Moonshine Madness!

Now, I don't know if you all have ever heard of a fella named Junior Johnson or not, but I'm pretty darned sure you've heard of a thing called Moonshine!


Up where we are, I have heard rumors, (!) that you can buy a type of liquor brewed in a home made still from certain locals, but that would be illegal and I have certainly never bought any.....


I have heard rumors that it is made with potatoes or corn. Fermented in a metal barrel type thingy and the distilled droplets are liquor.  Legend has it the stuff will make you blind, crazy or just very sick.


I don't know any facts or proof about that, but I have heard of Junior Johnson and the roots of many of the old Nascar racing legends and that most of them learned how to drive by running moonshine through the Carolina's before they could hardly see over the steering wheels of cars!

Follow this link to read about Junior's running days.


Junior is just one of the most famous and he actually went to jail for that exact activity. (He explained that he was just doing what his Daddy told him to do and I for one believe him...) 

Born Robert Glenn Johnson Junior on June 28, 1931, he is one of the good old boys we all fondly acknowedge as a racing legend.  

During his racing days he was one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s and won 50 races in his career before retiring in 1966 to go on and become a racing team owner.  
 The movie The Last American Hero starring Jeff Bridges is supposedly about his racing career.

He now produces a line of fried pork skins and country ham and oh!


 His name graces a label of legal moonshine.


Piedmont Distillers Inc is the official website address link and there's lots of serious information there including the other products they sell. Apparently, they are the only legal moonshine Distiller's in the US.


This is the bottle we found and bought.

The product is only sold in local states and we managed to find this bottle in Myrtle Beach. 

Of course we had to buy it! See why they call it white lightning?

The picture on the label has Junior in overalls, looking very much a bumpkin. He's really not a Bumpkin, even if he has the big old accent, but a successful businessman. The car however, is the real deal and I believe I've seen that exact same one. It's suspension is fortified with multi-shocks and the trunk holds a wooden box to hold the bottles of shine safe for the road trip. They had to be wedged into a box so that the sharp, fast corners wouldn't tumble and break them all!

See, the thing about this alcohol is that it's apparently made from grain, not corn or potatoes, so it has few carbohydrates.  I can't find any information on it's ingredients, so that's only here-say.

The inside of the label gives all the flavors and names they make.


So we tasted it. 
(You can't help but notice our bottle isn't full.)
And Dick loves the stuff!
I, on the other hand, didn't like the bite, but that's just me. The actual taste of it is good, fruity and sweet. It's smooth and seems to have a tendency to run down Dick's throat without any problem what so ever!


Just another chapter in history! Moonshine is such a part of the legacy of the south. Half romantic and half sort of sad.... 


I'm always glad when any of it gets preserved!
(Like Dick will be once he finishes the bottle!)

All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.

History

The Joe Weatherly Gallery


 On our way across North and South Carolina, we stumbled into Darlington, a city known to us as the home of Darlington Raceway, a Nascar track. We didn't mean to go that way, but it was raining and we haven't bought a Road Atlas in fifteen years. We discovered that many of the highways have had their numbers changed and so...

We drove through Darlington, South Carolina!


 Good mistake though, because we drove right past the track and wow! Saw the sign, both of us pointing and going: "Look!" And Dick did a U-EE and schwing! 

We parked the Magnum, went in and toured the museum!

Originally, the facility was called the Joe Weatherly Stock Car Museum; the name was changed following a major renovation and expansion project in 2003.  Just as Darlington Raceway had originally been constructed in 1950 to give stock car racing a platform to rival that of the Indianapolis 500, the Museum was intended to do the same for the history of the still fledgling sport. 

The sign inside tells the story:

We were in the place for at least an hour and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Of course, being Stock Cars fans, the cars and faces in the pictures and posters were familiar and well, we just had a ball!

It's so cool to see some of these old girls because so many of them were cut up and parted out for other cars or just buried as junk. There's a story about several race cars being buried in the back fields of one of the most well known driver's farm.  You have to remember that way back when, it cost money to take a junk car to a wrecker and would be more trouble than it was worth!

There's a nicely rounded out selection of both newer and older things.

The history goes that: 

After a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Musuem, Weatherly suggested to his good friend Bob Colvin, then president of Darlington Raceway, that he consider building a stock car museum in South Carolina. Colvin not only liked the idea, but followed through with it; following his friend's death, Colvin brought plans for the Joe Weatherly Stock Car Museum before the Raceway's Board of Directors, where they were unanimously approved. The facility was officially dedicated on May 2, 1965, and still stands as a testament to the greatness of the sport of stock car racing and those who compete in it. 

