About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2013)
Third Annual Middle Georgia Racers Reunion at the historic Middle Georgia Raceway, Hwy 41, Byron, Saturday, August 31st, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. $10 admission charge. Kids 10 and under free. The King - Richard Petty will be the Grand Marshal for this event. This Saturday, August 17th is the last day for the Byron Farmers’ Market. 9 a.m. - noon Petty fan has dedicated half of garage to memorabilia Bringing drag car to Racers’ Reunion BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Byron Buzz As a small boy, Mike Brooks would sit on the hillside near his grandmother’s home in Sunnyside and watch the car races. He fell in love with racing when his dad took him to the track in Atlanta. Then there were no grandstands on which to sit. He quickly became a Richard Petty fan and his admi ration for Petty expanded as Mike grew into an adult and he is close to being if not, the number one Richard Petty fan. When old enough to work, as a teenager, he worked at the drag strip in Warner Robins. Mike would work the line or clean the track while his mother and grand mother worked the snack bar. He was hooked. He loved the sound, the smell — everything about car racing. In 1979 Mike bought his first drag car- a 1979 Camaro, and be gan racing it. But then he decided he wanted to race a car that he had built. With his friend Randy Parker, the beginnings of a 300ZX was laid out with string on the ga rage floor. Mike built the car from the ground up and even painted it himself. The car has a Ford rear end, a Pinto front suspension, Chervrolet engine and transmis sion. Mike still has this car. When Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds opened, Mike raced there and was named Rookie of the Year. He was racing the car he built whenever he could find time to get to a track. Racing himself, he was still following Nascar and his favor ite driver, Richard Petty and was collecting Richard Petty memora- Petty dog col lars, ties, jackets, cereal boxes and a Replica drag car. Inset photo is Mike Brooks. mini-engine, but Mike knows. In him an autographed Charlie One Horse hat.” Cheryl has had ties hand-painted with Richard Petty Cars for Mike but it’s getting harder to find something he doesn’t already have. She said she did find a lamp made from a Richard Petty car this past summer though. Mike and Cheryl will be tak ing the Richard Petty Drag Car replica to the Racer’s Reunion on Saturday, August 31st at Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron. Mike has watched races at the track but because it closed before he was old enough to have a car and race, he never raced on the oval track. In addition to his love for racing, golf cart, along with many other items. He only collects the #43 Richard Petty collectibles. Mike built two riding lawnmow- ers, painted them like Richard Petty’s racecars and had them de livered to Randleman, NC for the Victory Junction auction. Mike and his wife, Cheryl, both attended; toured the Richard Petty museum and stood in line for hours to speak with Petty and get autographs. Mike’s Richard Petty collec tion has grown so much that he has dedicated an entire half of his garage, 30 x 36, to Richard Petty. Not many people know that Richard Petty drag raced in 1965 as a protest of Nascar’s band of the fact, he has built an exact replica of Petty’s drag car, a 1965 Barracuda, which he uses as a show car. Mike and Cheryl have been mar ried for 31 years and they have one son, one daughter and one grand child. Cheryl enjoyed watching Mike drag race. Since they opened Brooks Contractor Supply Com pany, Mike has little time for rac ing. The business rents, sells and services construction equipment and Mike and Cheryl work side by side. She does try to find Richard Petty collectibles which Mike does not have from time to time. ”1 often check the Petty museum for items to buy before Mike does,” she said. ’’Last Christmas I gave See BROOKS, Page 4 Just a few of the Richard Petty collectibles in Mike’s garage. biliar. Anything from match box cars to Franklin Mint cars. He still collects and has Richard Byron energy BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Byron Buzz Byron Mayor Larry Collins and City Council make quick work of Monday night’s agenda, approving all items with the exception of refer ring one to the personnel committee. Council also went into a closed execu tive session at the end of the meeting to discuss possible litigation. Police Chief Wesley Can non had requested that Lt. Bryan Hunter and Captain Bill Lavender be reclassified from non-exempt employees to exempt employees. In his request he stated that he had read the FSLA standards for executive employees and that both employees qualify. Non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay under provisions of federal and state laws and exempt employees are excused from specific provisions of federal and state wage and hour laws. The matter was re ferred to the personnel com mittee for a recommendation to report back to council. Though not on the agenda, Bob Murdock and members of the Village Green Garden Club were in attendance and Mayor Collins asked if they had anything to say. At last month’s meeting Murdock had indicated he wanted to donate $25,000 to get work started on the old City Hall building which could be used as a community center for various groups. He had noted other groups would opts in excise volunteer and work as well. Murdock presented council with a schematic drawing, noting that all the walls were down and the studs were showing in the building. Murdock also noted one toi let was working which would be available to workers. He was seeking structure as to who was going to do what and said he knew someone who could do the air con ditioning reasonably. We need to get a plan of action together, he said. Mayor Collins noted that everyone was ’’real excited” about what you’re doing. Councilman Mark Waters chair of the properties com mittee is working on the project and the mayor noted that assets needed to be maximized. The mayor also said that a grant was pending and that though it may seem the city was moving slow, they were working on it. He thanked them for coming. In other business council approved: • a work detail agreement between the City of Byron and the Georgia Depart ment of Corections with same price as previous year ($39,500). • authorizing the mayor to sign a resolution to execute an agreement between the City of Byron and Georgia Asphalt for road repair work to be done on Old Macon Road and W. E. Green Park way ($83,084.75)- •authorizing the mayor to sign a resolution approving an intergovernmental agree- to get tax $$ ment concerning allocation and distribution of proceeds from the energy excise tax. A new bill passed by Geor gia Legislators which allows entities to opt in to collect the tax. This is essentially a county tax and cities have to opt in and sign an inter governmental agreement to collect any of the tax. It is not mandatory and the county does not have to levy the energy excise tax. The tax does not require a referen dum; can be levied by county ordinance. This tax allows counties to recoup revenues lost due to the sales tax exemption for energy used in the manufacturing process. Both cities — Fort Valley and Byron — have now opted in to receive proceeds from the county tax once imposed. Peach County is moving forward toward implementa tion of the tax.) • approved the mayor signing a resolution regard ing engineering services for storm water management. It was noted that the commit tee recommended this reso lution. The resolution states that in order to develop and implement a successful pro gram, professional engineer ing services are needed to properly assess and define stormwater management problems, needs and goals. • authorizing mayor to sign a resolution to approve bud get amendments for FY2012. •going ahead with request for proposals on probation services. Another BoB in the books It might have been a hot and muggy day, but there was fun to be found throughout the day at the Battle of Byron Saturday which had been rescheduled from May due to rain. Vendors selling boiled peanuts, arts and crafts, raffle tickets, snow cones, car show and more were under the pecan trees at North Peach Park. Whether it was a derby hat parade, contemporary ballroom dance demonstration, sack races, watermel on seed spitting contest or another game, there was something for everyone. Mud vol ley ball went on by Byron Fire Department. One fireman, Steve Birdsong was taken to the Medical Center of Central Georgia by ambulance after complaining of chest pain. Birdsong has been with BFD for more than 30 years and was reported to have two stints put in but doing well. The Byron Fire Department and other long-time support ers were presented with plaques for their support and dedication to the BoB by chair Karla Chidester. Up next for BoB will be the ChiliFest sched uled for October 19th. Remember the annual Battle of always the first Saturday in May and hopefully next year the weather will cooperate. I
