Spencer would come
• 34:04
  along and he'd go to the car owner and he'd say, you know,
• 34:08
  Hut's not doing a good job driving a car.
• 34:10
  I can drive better than Hut. And so then then, you know, I
• 34:15
  got fired from the not saying he had anything to do with it, but
• 34:18
  he would, he would go in there and toot his own horn louder.
• 34:20
  And I was then I was Tooting my own horn.
• 34:22
  So and then, you know, when I drove from Bobby, you know, he
• 34:27
  come along and drove from drove for Bobby.
• 34:31
  When, when you know, after, you know, he was, he followed me to
• 34:36
  Bobby's. And then I left Bobby's and went
• 34:38
  to Junior Johnson to the McDonald's car, and he followed
• 34:42
  me, goes to McDonald's and, you know, wow.
• 34:44
  I just and then chased you. Around there.
• 34:46
  Sounds like you got then I leave.
• 34:47
  Then and go, Yeah. And then I go, I go to, I go to,
• 34:51
  I go to the smoke in Joe's car. And he follows me to smoke in
• 34:55
  Joe's car. I mean, you know, and it's like,
• 34:59
  you know, dude, but I don't know.
• 35:01
  I don't know. I don't, you know, I don't know
• 35:02
  why or whatever. But anyway, yeah.
• 35:04
  I think I'm just jealous of your hair.
• 35:07
  I. Think I probably was.
• 35:09
  He had none. But when I was in North Carolina
• 35:12
  before we moved, I worked in a place called stock Car steel.
• 35:15
  We sold all the steel and aluminum stuff like that to
• 35:17
  probably 95% of the NASCAR teams.
• 35:20
  And Jimmy would come in there from time to time and, you know,
• 35:24
  he and I would talk, you know, I don't know, we, we'd sit there
• 35:28
  and talk for an hour, hour and a half, just, you know, just like
• 35:32
  he was my best friend, you know. So I mean, you know, I don't
• 35:36
  hold any grudges and he don't hold any grudges.
• 35:38
  I'm sure it was just business, you know, it was just business.
• 35:41
  That's just the way he was and he just.
• 35:43
  Wanted to drive and he was willing to run over anybody to
• 35:47
  do that. So it explains it's exactly what
• 35:49
  he was on the track what you. See, I was kind of hoping makes
• 35:52
  sense that that kept going to today.
• 35:54
  So I was already thinking my wheels were turning into this
• 35:57
  new age with Jake Paul versus. So I saw today that John
• 36:01
  Rocker's about to fight Patrick Mahomes, his dad, you know what
• 36:04
  I mean? I was like, maybe we get y'all 2
• 36:06
  on the track somewhere. Like there's just one probably
• 36:08
  the greatest track in in all of America, you know where I mean.
• 36:12
  I mean, unbelievable crowds have always attended down at South
• 36:15
  Alabama Motor Speedway. I'm pretty sure you've been
• 36:17
  there. We get y'all down there in in
• 36:18
  Kenston, Alabama, have a one-on-one, put it on YouTube
• 36:21
  live. Just probably millions, you
• 36:23
  know? I've been.
• 36:25
  And then just settling. Hope could break out his music
• 36:27
  career after that. That'll be the debut of the Hut
• 36:30
  Strickland. Center stage, right there.
• 36:34
  I love it I. Just like that, I'm in.
• 36:36
  On this it's a work. It's a totally work.
• 36:42
  Oh, but it was that way though. It was business back then
• 36:44
  though, wasn't it? Hut y'all were all fighting for
• 36:46
  spots and seats and I mean wins and everything else.
• 36:49
  And I mean so everybody had to probably.
• 36:52
  And I don't know Jimmy, obviously, but I know you.
• 36:56
  I, I know you, you, you get your mind to something, you're
• 36:59
  detailed, you work hard and I'm proud of stuff.
• 37:02
  You going to put you go do what you got to do, defend it.
• 37:04
  And his, his mentality was probably just different.
• 37:06
  But y'all were going after the same stuff.
• 37:08
  And you know, it might, and it could have been, he might have
• 37:11
  been a pro wrestling fan and knew he couldn't.
• 37:13
  You know, he needed a good babyface, needs a heal.
• 37:16
  And he thought if y'all have a little rivalry, maybe y'all get
• 37:19
  to sell some extra T-shirts or something.
• 37:20
  I mean, who knows, But we're glad that worked out.
• 37:24
  Y'all didn't y'all didn't end up y'all didn't end up in jail
• 37:28
  fighting each other or something crazy after that.
• 37:30
  And but hey, going back to talking, we'll hit on NASCAR a
• 37:33
  few time, a few more little questions here.
• 37:36
  But one thing I was wondering, you know, did you ever have any?
• 37:42
  What do you call it? I'm losing my train of thought
• 37:44
  here. But when you superstitions with
• 37:47
  your number, did you ever and were you involved in picking the
• 37:50
  numbers for the cars, Although I'm sure some, but how did that
• 37:53
  work and did how did you pick numbers?
• 37:55
  Were you superstitious? Which one was your favorite?
• 37:58
  Well, when you got to the Cup level, no, you didn't have a
• 38:00
  really any any say so whatsoever.
• 38:03
  You know, it was more of, you know, the, the NASCAR, First
• 38:09
  off, NASCAR when you get that level, NASCAR owns all the
• 38:12
  numbers. You know they just you're on
• 38:15
  their own loan to each team, but you know it it.
• 38:21
  To answer your question, no, we didn't have any.
• 38:23
  It was. So did any of them sentimental
• 38:26
  to you for any reason? Was any one of them your dad's
• 38:28
  birthday or your mom's birthday or something?
• 38:30
  Not really. No, no, you know, my, my, my
• 38:34
  number. I always ran on my own personal
• 38:37
  race car That, that, you know, you know, when I started
• 38:40
  basically was #7 that was my dad's number.
• 38:44
  Actually, my dad started off. He had #7 1/2 was his number.
• 38:49
  And then as the years went on, he he dropped a half and just
• 38:53
  went to seven. 7 1/2. Yeah, what he, what he, what he
• 38:57
  done when he got his first race car built.
• 38:59
  It was a 1956 Ford and it was getting ready to take it to the
• 39:02
  racetrack. And it was one Saturday evening
• 39:05
  and he said I got to put a number on this.
• 39:08
  And one of his best friends that actually worked at the
• 39:12
  racetrack, took up pit gate money was hanging out with him
• 39:16
  and, and about every, you know, 10 sales that come through that
• 39:22
  my dad's junkyard was, was 7 1/2 dollars, you know, and they, you
• 39:28
  know, ask, they'd ask my dad, how much do you want for this
• 39:30
  dad to say? Give me 7 1/2 and seven and a
• 39:33
  half there, you know. Well, I said about 10 or 12
• 39:35
  sales went through. And so finally my dad, my dad's
• 39:42
  friend there said why don't you use #7 1/2?
• 39:44
  Because that seems. My favorite number.
• 39:46
  Popular number that you're, you're, you're, you're charging
• 39:48
  everybody. So so anyway, he that's where
• 39:51
  that come from. And and then, like I said, his
• 39:53
  years went by, dropped the half and and just, you know, started
• 39:58
  running #7. How that was?
