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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