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IN BRIEF
Warner Robins to hold
cross country series
Warner Robins High School
will host the Middle Georgia
Cross County Summer Series
Thursday (4,000 meters)
and 21 (5,000 meters on the
course behind Pearl Stephens
Elementary School.
The cost for each race is $5
and registration can be made
the day of.
WR Roc sets football
registration dates
The Warner Robins
Recreation Department is
scheduled to begin registration
for its youth football and cheer
leading program July 16 from 8
a.m. until 1 p.m.
Registration will continue
the following week. July 18-22,
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m. until all of the leagues
are filled. The program is for
boys and girls ages 5 to 12.
For football, the cost per child
is SSO for city, $lO3 for county
and $177 for out of county. For
cheerleading, the cost per child
is $75 for city, SIOO for county
and $l2O for out of county.
For more information, call
929-1916.
TRIVIA TRIVIAL
Who became the first
African-American man to win
a Wimbledon singles title when
he defeated Jimmy Connors in
four sets in 1975?
On this date...
Nationally: 1947 - Larry Doby
pinch hit for the Cleveland
Indians against the Chicago
White Sox. The event made
him the first black player to
play in the American League.
Locally: 1995 - Westfield
seniors (Where are they
today?) Jere Campbell, Andy
Smith and Jason Dennard
were selected to play in the
Georgia Independent School
Association's annual All-Star
football game.
Just for fun...
A football coach walked
into the locker room before a
game, looked over to his star
player and said, “I’m not sup
posed to let you play since
you failed math, but we need
you in there. So, what I have
to do is ask you a math ques
tion, and if you get it right, you
can play.”
The player agreed, so coach
looked into his eyes intently
and asked, “Okay, now con
centrate hard and tell me the
answer to this. What is two
plus two?"
The player thought for a
moment and then answered,
“4?"
“Did you say 4?” the coach
exclaimed, excited that he had
got it right.
Suddenly all the other play
ers on the team began scream
ing .... “Come on coach, give
him another chance!”
He said ft...
“It’s so small we don’t even
have a town drunk."
- Stan Hack, on his hometown
ot Grand Detour, 111.
Answer: Arthur Ashe
WEDNESDAY,
JULY 6, 2005
wiki '***'
■
*
HHJ,Don Monorief
Don Tomberlin polishes up his latest creation currently under production.
Homogenized
Tomberlin enjoys a smooth ride as driver, then owner
By DON MONCRIEF
HHJ Sports Editor
Ask Don Tomberlin
how he learned to
“milk” a car through
the corners and you might
get a lesson on both driv-
SPECIAL
SERIES
The National
Vintage Racing
Association
7of 8
Rhine, the son of sharecrop
pers.
At age 12 his family relo
cated to Macon where his
father took a job in a box
factory and he learned this
routine: “I’d get up about 4
a.m. and milk dairy cows,” he
said. “Then I’d go back and
get ready for school. That’d
last until about 2:30 or 3
(p.m.) and then I’d go back
for an interim milking ... All
for about $7.50 a week.”
It, where he lived anyway,
didn’t turn out too bad, how
ever, because as it so hap
pened, just across the street
from him resided racecar
driver - and by that time a
legend on the local circuit
- Charlie Tidwell. It wasn’t
long before Tomberlin was,
in addition to his milking
duties, doing odd jobs for
him, cutting his grass, wash
ing his racecar and the like.
He also took the 13-year
old - at that time; now he’s 63
- to many of the tracks and it
was through him Tomberlin,
who later advanced to “milk
hopping,” then became a
store manager and finally
an iron worker by trade, met
and began to hang around
Speedy Morelock. Morelock
was known as “the master”
iiT
e* 4 * 4 *l£vv.**
• ... 'j?
ing and dairy
products.
Tomberlin,
now a
National
Vintage
Racing
Association
member,
was born in
Don Tomberlin
Born: Sept. 18, 1942
Place of birth: Rhine
Children: Two
Races won: Unknown
Most memorable race:
Savannah. “It was the first 200
lapper I made in my Chevelle,”
he said.
in much regarding racing,
Tomberlin said, but mainly
for the cars he built.
And, as it so happened he
had a 1962 Chevrolet he had
run on the NASCAR circuit.
It was a rule back then,
Tomberlin said, that when
a car got over three years
old, you had to get a newer
one, so he converted it into a
Sportsman Division entry.
