Jimmy Summerour-The Man Behind the Scenes


A Brief Pause

In 1964, after his adventure in the NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) scene, Summerour built this car for fellow Georgia Racing Hall of Famer T.C. Hunt.

“Here it was late 1961 and I was married,” Summerour said.  “I just kinda got out of racing to settle down in married life. Her name was Jerry Wilson from Covington. She lived next door to the man that ran Newton County Drag Strip. Next thing I know we are married. I stayed completely away from racing. But we divorced in 1964. My son, Joseph Harold was only a few months old. During the separation, she had custody. One weekend I went down to get him and just didn’t take him back. He didn’t need to be raised by her. My mother helped with Joseph during the week. They were going to carry me to court, but nothing ever came of it. She died mysteriously in 1968.”

Once separated from his wife, Jimmy was lured to the roar of engines at the local Peach Bowl Speedway near downtown Atlanta.

“I rode near the Peach Bowl and heard them running,” he said. “I went down to see what I could see. The next day I started building a 1955 Chevy – the yellow #88 that T. C. Hunt drove. Ike Bowen owned the car that T. C. was driving at the time. But it was worn out. It was an old car they bought from Bobby Allison. When Ike found out I was building a new car, he asked me to build him one. I finished my car to run at the Peach Bowl and built another one for T. C. to drive on the other circuits.”

“Joe Smith bought the car from Ike Bowen in 1966 and we ran anywhere we could,” Jimmy added.  “We use to go somewhere different to try them out. We pooled the two cars to run the different tracks.”

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