Bruce,
Thanks for the info... never heard that story. Neat stuff!
joe
FastmetalBDF@aol.com wrote:
> Honest Hisself wasn't always in the speed equipment business
> .......
> Back in that great era when stock car racing was spreading in, and out from,
> the
> South, around 1947, ' 48 , Charlie had a little diner in, or near
> Chattanooga .
> He was the proprietor, "chief cook and bottle washer ", and jack of
> all trades
> at this popular eatery, which just happened to be a favorite stop of racers
> headed
> south to race on the " old beach course " where they would blast down the old
> two lane highway, broadslide and wallow through the dunes onto the hard beach
> sand,
> and thunder north next to the ocean, and slide thru the dunes again, onto the
> blacktop, EVERY lap . These racers also ran at other tracks closer to
> Charley' s
> place, and he heard many of their " war stories " at the diner , and saw
> the race
> cars parked outside . The first chance he got, he went with some of the
> boys, to see for himself, and promptly got hooked on this new and exciting
> spectacle !
> Sometime thereafter, I don't know how long, being a pretty shrewd
> businessman, Charley saw there was money to be made selling tires and
> parts,etc
> to these racers ---- more than slinging hash ---- and this was the start
> of the speed
> parts business which became a legend in auto racing .
> So HOW did Charley get his NICKNAME ??? He was so BUSY at
> the grill, cooking to please his customers , and with only one, or sometimes
> two,
> waitresses, he didn't have time to run back and forth to the cash register .
> He solved this problem by placing a CIGAR BOX on the counter, with
> a bunch
> of small bills and change in it , as he was a trusting person , but he did
> write a little
> note on the box, for all to see ------- it said :
> " I'M HONEST ---- HOW ABOUT YOU ? "
>
> THAT is how " HONEST CHARLEY " got his name .
>
> True Story from Long Ago .......
> Bruce D. Ferguson
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