The only problem,
Tomberlin said, was nothing
- during the conversion pro
cess - was ever mentioned
as to who would pilot it. Not
to him, and not to the oth
ers who were also aiding the
effort.
“We worked and worked
on that thing,” he said,
“And, the whole time we
were doing it, he never said
anything about who was
going to drive it.”
Snorts
That is until he began
to notice more and more
Tomberlin’s behavior at the
track.
“Whenever there was a
race, I’d always go down
to the corners. One day
he asked. me, ‘How come
you always go down to the
corner?’ I said, ‘Because
anybody can drive on the
straightaway.’”
“And with that, he said,
‘You’re my driver.’”
From there the two took
off on a circuit that includ
ed racing at Savannah on
Friday, Jacksonville, Fla., on
Saturday and Swainsboro on
Sunday.
His first race was
Savannah where, he said,
he started toward the back
of the pack. At some point
there was a big pileup, he
“just kind of shut my eyes,”
went through and the next
thing he knew, “I was the
leader.”
In 1966 Morelock passed
away ending the partnership.
In 1967, Tomberlin, along
with the help of partner Jay
James and Billy Sanders
- their operation based in
Warner Robins - first built
a 1956 Chevy and entered it
into the NASCAR Limited
Sportsman Class at Middle
Georgia Raceway and then
later that year a 1955 Chevy.
The latter won 14 of the 16
races it was entered. And he
was winning the other two
races, he said, before drop
ping a valve.
Two years later, 1969,
Tomberlin captured the race
way’s Late Model Sportsman
championship, which came
with it a trip and starting
position in Daytona Beach’s
annual Permatex 300, which
was traditionally run the
See TOMBERLIN, page 8A
WRALL west No. 1
loses heartbreaker
By JOE SERSEY
HHJ Sports Writer
In an exciting fin
ish, the Warner Robins
American Little League
West No. 1 team fell to
West Macon No. 1, 7-6
in seven innings in the
9-10-year-old age group
(Minors) in the District
Five tournament at West
Macon Little League
Monday.
With the score tied
at 5 and going into the
sixth inning, WRALL’s
Nicholas Martens scored
to put his team up 6-5.
But WRALL committed
two errors in the bottom
Westfield finishes summer,
preps for diamond changes
By JOE SERSEY
HHJ Sports Writer
Westfield hosted Taylor
County late this past
week in its last game of
the summer season.
The two teams met for a
junior varsity and var
sity doubleheader, each,
but since Taylor County
couldn’t muster more
than nine players, the JV
game was limited to just
———'—l
HHJ/Joe Seraey
Westfield's Matt Weaver pitches in the second inning
of the Hornets' game against Taylor County this past
Thursday.
OUP
FANATIC:
HHJ/Joe Sergey
liik im
w
Ira McGehee
Age: 45
Serious business: Real
estate sales
Favorite team: Atlanta
Braves. 7 grew up watch
ing them play. My family
is from Atlanta and in the
summers I would live up
there. I spent a lot of time
at that field."
Favorite sport: Baseball.
"It was my favorite. It’s
what I played while grow-
6A
ROUNDUP
Little League District Five
tournament
of the sixth that allowed
West Macon to tie the
score.
West No. 1 went down
in order in the top of
the seventh, then West
Macon’s Orlando Mark
reached first on an error.
Two batters later he
scored the winning run.
Warner Robins West No.
1 will play again Thursday
at 7 p.m. at West Macon
See WRALL, page 8A
one game.
It also represented the
Hornets’ last game on
their current field under
its present configuration.
According to booster
club member Leighton
Kersey, Westfield’s base
ball team will undergo
renovation from here on
out.
Home plate, he said,
See CHANGES, page 7A
ing up."
Favorite player: Greg
Maddux. "I like his style
on the mound. It’s how I
learned to pitch."
What’s wrong with sports
today?
"Other than high salaries,
it’s the image pros present
to young people. It doesn't
seem like they play for the
love of the sport. They do
it for the money and show
manship. "
What’s right with sports
today?
"At the younger level, kids
are getting exposed to
sports and developing a
love for the game."
If you were the king of
sports, what would you
change?
"I would enforce penal
ties for drug and steroid
violations to the maximum
regardless of how well they
play. If they get caught
using drugs or steroids,
they would be through and
never play again."