• 40:00
  Your your dad, we we've talked about everything, but we didn't
• 40:03
  talk. You said he was running for
• 40:04
  championship. So I mean, he has to be pretty
• 40:07
  good because you turned. Out really well that that that
• 40:11
  dad was exceptional race car driver on on 1/4 mile racetrack.
• 40:15
  So he never really had the funding that that it really took
• 40:21
  to to perform on the bigger tracks.
• 40:26
  At that time when he was racing, his business was basically
• 40:28
  getting going early, you know, mid 60s and, and it really
• 40:33
  didn't really take off until, you know, middle 70s on and that
• 40:38
  was about the time I started racing.
• 40:40
  And but, you know, he, he, you know, when it comes quarter mile
• 40:47
  race tracks, he was one, he was when he'd go qualify every week.
• 40:52
  You know, you know, I always thought that when I seen a guy
• 40:56
  just driving his butt off, you know, sideways off the corner
• 40:59
  and stabbing the gas and all, I thought he was going to be
• 41:02
  running fast. And 99 times out of 100 that
• 41:05
  that's going to be the slowest guy.
• 41:07
  You know, it goes around the racetrack.
• 41:10
  And my dad was always right the opposite.
• 41:12
  You'd look at him and you know he'd he'd go go through one and
• 41:16
  two and he'd be like man, just smooth as silk and you know,
• 41:20
  never hear him come off the thrall, but you'd never hear him
• 41:22
  go down on it. You know, he had to come off of
• 41:25
  it, but he wouldn't really. He'd come off up so slow and on
• 41:28
  it so slow, real smooth. And you know, next thing you
• 41:32
  know where the PA system we'd come by, you know, new track
• 41:34
  record, you know, and like what you know.
• 41:38
  But he was he was you know, I'd say when it come to quarter
• 41:41
  miles, he was the king. He was, he was very sharp, you
• 41:46
  know, but once I started racing, you know, we, he tried a little
• 41:50
  bit out of half mile tracks out at Birmingham and Montgomery and
• 41:54
  stuff and he just basically couldn't afford two cars.
• 41:58
  And, and he got to running, got to, you know, park one week.
• 42:03
  He blew his engine up, whatever, and got to watch me race and
• 42:08
  realized that he actually got more, had more fun watching me
• 42:11
  race than he did racing himself. And so he told me.
• 42:14
  So we're just going to, we're going to, I'm going to get rid
• 42:17
  of my stuff and, and put everything behind you and, and
• 42:21
  see what happens. And so that's.
• 42:24
  That was kind of going to lead me to it.
• 42:26
  You know, I know that racing's expensive is all get out at any
• 42:30
  level. How did you get to that?
• 42:33
  That kind of explains how you were starting to be able to work
• 42:35
  your way up that ladder to to get on to to where eventually,
• 42:39
  you know, you made it to the Cup.
• 42:41
  How did you do that? How did you how did you make
• 42:43
  money and all of that stuff back and then was it just winning
• 42:46
  races or? Yeah, everything, everything was
• 42:50
  strictly, you know what didn't wasn't really getting any
• 42:54
  sponsorship. Dad was helping me all the way
• 42:57
  up to about 1982, something like that, 8182 and he had an
• 43:05
  opportunity to buy his business by the by the real estate there.
• 43:08
  And it was a couple 1,000,000 bucks to to buy it.
• 43:11
  And he said, I'm going to have to, you know, back away from
• 43:14
  race car. You got to go out on your own
• 43:16
  and, you know, get your own sponsor and all that stuff,
• 43:19
  because, you know, I can't, I'm not going to be able for to do
• 43:22
  it anymore until I get my, you know, buy this land to get it
• 43:24
  paid off. And then by then I'll come back
• 43:26
  and help you maybe. And thought it was in the world
• 43:30
  when he said that, you know, but really the way it was, it was a,
• 43:34
  you know, probably the best thing that ever happened to me
• 43:38
  because it taught me that, you know, the money didn't grow on
• 43:41
  trees, you know, and, and, and I had to the hardest thing for me
• 43:45
  to do was go out and ask people for money.
• 43:48
  And they just, you know, it just wasn't in me to do that.
• 43:51
  I just, I just, you know, it just wasn't, I wasn't good at
• 43:54
  that. But but, but my desire to go
• 43:58
  race and the win was, was, was greater than than you know, than
• 44:04
  you know, the, the scaredness that I guess you'd say of going
• 44:08
  out and asking people for money. So.
• 44:10
  Yeah, so because. You knew what you were.
• 44:13
  Trying to get to and you knew. You had to do at all cost.
• 44:15
  So anyway I went you know went and you know was able to land a
• 44:20
  few sponsors here and there that kind of helped me out a lot.
• 44:25
  You know, when when you know to get me by became good friends
• 44:29
  with the the banker down and clear at Central State Bank.
• 44:33
  And you know, I would not advise anybody do this.
• 44:37
  But at that time, you know, I'd I'd go borrow 1012 hundred
• 44:41
  dollars a week and, you know, go go run a race or two races one
• 44:46
  weekend and I'd go win and come Monday, I'd go pay it back and
• 44:50
  and then I'd go go again. And you know, did that numerous
• 44:54
  times. And luckily the banker saw
• 44:56
  something in me that, you know, luckily.
• 44:59
  That's because that's basically like a cash game back then too,
• 45:02
  wasn't everybody put money in the pot and and kind of
• 45:05
  splitting it up a little bit too, right or.
• 45:07
  Well, I wasn't splitting it up. I was, I was putting it right
• 45:11
  back in the car. You know, everything I made, you
• 45:15
  know, I was putting it right back in the car and yeah, you
• 45:19
  know, we just, you know, very tough thing.
• 45:22
  But you were you were. You were betting on yourself and
• 45:25
  you knew you. Weren't.
• 45:27
  Gambling on cards or a machine or nothing else.
• 45:30
  You're gambling on yourself. You're like, if everything holds
• 45:32
  up, I bet, I'm, I bet. I know I can make this happen.
• 45:35
  I got a big break. You know a guy named Billy
• 45:39
  Knight out of Haleyville, Alabama.
• 45:42
  Give me an opportunity to drive his dash card at Daytona, you
• 45:47
  know, semi race and what have you on the late models and stuff
• 45:51
  and went to drive that car and went to Daytona and made two
• 45:54
  laps. The engine blew up first time
• 45:56
  didn't have another one. So we was done with Daytona
• 46:02
  didn't get didn't get to race Daytona for the first time.
• 46:05
  And so we went and we went come back and we went runner dash, 4
• 46:13
  cylinder dash race there at Birmingham and we tore a rear
• 46:19
  end up or something was leading the race there and then went to
• 46:22
  Montgomery. They had a dash race at
• 46:24
  Montgomery when we won that dash race there.
• 46:27
  And and then got throughout all that, I got to know a guy named
• 46:34
  Richard Mash who who Michael Walter drove for in a dash
• 46:38
  series. And we became good friends and
• 46:41
  every time we just always would meet each other somewhere in the
• 46:44
  pit area, you know, unintentional, just kind of, you
• 46:46
  know, and he'd always say, man, I want you to drive my car.
