Bud Lunsford
Bobby Whitmire and the boys pose for a photo prior to the start of one of many races he competed in during the 1950s. From left to right, Bobby Whitmire, Bud Lunsford, Johnny "Hubcap" Stevens, James Harrington and Ken Chapman. Photo courtesy the Bobby Whitmire collection
Bobby has been friends with Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Bud Lunsford since early in his racing career, but there were times when Bud would strain that relationship. Bobby told us about one of the big races at Toccoa Speedway in Toccoa, Georgia.
“At one of those marathon races at Toccoa, Bud teamed up with Bill Hemby and I teamed up with James Harrington,” Bobby said. “Bud ran most of the race and didn’t let Hemby run but the minimum they would allow for a teammate. James and I had it down pretty good. We were sitting in the cars when the other came in, and we didn’t hardly lose any time at all.
“We were leading near the end when there was a wreck on the track. Bud called over to us to let him go by, as he was a lap down. When we restarted, I finally went high and Bud passed me. He went on to win and James and I finished second. He came over after the race and apologized and said he thought he was a lap down. When I let him get by was when he took the lead!”
One of the important parts of the old racers was the tires. In the mid-fifties, there were no special made tires for dirt track racing form either Goodyear or Firestone, unless you ran at Indianapolis. Bobby told us about certain folks that helped with this.
A flyer for a championship race at Banks County Speedway near Baldwin, GA, featuring Bobby Whitmire, Bud Lunsford, T.C. Hunt, Tommie Irvin, Chester Barron and many more legends. Courtesy the Bobby Whitmire collection
“Ford Hughes, who used to work at Gordy Tire down on 14th Street in Atlanta, made up some good tires for us,” he said. “Early one year, we went to Harris, NC. I heard a couple of the local drivers talking at the drivers meeting. ‘Have you seen those big ol’ tires on those Georgia cars?’ Dedman had the track then. I went up and won. The second time I went I carried Bud with me and he won and I was second. Then we carried James Harrington up there and I ran third. I did outrun Jim Bradshaw when I carried him up there. The next week the promoter had people calling him about whether those Georgia cars were coming again. He would pay us tow money, motel and expenses. That was pretty unusual back then.”
Bobby told about another time that he worked with Bud that paid off.
“Bud came down and asked me if I needed new tires,” he said. “He had some literature on some new tires. He wanted somebody to try them, but he had just bought a whole supply of Racemasters for his shop. I had to promise that if they were any good, he could grind off anything about the manufacturers that was on the tires. I believe he spoke to Bob Newton personally. Leonard went down to the airport to pick them up. We hardly had time to mount them before the races.
“They sent me three different tires, different sizes and different compounds. I had already gone to the track before Leonard got there with the tires. We chanced them and went out for practice. Bud came down after we came back in and asked if we had already ground the names off all the tires. I told him we hadn’t had time. He told us to just stay down here in the dark. He was following me and those tires were throwing rooster tails all over him. I lot to Bud that night at Banks County. But first thing the next morning, he was over at my place grinding the numbers off the tires. He couldn’t believe that all we had done was changed the tires. He thought maybe we had changed engines or something.