 What I like is that they have displayed many of the 'famous' engines and have placards explaining what they are, so you don't have to be an expert to enjoy the history.

Cases of trophies and paraphernalia line the walls, telling folks who owned what.

 This chap, (for my non race fan readers, ) is known as The King of Nascar: Richard Petty. He is famous for these hats and sunglasses!
It's his son and wife; Kyle and Patty who have the Camp in North Carolina for children: 
The Victory Junction Camp. 
(Been there on one of our previous trips!)

And sure enough, they've got one of Richards' cars with its trademark blue and the number 43. A 1967 Plymouth that won 10 races in 1965, the year they opened this museum. 

We love going to museums and especially automotive ones so this was an unexpected treat! 


 I took some other photos as well, but I'm going to follow up with some "Beauty" posts with those because you know how I love cars!


 Thanks for tagging along! Follow the link at the top for Darlington to see the full history of this museum. You won't be sorry.

And if you find yourself using an old map, just remember there's a silver lining in every cloud: We wouldn't have gone here if we'd bought a new map and gone the roads we'd planned!

All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.

Barns

A famous barn!

Here we go! This is a famous barn located in North Carolina.

Was a featured set in a successful movie shot in 1990.



When the movie was filmed, this barn sat out in an empty field but now there's a Nappa Auto Parts store in front of it.

Starred Tom Cruise with Randy Quaid and Robert Duvall and the female star is Nicole Kidman!

 


Coordinates: 35°35'42"N   80°52'42"W ...
Mooresville, NC. 
The Stock car racing capital of the world!

I was really lucky to be working in the business of stock car racing during the filming of the movie and watched the race where they shot the racing sequences to the film. They had two stunt cars all painted up and they actually ran in the regular races of Speed Weeks in Daytona Florida. (February of 1990.)

As memory serves, there's a scene in the movie where there's a bonfire in the background.  Do you think this is still the barrel from the movie?


I can't keep you in suspense any longer. 

It was the movie Days of Thunder! 


This poor old barn is in Mooresville and just west on highway 150, which intersects 77 freeway.  We were still able to park and walk over to it and had a great chat with a fellow who worked at Nappa. This was our umpteenth visit to the barn and Mooresville.

In the movie, this barn is the location of the race teams' shop where they supposedly built the race cars. There are several scenes inside this barn, although I can't for the life of me remember them individually. I do know that it looks a heck of a lot better in the film... And that was 20 years ago. (Argh! 20 years ago????)   

Certainly, as this fellow agreed, the barn is being left to fall by itself and is surrounded by commerce and new build subdivisions of expensive houses. You can see them in some of the shots behind.

Everyone agrees that someone should 'do' something, but nobody can agree on who.... (A familiar thing...)

Nature is starting to reclaim it's own and once the plants gain a foothold, it won't take too long.

The Spanish moss has more than a toehold.

 Seeds dropped by passing birds find purchase, sprout and flourish.
(Remember these photos were taken in February.)

This type of peak is so prevalent in North Carolina. It affords good protection to the opening.

 Still, the rafters are good and she has great bones. 

She was built with round head nails and milled lumber which means she isn't that old.

The termites have taken residence near the ground. I didn't dare go in to see how high the damage had gone.

I hope that the people who are able to will soon do something to preserve this building of unique beauty with it's particular claim to fame.  Apparently, the land is worth so much vacant that the likely hood of someone preserving this barn is minimal to none, so I'm glad I was able to snap the thirty some odd photos I did. Maybe someday it'll mean something to somebody. I can only hope so.


Mooresville is the self proclaimed home of Nascar racing and is where many of the famous moonshine boys live near, namely "Junior Johnson. There are  museums and many race shops that you can visit, including Dale and Kelly Earnhardt's JR Racing.


We just like the area which includes Lake Norman and we always stop either going to or from Florida. (Ok! So we're racing fans too!)


I should see that movie again, although having lived the actual life, I found the story cheesy, the characters unbelievable and the actual racing scenes unreal. 

BUT!

I have watched that sucker a gazillion times, loving it more every time.  So! I have to go to the video store and get it! 

Dick! (I yell!) 

Gas up the Magnum!


Rent or download the movie if you can find it and see if you can spot this old scarecrow in her heyday.



All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.