• 46:49
  And I said, man, I'd love drive your car, you know, because he
• 46:51
  had like top notch stuff. And anyway, the next year the
• 46:56
  guy that the gentleman he had driving for his car got killed
• 46:58
  at Daytona in a test. And he called me up, said, you
• 47:02
  know, I hate to ask you to do this, but you know, I'd like if
• 47:06
  you drive my car at Daytona and don't know how far, you know,
• 47:09
  I'll be able to go without sponsorship and everything.
• 47:12
  But you're the best driver that I know of.
• 47:14
  And that's who I won't drive my car.
• 47:16
  And so I had to tell a guy out of Haleyville that I, I chose to
• 47:21
  go with this other guy and, you know, took it one race chance
• 47:24
  and we went to Daytona and finished second down there.
• 47:28
  And then as I guess about a month later before the next next
• 47:36
  race we started, we got a sponsor, their local sponsor
• 47:41
  there, Pontiac dealership, Bush Pontiac there and right outside
• 47:47
  of Hickory somewhere. Anyway, picked that sponsorship
• 47:52
  up and we went on that year and won the Dash Series
• 47:55
  championship. We had something like nine wins
• 47:59
  out of 12 races and we dominated and won the championship.
• 48:03
  And it was, you know, and then that that door open, open the
• 48:08
  door for me with Pontiac, I became real good friends with
• 48:11
  all the people at Pontiac and driving driving.
• 48:15
  That was the brand of the car that the dash car was.
• 48:17
  And anyway, which led me to Rod Austin's deal on the that Rod
• 48:25
  Austin was starting a new team, which turned out to be the Heinz
• 48:30
  57 car. And in 1989 and I met what I, I
• 48:36
  built my took my money. I didn't, I didn't want to run
• 48:39
  any more dash series cars. I took my money from winning the
• 48:41
  championship and I took, built my own Grand National car at
• 48:46
  that time, what they call a Bush Grand National car and went,
• 48:50
  went, went up to Carolinas, going to race it up there.
• 48:53
  And people said, what's going up to Carolina's for?
• 48:55
  I said, well, I'm going to try to race in front of some of
• 48:57
  them, some of them teams, you know, where they can maybe get
• 49:01
  unlike Mike and get noticed, Yeah.
• 49:02
  Because for people who. Don't know what a?
• 49:04
  Car all. It's historically North Carolina
• 49:08
  area is where everybody's home base is.
• 49:10
  It was that way too then, apparently always has been.
• 49:13
  Happening, Yep, Yep, same way, Yep, Yep, Yep.
• 49:16
  But I went went and raced, went and raced up there.
• 49:19
  But every time I'd go up there to race, I'd always swing by all
• 49:22
  their Osterlins. And because I knew they was
• 49:24
  putting together A-Team and, and I stopped in there and got to
• 49:28
  know the general manager, Roland Malonica, who was the general
• 49:32
  manager for Dale Earnhardt senior.
• 49:34
  Also when he drove for Rod Osterlin, this was 10 years
• 49:39
  later from he was starting up his his new team.
• 49:43
  But anyway, I got to know him and I said, you know, I want you
• 49:46
  to come watch me race some night and, you know, one of his
• 49:49
  weekends. So I got to where I'd go up
• 49:51
  there and race was on Saturday. I'd go up there on Thursday and
• 49:53
  I'd swing by and have my car and trailer and, you know, come
• 49:57
  watch me race Hickory. And but anyway, he got to where
• 49:59
  he finally come watch me race and and he said I started like,
• 50:06
  I don't know, 23rd or something like that.
• 50:08
  And, and at that time, you know, it was a big field and all that
• 50:12
  stuff and end up finishing night that night.
• 50:16
  And I was really dejected because of, you know, I mean, I
• 50:20
  wanted to win, but, you know, you're going against the top dog
• 50:22
  to, you know, on the home tracks and stuff.
• 50:25
  And Roland stood there in my pits the whole time and I got
• 50:30
  out after the race and said, man, I'm sorry.
• 50:31
  I didn't, you know, do any better.
• 50:32
  And and he said doing better. He said, man, you done great.
• 50:36
  I said, really, I didn't win. You know what he said?
• 50:39
  He said, well, he said, let me tell you something, something He
• 50:43
  said, I sit there and watched you all night.
• 50:45
  He said, do you realize how many cars passed you all night?
• 50:49
  And I said, no, I really don't. He said, he said not a one.
• 50:53
  I said, what? He said not one car passed you
• 50:55
  all night. He said you pass cars all night.
• 50:59
  And he said that was very impressive.
• 51:02
  And he said, and I want, I want to, I want, you know, I want you
• 51:06
  to come over my house and you know tomorrow and I want, we're
• 51:08
  going to call Rod and talk to him.
• 51:10
  Rod Osterlin. And so, so anyway, we did that
• 51:15
  and Rod flew down week or two later and met me and my wife and
• 51:21
  you know, we kind of went from there.
• 51:23
  That's kind of what give us a break to get into cup stuff
• 51:26
  that's. Awesome man.
• 51:26
  You got from 23rd to 9th and in your mind like you said
• 51:29
  dejected, but you realize or he realized that you went from 23rd
• 51:33
  to 9th without getting past. So he saw something that's.
• 51:35
  Right, that's so. Funny you mentioned, did you
• 51:37
  ever talk to the guy in Haleyville again?
• 51:40
  Do you ever hook back up with him at any point?
• 51:43
  Never did. No, I never did.
• 51:47
  You know, he's a great guy, was great guy.
• 51:48
  I think he's, it's been so long ago now.
• 51:51
  I think he's probably passed. Away, but who were some of you
• 51:53
  buds that you really like to do stuff with, you know off the
• 51:56
  track? Did I mean I know y'all had to
• 51:57
  because, like anything, you racing some, but then there's a
• 51:59
  lot of downtime and press days and events you got to be at
• 52:03
  together. Was anybody that you that you
• 52:04
  really just enjoyed or you and Pam and y'all vacation together
• 52:07
  with them or anything? Gosh, not other drivers.
• 52:10
  We I didn't like any drivers. HUD is a competitor, baby.
• 52:14
  That's what I wanted to hear. You probably took you got like
• 52:17
  your crew chief and his wife like what couple of your buddies
• 52:19
  from the shop? Absolutely.
• 52:22
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, we kept our circle small,
• 52:25
  tried to. But for the most part it was,
• 52:29
  you know, we, I just, you know, I never liked having.
• 52:32
  I never liked the idea of having, you know, being close
• 52:35
  friends with people you're on the track with.
• 52:38
  You know, I was, I was too close to Davy, you know, closer.
• 52:41
  And I really wanted to be and but but for the most part, he
• 52:45
  and I, I mean, we were friends and true friends.
• 52:47
  And you know, when, you know, hated the race against him, you
• 52:54
  know, he was tough and and he knew I was tough.
