You're from where? NASCAR Stars Hometowns.
NASCAR driver’s hometowns scatter across the entire country and in a few cases the world. Many of these places are relatively unknown to the masses. Unknown perhaps but interesting nonetheless. It seems in every small town there are stories about who lived there past or present or what has happened there. NASCAR drivers hometowns has its share of these wonderful and interesting stories. Here are a few.
Dawsonville, Georgia
Any list of NASCAR driver’s hometown must start at the headwaters of NASCAR. This small city, with a population of less than 2,500 has produced many NASCAR stars. All NASCAR fans are familiar with Bill (Awesome Bill of Dawsonville) Elliot and his son and current rookie Chase Elliot. But they are not alone nor are they the entire story.
Early stars, Roy Hall, Raymond Parks and Lloyd Seay were part of a group of moonshine runners. They took their Ford V8 powered cars through the dirt country roads delivering the moonshine stilled in the hills of Georgia to the thirsty bunch in Atlanta. The speed and mobility of their cars made them nearly impossible for law enforcement to capture. Soon they began to hold races in farm pastures in the area with spectators standing unprotected around the track and NASCAR was born. Moonshine runners are no longer in Georgia but the proud tradition of stock car racing is as strong as ever here.
Cato, New York
A small village in Western New York is the home of Regan Smith. Cato was born from a Vermonter who started a Mill there. Like most towns, Cato has had its share of major fires. In 1918 an entire block was lost in a devastating fire. The Cato Fire Department owns its existence to this fire as the village understood the need for a more formal firefighting operation than its informal bucket brigade.
Rochester Hills, Michigan
You would think that Brad Keselowski would be far and away the most famous person from this small city in Southeast Michigan. In fact it’s not even close. Madonna Louise Ciccone was born in 1958 and moved to Rochester Hills shortly after. Finishing 2nd to Madonna is no small feat though. Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit was also home for 4 Major League Baseball players and a boy named Marshall Bruce Mathers III. You may know him as entertainer Eminem. What’s in the water there?
Roscoe, Illinois
Danica Patrick was raised in this suburb of Rockford and has a population of just under 6,250 people. There is a museum in Roscoe which until recently held the tombstone of Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F Kennedy. The funny thing is the tombstone was stolen from Oswald’s grave and the rightful owners soon claimed that the person who sold the tombstone to the museum was not authorized to do so. The fight over the tombstone appears to be over as it no longer is displayed at the museum and has been returned to Dallas, Texas.
Enumclaw, Washington
Kasey Kahne calls Enumclaw home. Enumclaw gets its name from Native Americans which translate into “place of evil spirits”. A Native American mythology story says a father turned his two sons into thunder and lightning. The name Enumclaw means thundering noise. But the area may be most famous or infamous if you will, for the 2015 sex case in which an aerospace engineer was killed after having sex with a horse. Maybe the old question about a rocket scientist is overstated?
Los Gatos, California
This is the hometown of AJ Allmendinger. AJ better win some races if he wants to continue to call Los Gatos home as it was listed as the 33rd wealthiest City in the United States according to Bloomberg Business Week. The next time you rent a movie from Netflix think of Los Gatos. Netflix is headquartered in Los Gatos. Also, Author John Steinbeck wrote “The Grapes of Wrath” while living there.
Riverton, Illinois
NASCAR good guy, Justin Allgaier hales from this small town in rural Illinois. Like most Midwestern towns, Riverton was formed around a mill and later a distillery. It seemed to be a favorite hide out of sorts for some very famous criminals. Train robber Jessie James once spent the night in town before robbing a bank in Minnesota the following day.. It is also said that mobster Al Capone used Riverton as one of his hideouts. Hard to believe a town with such a soiled past could produce such a nice guy as Allgaier.
St. Helena, California
Rising star and Camping World Truck Series racer, Rico Abreu is from here. Nestled among the wine country of California, St. Helena is not for you if you’re a fast food junkie. Chain restaurants are not allowed and only one exists as it was there before the local law was enacted. Definitely not the “Home of the Whopper”.
Hinckley, Ohio
Camping World Truck driver, Matt Tifft calls Hinckley home. What’s interesting about Hinckley is that they celebrate buzzards, also known as turkey vultures. You see, buzzards flock to this area every March 15th as if on some sort of biological clock. The town began celebrating the arrivals of these birds in the 1950’s and today more than 50,000 visitors arrive to celebrate the arrival of these birds. Visitors partake in hikes, storytelling and arts and crafts.
Corning, California
Camping World Truck Series driver Tyler Reddick is a rising star in NASCAR and certainly a person to watch in the future. His hometown of Corning is famous for its olives. Corning is home to Bell-Carter Food Inc., the second largest olive producer in the United States. Since 1946 the City has held its annual Olive Festival, the longest running olive festival in the United States. The Festival includes such activities as a bed race and a pancake breakfast. But my favorite is the olive pit spitting contest. In case you were wondering this year’s winning spit was a distance of 25 feet 3 inches. No word if this was wind aided.
Thanks for reading. Listen to WTBQ radio on Monday and Friday mornings at 8:45 as I join Frank, Taylor and the Morning Show gang to discuss all the current happenings in NASCAR. You can also follow me on twitter @JimLaplante
