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Racing, music and a movie
by Will Sparklin
(Photo caption) WILL SPARKLIN/Staff photo-VIDEO SHOOT AT SPEEDWAY-Matt Dylan and members of the Midnight Steel Band record a music video in Victory Lane at North Wilkesboro Speedway Thursday for the song "Carolina Moonshine," which will headline the soundtrack for the movie "Red Dirt Rising."
If you happened to drive by North Wilkesboro Speedway Thursday afternoon, you may have heard the rumble of a flathead Ford making a few laps around the historic five-eighths mile circuit.
It was all part of a music video shot at the track for a new song by recording artist Matt Dylan titled "Carolina Moonshine."
For Dylan, who grew up near 311 Speedway at Pine Hall, the song hearkens back to the days when stock car racing was in its infancy.
"It's a song I've tried to write for three years. I just wanted to tell this story... the history of it all. I don't think many people today have a good idea of what racing was like," Dylan said.
"Drivers back then put their life in their hands, whether they were running moonshine or simply driving a car down a dirt track. It's fitting to come here because of the impact that North Wilkesboro Speedway has had on the sport."
The music video is part of a larger production, a movie called "Red Dirt Rising." The movie is based on the book "Red Dirt Tracks," a work of historical fiction by Gail Gurley.
The film is centered on the life of Jimmie Lewallen, as well as fellow drivers Bill Blair and Fred Harb, all of whom raced and ran moonshine. Set during the 1940s, the film is meant to accurately portray the life and times of those involved with stock car racing before NASCAR was a household name.
"Red Dirt Rising" is scheduled for official release on Jan. 13 at Johnny and June's Saloon in Winston-Salem.
Dylan's song wasn't originally intended for the film.
"After I wrote the song, my dad told me about the movie that was going into production," Dylan said. "I got in contact with Todd Morris about my song. We collaborated and put it all together."
Morris, who heads up the marketing efforts for the film, said "Carolina Moonshine" was a natural fit for the film, so much so, that they ended up having to re-evaluate the soundtrack for the "Red Dirt Rising."
"Matt kind of blindsided us with this song," Morris said. "We have everything set and had to stop things we were doing in Nashville."
Two of the big players behind the production of "Red Dirt Rising" are Gary Lewallen and Bill Blair Jr. Lewallen and Blair are the sons of drivers portrayed in the film, the late Jimmie Lewallen and Bill Blair.
The younger Lewallen and Blair both recall fond memories from watching their fathers race, even before Bill France Sr. formally created NASCAR.
Blair, who volunteered his flathead 1939 Ford for the music video, hopes that the movie paints an accurate picture of what life was like for drivers back in those days.
"I think any movie that helps tell the history of this sport is a worthwhile project. Hopefully this movie will educate people as to how this whole thing started. There's so much history here, it's rich and colorful and makes for a wonderful story," Blair said.
"I first came here in 1947 to watch my dad race. I was fortunate to have seen all the great drivers. It feels good to come out here and drive a car where my dad ran."
Lewallen has two major goals for the film. One is to accurately depict the history of the sport.
"We did this for the folks whose history should be preserved," he said. "It lets people know about the past. Matt's song was great for us, it encompasses so much about what we were trying to say in the movie."
The second, and arguably more important goal is to help raise money for a good cause.
Proceeds from both the film and the soundtrack will be put toward the Racing Legends Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization for which Lewallen took the chair after his father died in 1995.
Morris described the foundation as a way for people to help those who helped create one of the most popular sports in America...people who weren't in it for the money.
"It's to help the drivers and mechanics with medical or living hardship they may come into," Morris said. "Most of the people back then were pulling out of their own pocket for the love of the sport." |
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