• 52:57
  And, you know, we took a chance on running each other and didn't
• 53:00
  want to wreck each other. So, you know, both of us took
• 53:03
  always took a little extra pains and never run into each other on
• 53:06
  a racetrack. We might or something like that
• 53:09
  on each other. Was there, is there every any of
• 53:11
  those stories at either one of your parties or Christmas dinner
• 53:14
  or something of you and your father-in-law argued y'all get
• 53:16
  out there in the in the in the wives cars and race down the
• 53:19
  driveway or anything crazy like that.
• 53:23
  Or. Race.
• 53:25
  No, no, no, no. By that time, the alcoholic.
• 53:28
  Didn't need to be driving nothing.
• 53:30
  The greatest NASCAR movie in my opinion or my generation's
• 53:33
  opinion for sure, that that opened the eyes and it was in
• 53:36
  the heyday of NASCAR was Days of Thunder.
• 53:39
  And you actually had a part in helping on some of that.
• 53:42
  You were around during that era. That was in its height.
• 53:45
  First day they said well, you, you know, we know we're going to
• 53:47
  be here, you know, 10 days. So here's, you know, here's $100
• 53:51
  a day for them. We won't go ahead and give you
• 53:52
  that. OK, so we took that.
• 53:54
  So you know, we, we don't know why they give me the $100 a day
• 54:00
  for them because they had an 18 Wheeler truck every day that
• 54:03
  showed up at the racetrack and we eat breakfast off of it.
• 54:06
  Then the truck would leave and come back and bring lunch and
• 54:09
  and then if we was there doing a late night movie scene, we'd
• 54:12
  have supper and and every meal was just.
• 54:17
  It's all catered. Primer, it was all well, it was
• 54:19
  all they they made it on that truck supposedly.
• 54:22
  I mean, it was it was AI mean it, it had every every every
• 54:26
  day. I mean, it was it was, you know,
• 54:29
  prime rib and lobster tail or the most.
• 54:32
  They had they had catering on set every day along with craft
• 54:35
  services and all that stuff. That was, Oh yeah, that was
• 54:39
  Paramount Pictures. That was as big as it gets you.
• 54:41
  Know Oh yeah, my first day they give me a they give me a key to
• 54:46
  my to my room and or to my dressing room.
• 54:49
  Trailer My. Dressing room.
• 54:51
  Yeah. Trailer and I thought that was
• 54:53
  pretty cool man who am I man I got home yeah you know I'm on
• 54:56
  the room and all that stuff yeah yeah that's so cool but but I.
• 55:00
  Didn't have didn't have your name on the door.
• 55:03
  You didn't get you didn't think. You didn't even think about to
• 55:05
  get it at the time. Well, you know, really at that
• 55:09
  time you didn't have, I wouldn't walk around with a camera.
• 55:11
  We didn't have, you know, cell phones like we do now with
• 55:14
  cameras on them, you know, stuff and but it sure did Yep, that's
• 55:19
  a matter of fact. I might have a.
• 55:20
  Picture of that. I bet those are some of the
• 55:22
  little memories that if you could go back in time and have a
• 55:25
  phone, that would be one that you would love to.
• 55:27
  Have. Oh yeah.
• 55:28
  Take a picture of everything that's happening.
• 55:31
  You were the expert. You were the expert talent.
• 55:33
  They had to. They had to bring in the ringer
• 55:35
  to tell told the boys how to do it.
• 55:36
  I think Greg Sachs was, he was, he was a full time guy there.
• 55:40
  He was actually the only full time race driver that that
• 55:43
  helped work on them Days of Thunder movie.
• 55:46
  There was myself and Rick Mast and Bobby Hamilton and I think
• 55:52
  that was about it. I think Sterling Marlin come
• 55:55
  along there some and helped. But, you know, it was a, it was
• 56:00
  a fun thing to do. You know, matter of fact, I made
• 56:04
  more money doing that than I did driving a race car.
• 56:06
  And so I, you know, I'd like, I'd like to pursue that a little
• 56:10
  bit farther, but it just wasn't any more days of Thunders to be
• 56:13
  done at that time. And you said your interactions
• 56:16
  you had with like Tom Cruise and all, everybody was fine.
• 56:19
  You thought everybody was pretty cordial and it was a good, good
• 56:22
  bunch, huh? Very much so.
• 56:25
  Yep. Yep, you know, the, the, you
• 56:28
  know, kind of like you talking about you sitting around a lot,
• 56:32
  you know, while they're waiting to film the next scene.
• 56:35
  There was a lot of that goes on, you know, you see, you know, we
• 56:40
  was sitting in a grandstands at Volusia County trying to, you
• 56:44
  know, as they were filming, filming a scene with Tom and
• 56:50
  crew chief Guy can't think his name right off.
• 56:56
  Robert Duvall. Yeah.
• 56:59
  And you know, that that was such a neat thing to be a part of,
• 57:04
  you know, because I was a Robert Duvall fan, too.
• 57:07
  And you know then. And yeah, he was.
• 57:10
  He was. Incredible he is nice.
• 57:12
  Think he would be? Very much.
• 57:14
  What you see on film is that kind of his demeanor and.
• 57:17
  How he was sold down to earth, man, you would never know he
• 57:20
  was. He's like you said, he's got to
• 57:22
  be top three all time actors. I really, I really feel like,
• 57:29
  you know, in person he was more down to earth in person than
• 57:31
  you. What you see?
• 57:32
  And you know, he was friends with all of the country guys,
• 57:34
  too. He was friends with Waylon and
• 57:36
  and Merle Haggard and all those guys.
• 57:37
  They used to run together and do stuff and they were all friends.
• 57:40
  Willie that. Whole lot.
• 57:43
  I do have a question about Robert Devaldo.
• 57:44
  Was his delivery of the spoken word the same way it was in the
• 57:47
  movies? The way he could deliver?
• 57:49
  Like you know what? I mean, talk to the same pace.
• 57:51
  Oh, yeah, yeah, same way. Yeah.
• 57:54
  I mean, exactly. I mean, now he would, he would,
• 57:57
  he could, you know, stretch it out a little bit, make it more
• 58:00
  animated, whatever. But.
• 58:01
  But for the most part, what you see in the movies was him in
• 58:05
  person. He really I would just, you
• 58:09
  know, you know, really. So you're amazed with.
• 58:12
  How he can watch this guy some of my favorite movies, I mean
• 58:16
  Lonesome Dove. Oh yeah.
• 58:17
  Here I am, here I am still hanging out with him and the and
• 58:20
  the biggest actor in the world right now, Tom Cruise.
• 58:24
  I mean still got. That on VHS?
• 58:26
  Like it's a 3. It's a three VHS deal.
• 58:28
  Oh yeah. Yeah, that Tom, you know Tom.
• 58:31
  I didn't. You know, Tom, he he pretty much
• 58:35
  stayed. He was focused.
• 58:36
  Himself, he was focused. Yeah, he didn't.
• 58:39
  He he was the most, by far the most dedicated and and focused
• 58:47
  individual that I've ever probably been around.
