Anyway, we pull into Baileyton in time to get a secluded parking place and to find out that we're racing for $1,000 for a $25 tech card (there's no tech to speak of, but I put on all my 'NHRA-legal' stuff anyway). Then we unloaded. Guys we knew from the B&M Racer Appreciation Series came by to look at 'Yeow-eee,' the new dragster, and then we, not they, started asking questions. Is there a difference in lanes? LED lights or not? Cross Talk? How can you hear the announcer way down here? The answers were, yes, the left lane is quicker by .015, and the same is true of the right lane reaction time. No LEDs, no Cross Talk, just good old-fashioned Christmas tree. You put in your delay and go for it; the bulbs are pointed straight at you; and no, you can't hear anything down here except the cars, just watch for the others to head to staging and follow them.

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Oh, yeah, and they have a Quick 8 show. Whoever wins gets some good money, plus you're automatically entered in the fourth round if you win. Cool. My kind of racing. Yeah, they said, and you'll probably make the field. I did, with a 5.48, exactly the same elapsed time that 'Yeow-eee' ran at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, Ga., the weekend prior.

Baileyton is famous in its own way. Being just a 20-minute drive from Cullman, the largest town around with not a whole lot to do on a Saturday night, it's the perfect place for kids to cruise to. Come race time, they're lined up on the left-hand bank three and four deep in the hot summer months, smoking cigarettes, maybe drinking a beer (not likely, though -- Cullman County is dry) and maybe watching the races. A few adults, including brother-in-law Liberty Bennett and father-in-law Winston, have brought folding chairs. You can see every round of racing right in front of you, from burnout to the finish line, which runs up hill just past the last cone.

Oh, yeah, my old B&M buddies said: Try to stay as close to the center as possible on the top end. There are dips in both lanes. I quickly learned they weren't wrong. I thought 'Yeow-eee' was heading for the September moon on my first pass.

I'll have to admit here that I've raced at Baileyton before, one time in the mid 1980s, in my other front-engine dragster. It was so dark on the return road that I had to follow the fence line to get back to my trailer. Cows were chewing their cuds, or whatever cows chew on, on the other side. The return road was convex in shape.

The place hasn't changed much since. The lights were better, the return road was covered with a new coat of asphalt awhile back and I didn't see any cows this trip. The return road speed limit is five mph --- not because of any posted signs, but that's as fast as I dared drive 'Yeow-eee' back. Anything faster and my head might hit the bottom of the roll cage. Still, my B&M buddies said, it's fun to race here, and Jack Walker always pays his purse.

And about Jack Walker … he owns this unique piece of Alabama drag racing history called the 'Tater Hauler.' It's an early '50s Chevy pickup with a Chevy engine stuck in the back. It's Jack's answer to Bill 'Maverick' Golden's 'The Little Red Wagon' or the old 'Hemi Under Glass.' It'll wheelstand the whole length of the track. The following week, Walker was to have the 'Tater Hauler' out, all freshened up and ready for action as Good Times' main event. I think Jack is too old to be driving such a wild beast, but maybe one of his helpers will, or a relative. He even put out flyers for the big event. I think it might cost an extra $5 to get in.

OK, first time trial. I do a smoky burnout and the crowd loves it.I'm backing up, looking for Fran, and up jumps somebody on the starting line who signals that I'm too far to the left, get over to the right, so I do, figuring he must know what he's about, and I look down and I'm out of the groove, but I stage anyway. The first light blasts on and I let go the trans brake button and I leave, and boom! I go into a big wheelstand and head for the other side. I lift. 'Next time, YOU line me up,' I later tell Fran.

I get in the right lane and go straight and true this time, with a bad red light, and okay, so now I know where I am. I run a 5.48, same as at Silver Dollar last weekend. I'm in the Quick 8 show.