Going Racing

Summerour stands out front of the former garage of "Buckshot" Morris, where he worked.

“I had helped Gober all those years anyway. I met him about 1950 over at the Cherokee Garage,” Jimmy said. “Went to a lot of races all over North Georgia with him. In 1955, we built a 1955 Oldsmobile and the 1939 Ford coupe to run both at Daytona. We towed the ‘39 with the Olds, but blew both motors during qualifying. We put an Olds engine in the ’39 but everyone thought it was a Lincoln. We had taken the starter and moved it to the opposite side because the steering gear box was in the way. Plus, we put Lincoln valve covers on the engine. After the tech inspection, they had written on the windshield ‘Lincoln powered Ford.’

“Gober was a master on dirt. I watched him set up and put Lee petty out of the ball park at Lakewood. Then after the races, here comes Lee and apologizes to Gober for running into him. And Gober had told us before the races that he was going to put him out of the park.

“But I got to where I wasn’t making any money. I would forget about customer’s cars and work on the racecars. Gober had four at the time – a 1934 Ford coupe, the 1939 Ford he had had for years, a 1957 Chevrolet convertible and a 1957 Plymouth that he got from Chrysler.”

How did he get the Plymouth?

“He went to Daytona, then to Detroit after the races and came back with the car and lots of parts. Chrysler had carried the Plymouth to Daytona but had not done well. Sam Colvin went to Detroit with Gober.

“I wasn’t getting enough to eat on. To make a living I had to get out of racing. I went to work for Buckshot Morris. He had five mechanics and I would work as the service manager.”

Jimmy was 24 years old and running a major Atlanta auto service garage. Jimmy had graduated from the School of Hard Knocks with a graduate degree in race cars and acquired some new friends.