• 58:51
  He was so, you know, every scene, you know, he could, he
• 58:57
  could do a scene and, you know, two or three takes and it would,
• 59:00
  it was really good. And, and they'd say, OK, Tom,
• 59:04
  that's good. He said, no, I'm going to do it
• 59:06
  again. And he would, you know, few of
• 59:08
  the scenes there at Volusia County, he'd do them, you know,
• 59:11
  25 to 35 times, you know, before he said, OK, I'm good, you know,
• 59:17
  and when he said it was good, it was good.
• 59:19
  But you know, that he was, I mean, it was everything he did
• 59:24
  was strictly, you know, he give 110%.
• 59:28
  I mean, just, you know, he was so dialed in and focused on on
• 59:32
  his job at hand. And, you know, when he got in a
• 59:35
  race car, he was he wanted to know all about it and stuff.
• 59:39
  And you know what, you know, I sit there and, you know, I'd
• 59:42
  help him buckle in different things like that.
• 59:44
  And you know, he'd ask questions.
• 59:46
  You don't know what is this for down here?
• 59:48
  And you know, what does this do? And you know, just different
• 59:51
  questions, you know, about certain knobs and stuff.
• 59:55
  Want to be. Accurate.
• 59:56
  He didn't want to just grab something that you know
• 59:58
  wouldn't. Be right No, no, that's right.
• 1:00:00
  Exactly right. You know and you know how do you
• 1:00:04
  want where you put your hands on, you know wheel?
• 1:00:06
  You know, I said, well, I'm, I kind of probably different.
• 1:00:09
  Some people, my arms are a little longer and I, you know,
• 1:00:12
  I. I, I used more my elbow to turn,
• 1:00:14
  to turn the steering wheel on my right elbow and just, you know,
• 1:00:17
  and you know, because you steering wheel was always so
• 1:00:20
  close to you, where he, you know, when he was doing the
• 1:00:23
  filming and stuff, he, he had it extended.
• 1:00:25
  You know, he had to make it look more real so he could, you know,
• 1:00:28
  get more action. But you know, it it, it was just
• 1:00:35
  pretty neat thing. That's cool.
• 1:00:37
  Somebody bit, you know, it's funny, like I heard that being
• 1:00:39
  talked about before because you see it later on as you, you
• 1:00:41
  know, talk about he does his own stunts and does all these
• 1:00:43
  things. He was just dialed in from day
• 1:00:45
  one. It's not something he developed
• 1:00:46
  later on. It was obviously just an 8.
• 1:00:48
  Oh yeah, a human being. And like you said, he could have
• 1:00:51
  probably end up being a professional NASCAR driver, just
• 1:00:53
  one of those kind of people with that kind of laser.
• 1:00:55
  No doubt. Committee.
• 1:00:56
  Shows in that movie because it still holds up and stands the
• 1:00:59
  test of time as just a great movie.
• 1:01:02
  And I mean a real and would you say this because you were in it
• 1:01:06
  at the present time when they shot it?
• 1:01:07
  Was it a pretty good analogy of a pretty good movie as far as
• 1:01:11
  what was really going on in the sport at the time?
• 1:01:13
  I mean, no, obviously it was exaggerated for the the love
• 1:01:16
  scenes and all that, but did they get a lot of it right?
• 1:01:21
  They did, you know, it was probably one of the better ones
• 1:01:26
  that that that I've seen as far as, you know, getting things
• 1:01:30
  right and doing it like it actually is.
• 1:01:33
  But you know, I don't know. I think he's, you know, you
• 1:01:40
  know, a few things. I, I, I try to tell him, I think
• 1:01:42
  if they could have somehow captured it, you know, the, the,
• 1:01:47
  the gentleman start your engines right after the national anthem.
• 1:01:52
  You know, if they could have captured the field of gentleman
• 1:01:54
  start your engines when all the engines fire and ground shaking
• 1:01:58
  and you know you can't, you know, I mean, I've been around
• 1:02:02
  it. Gives me chills right now
• 1:02:04
  thinking about it. I love it when they hit that
• 1:02:09
  anthem, buddy. It ain't nothing like a NASCAR
• 1:02:11
  race or at at a rodeo or somewhere like that when they do
• 1:02:14
  it and buddy, they come, they hit them cars or the horses come
• 1:02:17
  out, buddy, that's as good as it gets.
• 1:02:19
  And then? It blew my mind.
• 1:02:21
  I took my son to Talladega. I think this was 2012 or 13, and
• 1:02:26
  man, it's the first time I've been to a NASCAR race and they
• 1:02:28
  did that. It was absolutely so surreal.
• 1:02:30
  You know, it was like, Oh my God, this is getting real, boys.
• 1:02:34
  This. Is the.
• 1:02:35
  Heart of America right there. That's good.
• 1:02:36
  Working class folks. That's real America right there.
• 1:02:39
  That's America we grew up on. Food wise, you grew up in
• 1:02:42
  Birmingham, AL. I'm sure you're a fan of meat
• 1:02:44
  and threes and good old southern food like the rest of us was.
• 1:02:48
  Was BBQ a big thing? When I left Alabama, I thought
• 1:02:52
  Alabama had the best barbecue without a doubt.
• 1:02:55
  And, and then I went moved to North Carolina and of course
• 1:02:59
  went around a few BBQ places up there and they were OK.
• 1:03:02
  And then we found this one place up there in North Carolina that
• 1:03:06
  it put, which most of them do. I didn't know what that time put
• 1:03:10
  slaw on their on their barbecue. And I thought, man, that's,
• 1:03:14
  that's the craziest thing I've ever seen anybody doing.
• 1:03:17
  So I got to try it. So anyway I I I tried it and got
• 1:03:22
  hooked on it and now I hardly eat a BBQ.
• 1:03:25
  I'm the same way. I ate one in Memphis that way
• 1:03:27
  one time and was like, how do you know that was the thing?
• 1:03:30
  How did I not know about? This, yeah, yeah, man, this.
• 1:03:35
  But you know, I'd like to go back now.
• 1:03:37
  A few of these places in in the Birmingham area where we used to
• 1:03:41
  eat because a lot of times I'd fly when I fly home after a
• 1:03:44
  race, I'd always meet my lawyer there on Monday.
• 1:03:46
  And meeting somewhere down in Birmingham and we talked about
• 1:03:50
  the race, what all happened and all all that good stuff.
• 1:03:52
  And, and when I always go, had a certain BBQ place we'd go to
• 1:03:56
  there and place called Ollie's BBQ there in Birmingham.
• 1:04:01
  I think, I don't know if they're still open or not.
• 1:04:03
  I think they've actually shut down.
• 1:04:05
  But one of the greatest barbecue, we always look forward
• 1:04:09
  to going there. Who did you, did you buddy up
• 1:04:11
  with any of the anybody while you were playing that you ran
• 1:04:14
  into multiple times? I know we talked about you got
• 1:04:15
  to be at chose because people, people don't know this.
• 1:04:18
  You had never been to a NASCAR race.
• 1:04:20
  Most times the night before, the night after the race.
• 1:04:23
  So there's a big concert on the infield or somewhere on the
• 1:04:25
  track or something or outside the track.
