About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2013)
A Historic Festival of Challenges Don't forget that the Battle of Byron, which was rescheduled due to weather, is ready to kick off Saturday, August 10th at North Peach Park beginning at 10 am. PEACH COUNTY SCHOOL Open House - August 9, 2013 BES 4:00 to 6:00 BMS 5:00 to 6:30 PCHS 6:00 to 7:30 Hobby Turned Into Racer’s Dream For Woodro Josey By Victoria Simmons The Byron Buzz Sometimes your passion turns into a career. For Woodro Josey, who now lives in Byron, his hobby turned into a profes sion which he says turned out to be a ’’racer’s dream”. Growing up in Johnson County, Wrightsville, Geor gia, Woodro Josey ended up in Macon in 1962. He made a few trips to Camp Wheeler Drag Strip after landing in Macon. Following his first tirp to the track, he was hooked and would go to the drag strip almost every Sunday to race his 1962 Ford, which was in real ity, his street car, but was now serving as his race car. In 1963, he met a wonder ful lady whom he married in February 1964. Fortunately, she too, was a fan of drag racing and after 49 years, she still loves the sport. Not too long after that he built a 1956 Ford for the sole purpose of drag racing. He and his friend, Albert Holt, would tow their race cars to Camp Wheeler for Sunday fun. In 1964 he went to the then new, Warner Robins Dragway. ’’Man was it nice,” he said. ”1 was used to a starting line flagman at Camp Wheeler but there was no flagman at Warner Robins Dragway.” Josey says Warner Rob ins Dragway actually used a Christmas tree which was elec tronically controlled, to stage and start the race cars. With Holt’s help, they built a 1956 Ford for Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron. ”1 really enjoyed racing on a paved oval track,” he said. ”We had a lot of fun. At times I wished they had not closed Middle Georgia Raceway.” After not racing for a while, his friend and neighbor, Larry Wilcox, asked him in 1968 if he wanted to get back into drag racing. Wilcox told him he had been at Warner Robins Drag way and there was a guy racing who had a Z28, 1967 Camaro. ’’Larry told me if I wanted to drag race and win, I needed to buy a Z28 Camaro,” Josey said. ”1 went to Dunlap Chevrolet in Macon and ordered a brand new 1968 Z28 Camaro.” When the car arrived, Josey drove it eight miles to his race shop in the Bloomfield neigh borhood and made a drag car out of it. ’’This was the begin ning of my relationship with General Motors,” he said, add ing that for the most part he has built and raced General Motors vehicles. Early in his drag racing career, Clint Brannen Ford in Unadilla sponsored him in a 1966 Ford Fairlane and later in a 1968 Mustang. ’’After Larry and I turned the Z28 street car into a full fledged drag racing car, we started hauling the Ca maro from state to state racing, mostly NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) and IHRA (International Hot Rod Associa tion) tracks which turned out to be a full time hobby for a while,” Josey related. He was having a lot of suc cess and winning and eventu ally this hobby turned into a profession for him. ’’The hobby I had enjoyed turned into a profession.” Since the race shop he wsa using was not big enough to accommodate the race car and race car work he was doing for other drag racers, and after much consideration of where this was all going, construction began on a race shop. This was 1979 and the shop was located on Boy Scout Road in Byron. After its completion Josey be gan fixing race car engines for customers all over the USA. The majority of the engines were drag engines though he did build a few for local round track racers. ’’The hobby that turned in to a profession, also turned out to be a racer’s dream,” he said. ”1 built a lot of engines that powered cars to National and Divisional Championships.” The next few years were busy for Josey and exciting as well since his own rac ing ’’got hot and heavy”. He won foru NHRA Divisional Championships, two National events and was a runner-up at two. Throughout the years he has set 73 National Records. In 1999 he was inducted in to the NHRA Hal of Fame at the Don Garlits Museum, Ocala, Florida. He won 32 Oscars. Josey is not sure how many races he has won over the years. He says keeping up with them would be a feat in itself. His favorite track remains Warner Robins Drag way but he enjoys running at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds. He currently races in Stock. He still has his shop but he retired from building race car engines two years ago. He has not met Richard Petty yet but is excited ’’the King” is coming to MGR for the annual Racers Reunion at the end of August. Josey is just one of many racers who raced the oval track at MGR. Battle of Byron just Don’t forget that the Battle of Byron, which was rescheduled due to weather, is ready to kick off Saturday, August 10th at North Peach Park beginning at 10 a.m.. It includes the car show, Tony Elmore and Sugar Creek Band, demo by KhicksBallroom Contemporary Style Dance, games for the kids, fun challenges, broomstick horse races, around the corner food, arts and crafts, Byron Firerescue Mud- volleyball and much, much more. The Battle of Byron and Car Show are hold ing an IPAD raffle and tickets are now on sale for $5 each. Drawing at 5 p.m. on August 10th. All proceeds are given to local non-profits. For more information about the upcoming Battel of Byron visit www.battleofbyron.org. The Farmers’ Market was also held at the Peach Shops during the Love Of Junk Sale. Above are Kathy Hayes and her mom. Karla Chidester, left, stops at the Two Peach Buds booth Saturday which offered fresh vegetables. Glenda Myers is also a regular at the Farmers Market. Inset photo is one of the other vendors. There was a variety from which to choose Saturday. Of Junk Trunk Sale Quite A Success One man’s junk is another’s treasure and Saturday’s Love of Junk Trunk Sale at Peach Shops proved that point. There were 77 vendors in spaces set up in the parking lot with Kona Ice making snow cones and Ricky’s Snack Shop providing food. Big Daddy & Com pany provided entertainment for the day. It was a perfect chance to score some items you may have been wanting and a day to enjoy the sunshine and talk to people you knew and meet new folks as well. All in all, it,was a very successful day and Byron Main Street/CVB Executive Director Tiffany Peavy says they will do it again. Peavy says thanks to the Peach Outlet Mall, the vendors, Big Daddy & Company, Kona Ice and Ricky’s Snack Shop along with those who came out to help make the day such a success. Some members of the Lady Trojans softball team were selling lemonade and Mardi Gras beads at the Love of Junk Trunk Sale Saturday. Standing from left: .Ayanna Gibson, Hannah Lettice, Natalie McEver, Abigail Davis, Kelsey Parker, Coach Keith Barker and Madison Watson. Kneeling in front are head coach Jay Barker and daughter, Ava. Love
