One of the legendary “Alabama Gang” Charles Lawrence “Red” Farmer was born on October 15, 1932 (his birth year is uncertain) in Nashville, Tennessee, and moved to Miami, Florida with his mother in the mid-1920s. 1940 after his parents. pulled apart.

It wasn’t until 1958 that Red moved to Hueytown part-time with Bobbie and Donnie Allison, running there during the summer months and returning to his family in the winter to work as an electrician. During this time, construction work was slow, and Red often had to support his wife, children, and mother-in-law on unemployment money. Finally, in 1962 Red took his family to live in Hueytown, Alabama and that is where they have settled, considering it their hometown.

His first race was in 1948 at Opa-locka Speedway in Florida, driving an old 1934 Ford Coupe for a friend’s father. He won his first prize money of around $ 300 at Dixie Speedway in Midfield in a 1936 hit and the next day he won again at the Montgomery show, giving him around $ 600, giving him more money than he had had in a long time. . .

After moving to Hueytown, Red continued to work as an electrician until after a few years he left to focus on full-time careers and thus began an incredible journey for the next sixty years. Ray has increased an incredible estimated 700 to 900 victories on gravel, tarmac and superspeed, winning the NASCAR Modified championship in 1956 and then claiming three Late Model Sportsman (now Busch Series) titles in 1967-70-71. He was voted the most popular driver in NASCAR four times and has been inducted into the Talladega / Texaco Walk of Fame, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, and the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. of Fame of International Motorsports.

Farmer received the 1999 Alabama Governor’s Award, which is awarded annually to an individual or organization for their contribution to auto racing. Perhaps the most prestigious award Farmer has ever earned was being named in 2000 as one of the 50 Greatest NASCAR Drivers of All Time.

He has been married to his wife, Joan, for over 55 years and has three children, two daughters, Cindy and Bonnie, and a son, Michael. He also has nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Red is still active as a NASCAR racing driver and regularly races the Talladega Short Track and also works as a consultant with the ARCA team.

Alabama Gang legend Red Farmer will be honored at the track where he still runs at age 77. It has been announced that Talladega Short Track will host the Red Farmer Classic on May 15, 2011 on the dirt track in Eastaboga opposite the Talladega Super-race track. In honor of Red’s number, 97, the super late model’s race will be 97 laps and he will pay $ 9,700 to win. Red responded to this honor by saying, “Having a race named after you” is quite an honor, especially since they want to do it every year “when asked during an interview for Stock Car magazine. Your favorite Red replied;

“Any track I win on is my favorite. But I guess Daytona and Talladega were two of my favorite tracks. That’s unusual for a short track driver. Of course I loved Birmingham and Huntsville and Montgomery, tracks we raced on Thursday. , Friday and Saturday for 20 years. We ran Huntsville on Thursday night, Birmingham on Friday night and Montgomery on Saturday night. Then we would go looking for a great race somewhere. Sometimes we would go all the way to Manassas, Virginia, And we raced on Sunday, or somewhere in Tennessee. We raced four nights a week a lot. Basically, I was always a short-track driver, but I like Daytona and Talladega. I like super-speedways. “

He was asked if he preferred dirt or asphalt tracks and he replied;

“Nothing but dirt. That is something that I really enjoy the most. It is much more fun. I have two dirt cars, Super Late Model dirt cars, right now. I have a GRT and CJ Rayburn chassis. I am building a new engine for next year. I will start my 58th year in 2006. My grandson has a car. We’re building him a kind of box engine to get him running. I don’t even care about asphalt racing on short tracks anymore. It’s boring for me compared to a good dirt track race. You are going to see a World of Outlaws Super Late Model race with Scott Bloomquist, Billy Moyer, Rick Eckerd, Darrell Lanigan and Dale McDowell and those guys run on a half mile dirt track and you will never go back and see another asphalt race. . You see those guys put on a show and that’s what I really enjoy. I love dirt tracks sideways, sideways, running across the mat and it’s a lot more fun for me to run than asphalt. On asphalt you can ride a car and come back the following year and never have to change it. It is the same every week. But you go to a dirt track and you have to work on it all the time. Once it’s wet, sometimes it’s dry and slippery, sometimes it gets dark, and you have to work continuously all night to keep up with the track. It is much more interesting to me.“