• 1:04:27
  And I played, I mean, one time we opened for Travis Tritt out
• 1:04:30
  outside of Bristol and I've we open for 38 Special on the
• 1:04:34
  infield of Talladega. And actually this April 26th,
• 1:04:38
  we're Justin Moore is playing the infield of Talladega the
• 1:04:40
  Saturday night before the the race in April this year.
• 1:04:45
  Yeah. So, so when you were when you
• 1:04:47
  were you in your heyday of riding, which you were riding
• 1:04:50
  for a long time, but during that time who were, I know, didn't
• 1:04:53
  you say you rent? Tracy Lawrence did a few things
• 1:04:55
  and some different ones. Who were some that you remember
• 1:04:58
  from that era? I always love Tracy Lawrence for
• 1:05:04
  sure. You know, as far as the country,
• 1:05:06
  I. Can't wait to hook y'all.
• 1:05:07
  To 38 Special. Y'all go get along fine, y'all
• 1:05:10
  go love each other. Yeah, they the 38 Special tell
• 1:05:14
  you a quick story about them. I was doing an autograph
• 1:05:16
  session, I guess in 96 or 97 in in Miami at A at a circuit city
• 1:05:24
  when, when they was my sponsor and they had 38 Special coming
• 1:05:30
  there and and did an autograph session with me.
• 1:05:33
  They they kind of split up. I was in the middle and they
• 1:05:36
  down each, you know, this long table.
• 1:05:38
  Anyway, we we they was in all to meet me and I was in all to meet
• 1:05:43
  them and anyway shook hands and, you know, got, you know, friends
• 1:05:47
  and what have you. But anyway, we've got ready to
• 1:05:49
  leave and and he, he said, they asked me.
• 1:05:52
  He said, he said, you know, you got any plans?
• 1:05:54
  What are you? What are you fixing to do?
• 1:05:56
  I said, I'll probably go back to motel.
• 1:05:57
  Whatever. Anyway, So I said, you know, go
• 1:06:00
  walk through the mall here with us.
• 1:06:01
  So anyway, walk through the mall and I was walk through the mall.
• 1:06:04
  He said one of the singers had a guitar.
• 1:06:06
  They wanted to go look at it the guitar store.
• 1:06:09
  So anyway, walk through there and I walked in there and of
• 1:06:13
  course all the out the people at work at the guitar store knew
• 1:06:18
  who they were. And so they each one of them
• 1:06:21
  grabbed the guitar off the ball and and they were looking for a
• 1:06:25
  guitar. I remember if I remember this
• 1:06:28
  right, it's called Rick and Bob Rick.
• 1:06:30
  And it was yeah, it was A at that time it was like it just
• 1:06:34
  come out, if I remember right or something like that.
• 1:06:37
  Anyway, it was about a whatever 12 string guitar or something,
• 1:06:42
  if I remember right. What made it unique anyway?
• 1:06:45
  They. Yeah, we got two of them.
• 1:06:46
  So guys, they give me each one. They plugged into an amp over
• 1:06:50
  there. And so I noticed they all had
• 1:06:53
  grabbed the guitar and they sat around there and all of a
• 1:06:56
  sudden, man, next time I know you.
• 1:06:58
  They OK, You ready? You're ready?
• 1:06:59
  Yeah, I'm ready. OK.
• 1:07:00
  You know, so 123 more, they all split up, started playing
• 1:07:05
  guitars. Man, I'm going to tell you what,
• 1:07:08
  man, that that was incredible. I mean, them guys just out of
• 1:07:12
  the blue and I looked up and and, and there was people and it
• 1:07:16
  was outside the doors. I mean outside the glass windows
• 1:07:19
  in the mall, all the way around with her, you know, up there
• 1:07:23
  just listening and just, you know, shouting and stuff.
• 1:07:26
  They I mean, it's crazy. But that was pretty cool to be a
• 1:07:30
  part of that. I was inside with them guys.
• 1:07:32
  And you know, like I said, it was, it was, you know, it was
• 1:07:37
  looking back and you didn't really realize how cool that
• 1:07:39
  was. What do they call that today?
• 1:07:41
  Busting or whatever, Something like that.
• 1:07:42
  We just pop up, start playing. I don't.
• 1:07:45
  I don't know. I'm not, I'm not.
• 1:07:48
  But I know. I know.
• 1:07:49
  I can't believe you didn't get a guitar off and act like at least
• 1:07:52
  for the pick or something be like hell yeah I'm playing with
• 1:07:54
  38 Special they. Were too good for me.
• 1:07:58
  Well, now we know. Now we know who your band's
• 1:08:00
  going to be when we start to hunt Strickland music career
• 1:08:03
  here. When you get ready to retire
• 1:08:04
  again, we go. That's what we going to do. 38
• 1:08:07
  Special back in Hut. This is going to be amazing.
• 1:08:10
  Yeah, loosely, baby. Did they play their hits?
• 1:08:13
  How long did they play? No, I played probably.
• 1:08:18
  I know, I know one or two songs really always played.
• 1:08:20
  But I mean, it was, it was so loud.
• 1:08:23
  I mean, man, it was, you know, you know who they was when they
• 1:08:25
  started playing. I don't remember which song it
• 1:08:26
  was, but man, it was, it was. I mean, it was, it was like
• 1:08:30
  something. You see in the middle it.
• 1:08:31
  Really sounds like something out of the Blues Brothers or
• 1:08:33
  something. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:08:36
  Like the southern rock version of the Blues Brothers.
• 1:08:38
  So do you like that kind of stuff too?
• 1:08:39
  You always like classic rock, Southern rock, all that.
• 1:08:42
  I like all of it, you know? I love country music, you know,
• 1:08:47
  all of it. You know, the stuff, a lot of
• 1:08:50
  stuff nowadays I'm not as into as far as you know, I like it,
• 1:08:56
  You know, I like the, the, you know, I like, I like
• 1:09:02
  appreciating a good voice. You know, I like hearing that.
• 1:09:07
  I don't like to hear the, you know, the stuff that I don't
• 1:09:11
  call it. I don't really consider it
• 1:09:12
  country music. A lot of, a lot of it, not all
• 1:09:15
  of it, but there's a lot of it that's, you know, I, I just feel
• 1:09:18
  like it's, I don't know what it is, but it's, it don't it, it
• 1:09:21
  don't compare to what I grew up on, you know, the George Jones
• 1:09:24
  and Conway Twitties and you know, and, and you know, and the
• 1:09:28
  people of that, that era and, you know, it just, it's just,
• 1:09:33
  it's, it's, it's, you know, just totally different.
• 1:09:36
  I'm going to shorten it down a little bit because he actually
• 1:09:38
  hit on a couple things. We caught little bits of
• 1:09:39
  controversy. So I'm going to give you a
• 1:09:41
  little quick, quick question, little answer here, you know, so
• 1:09:45
  we're going to roll literally 3 or 4 questions here for you.
• 1:09:48
  So in your error, in that time that you were in NASCAR, hey,
• 1:09:51
  look, we knew somebody had an edge and somebody knew how to
• 1:09:54
  cheat better than the other one. Who's the best cheater that you
• 1:09:56
  knew during that time frame? Best cheater, probably Chad
• 1:10:04
  Canals. Now, before that, you know, the
• 1:10:10
  Junior Johnson stuff was pretty good.
• 1:10:12
  I'll tell you right now, even when I drove for Junior Johnson,
• 1:10:16
  you know, they had stuff that you know that, that you know, I
• 1:10:22
  mean it. I probably mind.
• 1:10:24
  The links they would go to cheat right?
• 1:10:26
  Some of the stuff, yeah. I mean, you know, we had, we had
• 1:10:30
  Jack screws that we could, you know, at that time, this was
• 1:10:33
  early 90s that, you know, we could, we could move, you know,
• 1:10:37
  with a radio from the pits. You know, we could put, you know
• 1:10:41
  what I mean by Jack screw that would adjust the weight on each
• 1:10:44
  wheel. You know, have each, I'll have 4
• 1:10:47
  Jack screws on a race car that you know, goes on top of each
• 1:10:51
  cold spring. And, and you could have them
• 1:10:54
  radio control like you could adjust it while the car's out on
• 1:10:58
  a racetrack. You know, we're, we're, we're, I
• 1:11:00
  know, I'm sure you guys watch the race where they take they
• 1:11:02
  stick the long extension around there and then they get the
• 1:11:05
  ratchet, you know. Well, this, this thing here,
• 1:11:08
  didn't you know it was all radio controlled?
• 1:11:10
  Don't tell me some good old boys.
• 1:11:11
  Kate, Kate, get in in that. That was that was so fun
• 1:11:15
  advanced compared, you know, I mean that stuff that you know,
• 1:11:18
  you see nowadays, but if stuff like that that you know they had
• 1:11:23
  it was just a lot of stuff that. It's very competitive, just
• 1:11:27
  very, very competitive. Oh yeah.
• 1:11:30
  Wow, wow, that's so cool. We can probably do a whole lot.
• 1:11:34
  Yeah, we're going to have Hut back on one of our normal.
• 1:11:37
  I would I would say probably. Yes, that's right.
• 1:11:40
  I would say probably, you know that there's two of them.
• 1:11:43
  Probably, you know, the junior Johnson, you know, he he, you
• 1:11:47
  know, he had access to a lot of stuff and but he was probably
• 1:11:52
  the old timer and Chad Canals. Was the new time the King and
• 1:11:55
  the Prince? Yep, Yep, Yep, that's all.
• 1:12:00
  Oh best Peaches, Chilton County Peaches or Georgia Peaches?
• 1:12:04
  By far Chilton County. I agree with you too.
• 1:12:07
  I agree with you. Yeah, I'll tell you right now.
• 1:12:09
  Get you hungry wanted. That's good stuff, right?
• 1:12:11
  That. Was quick.
• 1:12:12
  I'm I'm I'm a green plum guy. I don't really care for Peach.
• 1:12:14
  I like Peaches, but they go bad before I eat all of them.
• 1:12:18
  But I get it. But I I like the green plums.
• 1:12:20
  I'm a. You like the you like the
• 1:12:22
  satsumas we have down here. Me.
• 1:12:25
  Too. How lucky.
• 1:12:25
  Are we to have that around here? I mean, they just grow on trees
• 1:12:28
  around here. A million up on each tree.
• 1:12:30
  I do. All right, I'm talking in their
• 1:12:34
  prime. In your prime, the better
• 1:12:38
  driver. You're Davey Allison.
• 1:12:43
  Me. I didn't.
• 1:12:45
  Expect anything less. Davey Allison would tell you the
• 1:12:49
  same thing. Let me tell you, something
• 1:12:50
  happened when Davey got him and one of the crew members and was
• 1:12:55
  in Rockingham and and I was like I said, early 90s and one of his
• 1:13:01
  crew members and him got in the play, play fight, whatever.
• 1:13:05
  And anyway, David got hip, twin legs and went to the bathroom
• 1:13:11
  and blacked out while standing there peeing.
• 1:13:16
  And anyway, yeah. And anyway, NASCAR, you know, we
• 1:13:23
  had to go to the hospital, get checked out anyway, come find
• 1:13:26
  out. Didn't know what, but you know
• 1:13:28
  that happens when you do that. But anyway, NASCAR wouldn't let
• 1:13:31
  him start the race. I wouldn't let him race the next
• 1:13:34
  day for fear of. Yeah, it was like concussion
• 1:13:36
  problem almost. Like black now, yeah.
• 1:13:38
  Yeah. So, so anyway, Robert asked.
• 1:13:41
  Davy said, you know, we got to get somebody to drive the car
• 1:13:43
  who we going to get and he said Hut Strickland.
• 1:13:46
  He said, well he said, well Are you sure you know?
• 1:13:49
  And Davy said Hut Strickland is a better race car driver than I
• 1:13:54
  am. And and so Robert said, well,
• 1:13:57
  let's see if we can't get Hut. And so, so that was on a
• 1:14:02
  Saturday morning when that happened was Saturday evening.
• 1:14:04
  Robert told me, he said, I want you to, you know, stick around
• 1:14:07
  here and get us getting happy out, you know, drive his car
• 1:14:09
  during happy hour because they had a happy happy hour after the
• 1:14:12
  what's called Bush race. And so I made about 3 or 4 laps
• 1:14:17
  in Robert's car in practice and most got off with horsepower I
• 1:14:22
  ever felt in my life. And I'm coming in, I'll spin the
• 1:14:25
  wheels all the way down the straightaway.
• 1:14:28
  I told Robert, Robert said, what do we need to do with the car to
• 1:14:30
  make it faster? I said, Robert, I said, you've
• 1:14:33
  got way too much horsepower. He said way too much horsepower.
• 1:14:36
  I said, yeah, he's I said it's got too much bottom in.
• 1:14:39
  I said it's spinning the wheels all the way down the
• 1:14:40
  straightaway. He said, well, can't we change
• 1:14:43
  the spring or flay bar or something?
• 1:14:44
  And I said, no. I said, I said it's got so much
• 1:14:47
  horsepower you you're not going to be able to hook it up.
• 1:14:50
  He said, what if I he said that? He said, the last time I had a
• 1:14:54
  driver tell me that was Daryl Waltrip back in the die guard
• 1:14:56
  days. And he said, he said, well, he
• 1:15:00
  said, I'll just he looked his guys.
• 1:15:02
  He said, let's take it back to the garage over here.
• 1:15:03
  We're going to pull the engine out and go back to the shop.
• 1:15:06
  So they pulled it out that night and went back to the shop, spent
• 1:15:09
  all night detaining that engine and put it back in the car for
• 1:15:13
  race morning. And anyway, Robert said, you
• 1:15:18
  know, hope that thing runs said I, I took like 50 foot pounds of
• 1:15:21
  torque out of it. I said he's, I said, I said
• 1:15:26
  that'll be about right. And so anyway, so go out there
• 1:15:30
  and they drop the green flag. Davey makes a slow lap and has
• 1:15:33
  to come down pit Rd. We do a driver change and lost
• 1:15:36
  the lap in the in the driver change and come back out on a
• 1:15:40
  racetrack and dead last and went all the way from from the rear
• 1:15:46
  all the way to the front and passed Kyle Petty, who was had
• 1:15:49
  been dominating Rockingham for a lot of years.
• 1:15:52
  And I passed Kyle Petty and got caught up on the lead lap and
• 1:15:58
  caution come out after I passed Kyle and got on lead lap and and
• 1:16:03
  started at the back again come back to the front and got the
• 1:16:06
  lead from Kyle again and drove down in three in the broke a
• 1:16:11
  wristband going in the going in turn 3 and the engine blew up.
• 1:16:16
  And but it was just one of the things I mean, but but it it you
• 1:16:22
  know, and from that moment on, Robert, Robert and I had a bond
• 1:16:26
  there that he's like man, he he was in very impressive, you
• 1:16:29
  know, and and so every time, any opportunity I ever come up, you
• 1:16:35
  know, with Robert to you know, you know, I had course Davies
• 1:16:38
  deal. And then, you know, we tried, I
• 1:16:41
  tried to get out of my contract with, with RJ Reynolds because
• 1:16:45
  at that time I was doing the driving the smoking Joe's car
• 1:16:50
  and I couldn't get out of that. And Robert didn't want me to get
• 1:16:54
  out of that because that was messing with a serious spot
• 1:16:57
  with, with wasting cigarettes. And so, so anyway, then we, you
• 1:17:02
  know, when something happened with Ernie, a lot of the same
• 1:17:04
  thing happened. You know, when Ernie got Ernie
• 1:17:07
  Ervin got hurt driving a 28 car. You know, I was on top guy on
• 1:17:11
  his list to get, get that ride. And it just never worked out for
• 1:17:15
  different reasons and two or three opportunities.
• 1:17:17
  And but, but anyway, you can get, you know, he asked a
• 1:17:24
  question who, who I felt was better, but you didn't hesitate.
• 1:17:28
  And I, I, I didn't hesitate because I, you know, I just
• 1:17:31
  know, I know, I knew, you know, I raced against him a lot.
• 1:17:34
  But but I'll tell you what he was he was good, very good, very
• 1:17:39
  smart chassis wise. You know, he had a lot of
• 1:17:43
  insight from obviously from his dad and his dad was probably one
• 1:17:47
  of the sharpest chassis man, man.
• 1:17:49
  And you know, his uncle Donnie, my, my dad in law, you know,
• 1:17:53
  taught me a lot about race cars and stuff too.
• 1:17:55
  And, you know, to have have that pool to pull from for
• 1:18:01
  information was just, you know, priceless.
• 1:18:03
  Well, and that goes that just goes said you wasn't scared of
• 1:18:06
  it that even that right there you can jump in on a Saturday.
• 1:18:09
  You going to go on a new car. You didn't ever drove it.
• 1:18:11
  I mean, you just wasn't ever scared anywhere.
• 1:18:12
  You hurt. No, no, no, I'd, you know, I, I
• 1:18:17
  could get in anybody's car. And that was one thing, you know
• 1:18:19
  what really helped me out? Getting a Cup ride, my initial
• 1:18:21
  cup ride. You know, I had a guy, I invited
• 1:18:25
  him down to Birmingham one weekend and you know, I said,
• 1:18:28
  you know, love before you come watch me race.
• 1:18:31
  And he come down there and this was in the guy named Skip Janie,
• 1:18:36
  who actually gave my first break in the cup before the Heinz car.
• 1:18:41
  And him and his family come down there, pick him up at the
• 1:18:44
  airport and we went out to Birmingham.
• 1:18:46
  I was just out that night. I was running 3 divisions and
• 1:18:49
  you know, three different cars that night and end up winning
• 1:18:55
  all three divisions that night. And, you know, and he, and it
• 1:18:59
  was from a mini stop to a late model to a super late, you know,
• 1:19:04
  and it was, you know, 3 drastically different cars.
• 1:19:07
  And, you know, just I could, I could adapt, you know, I didn't
• 1:19:11
  never, it didn't take me long to adapt to anything really.
• 1:19:14
  Just, you know, once you're a true racer and I feel like I.
• 1:19:17
  You grew up with a wrench in your hand crawling in them cars.
• 1:19:21
  Your daddy. I mean you didn't have you
• 1:19:22
  didn't have a whole lot of choice, brother.
• 1:19:24
  Man, I'm glad it worked out and man I'm so glad we we got to run
• 1:19:28
  into each other and be friends and now we we I'm I'm the
• 1:19:32
  outside sales guy at the Gulf Shores builder supply.
• 1:19:35
  Now, not not only do am I the no bus driver or the truck driver
• 1:19:41
  delivery guy, I'm still your favorite delivery guy.
• 1:19:43
  Everybody on the Gulf Coast. Don't fret on that.
• 1:19:46
  But if y'all need anything, that's where huts at these days.
• 1:19:49
  Because he sat at home for about what, a week and a half and
• 1:19:52
  twiddled your thumbs and realize this what?
• 1:19:53
  Go cut it. So you had to go do something.
• 1:19:59
  That's right. You got to you got to keep
• 1:20:00
  going, buddy. Make hay while the sun's out.
• 1:20:02
  And we've had a good time becoming buddies.
• 1:20:04
  And thank you for coming on the show.
• 1:20:06
  I hope to get you back on. And maybe during the the NASCAR
• 1:20:10
  season when it's really hot and heavy and it gets to some crunch
• 1:20:12
  time, you can come on and give us some analysis on stuff.
• 1:20:15
  I've got one question for you, HUD.
• 1:20:17
  If you could go go back in time, would you wreck Jeff Gordon at
• 1:20:22
  that race at Darlington and win that one?
• 1:20:24
  Because you should have won that race.
• 1:20:27
  Probably would, probably would. That's what I.
• 1:20:32
  Probably. Would some interdale there huh?
• 1:20:35
  Just get. After that's right, do what you
• 1:20:37
  got to do. That's what these guys do now,
• 1:20:39
  man, they don't, you know, you know you can tell the cars now
• 1:20:42
  that are a lot safer than they ever were.
• 1:20:45
  You know these guys now, man, they they do what they got to do
• 1:20:48
  to win a race. You know, it don't matter, you
• 1:20:51
  know, of course it's, you know, sitting in a car that it's still
• 1:20:54
  got to hurt when you hit something even though you're
• 1:20:55
  surrounded by all that BSI phone that goes, it goes in them cars,
• 1:21:01
  you know. But but it's, you know, it's,
• 1:21:05
  you know, tough thing. Man, what a conversation.
• 1:21:08
  Huge thanks to Hut Strickland for joining us and sharing some
• 1:21:11
  of the best behind the scenes stories from his NASCAR career.
• 1:21:16
  From his early days racing on a budget to calling out some of
• 1:21:19
  the biggest names in the sport, this was an absolute blast.
• 1:21:24
  If you missed Part 1 or if you want to watch the full uncut
• 1:21:28
  interview, you can find it right now on tigsbits.com and also on
• 1:21:33
  our YouTube page at Tigs Bits Podcast.
• 1:21:36
  Go check it out. Make sure you subscribe so you
• 1:21:39
  don't miss more epic interviews like this.
• 1:21:41
  And of course, we'll be back next week with another great
• 1:21:44
  episode. See y'all.