WEBVTT - How Whiskey Runners Worked 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to you stuff you should know from house stuff 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:12.960 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:17.720 Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and uh Dina 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:25.360 the Dinosaur and Jerry's over there. That's Dinah Dna. Remember that. Yeah, man, 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.360 that movie Blew Me Away. When I was over old, 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:31.920 I was, oh, yeah, that's from the movie, wasn't it. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.920 I thought it was from a parody of the movie Park. Yeah, 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.600 that's like the educational video they show. I just remember 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.519 that first, Like, it was amazing when you saw that 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:42.800 first shot of the dinosaurs and you know, like because 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:44.879 you know that was all brand new, take it for 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:47.839 granted out like crappy CG movie that's out today. It 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.159 was like one of the greatest things anybody's ever done. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:51.800 It in Tony Great. I think they're rereleasing it to 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:55.760 like that three D are they? Yeah, the original that 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.640 has a lot to do with Bootleggers. Um, Chuck, we've 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:06.959 talked to this before twice. Yeah, we have. Yeah, I 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.480 think we kind of forged the circle. It already needs 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.559 to be bigger. Um. Well, we did how Moonshine Works 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.679 episode one of my all time Favorites tree. If you 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.080 haven't heard of how Moonshine works episode, do your self 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:22.120 a favorite. There's some primo sound design from Jerry. Um. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.520 We end up in a still you can believe it? Uh? 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.800 And what was the other one that we did where 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:32.920 we mentioned this too? Uh? Prohibition Yes, ye, yeah, which 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.120 is another good one which is part of another circle, 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:43.880 a tri part episode, prohibition addiction. And uh what was 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.760 the other one, Oh, rehab. Yes, and everything is so 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:51.559 interconnected here, it's all the circle is getting smaller, my friend. 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:56.440 It's the's the tree of life, the tree of Life. Okay, so, um, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:01.120 what we're talking about is moonshining, Yes, bootlegging. I have 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.640 moonshine at my desk right now. Yeah. We discussed just 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.040 drinking it while we were doing this, and we opted 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:11.080 not to because it's not right. We'd like to do 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.519 things in one take these days, it's like seventeen. But yeah, 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:19.799 I mentioned the fan sentis a moonshine and the thank 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:22.320 you's one of the thank yous we said hello and thanks. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:28.640 I remember it's delicious, Yes, it is. Um And specifically 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.560 one of the things we're talking about, um, that we 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.119 just kind of covered a little bit and I think moonshine. 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.760 I think it was moonshine. Um was that this really 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.880 amazing thing. I'm not in the NASCAR. I'm not either. 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.560 I had a spell you did, yeah, like one year 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.560 and then it just went away. It is one of 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:56.680 the world's biggest sports. Um popular popular wise u um. 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:58.880 People love to see the cars go around in the circle, 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.000 not always just in the circle. I'm not. That's true 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.480 at the road races, that's true. Um. And I'm not 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.639 into NASCAR, as I said, but I have a tremendous 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:11.919 amount of respect for the sport because it was directly 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:20.640 created by moonshiners, bootleggers running moonshine lad not you know, 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:25.760 indirectly exactly. They literally met and founded the National Association 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:30.720 for Stock Car Auto Racing. Like that's where NASCAR came from. 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:35.080 One of the one of the pre eminent owners racers 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.680 and then owners, Junior Johnson, did a year in jail 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:43.080 for bootlegging. Yeah, Wilkes. He's from Wilkes County in North Carolina, 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:48.080 which was like one of the hotbeds the bootlegging. And 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.800 by no surprise, it is also North Carolinas, like the 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.280 center of NASCAR it's not a coincidence. No, it's not. 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.520 So let's talk about this this whole thing, Like where 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.280 what were people bootlegging for? I mean, like, I know, 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.480 it's kind of like if you want it done right, 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.040 do it yourself. But when it comes to making booze, 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.600 like there's a lot of really good booze out there, 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:13.880 why not just spend the money. Well, this was happening 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.840 in the rural South. A lot going on back then. Um, 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.000 on the heels of the Great Depression hit the South 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:24.000 really hard because um, there weren't factories to go to 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:28.040 work too afterwards or during and the mills were shut down. 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.120 The mills were basically the economic engine to the South. Yeah, 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.320 so farming is drying up to a certain degree. There's 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:37.800 prohibition going on. That's a big one. So it's basically 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.120 prohibition and the Depression of the two big factors that 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:44.520 led to rise. Right, So we need to Even after Prohibition, 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:46.719 the South still had a lot of dry counties, and 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.800 to this day still has dry counties. It is crazy, 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.400 twelve like two thousand and there are dry counties. Was 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.920 it two twelve or two and eleven? When Georgia voted 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.960 or let cities vote to repeal the the Blue Law 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:05.080 for Sunday Sunday sales. Like, just this year Georgia got 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:09.000 Sunday sales. There's like a Mars Curiosity rover on the 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.479 planet Mars taking pictures of a of us not buying 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:16.640 beer on Sundays. It's crazy. It is crazy. Um. But yes, 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.719 So even after prohibition gets repealed, a lot of southern 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.280 counties were like, well, you know, you can't tell us 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:27.359 what to do, Johnny Law. We're gonna we're gonna stay dry. 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.400 And a lot of bootleggers were like, okay, well I 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.359 can still sell to these counties. And it happened to 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.800 have one Sweet Ride. I don't have a lot, but 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:42.920 I got a Sweet Forward with a ambulance engine in it, right, 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.880 and it goes really really fast. Cadillac ambulance engine. Yeah, 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:48.520 that was one of the mods that they would do 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.360 to make these things faster. So you needed this car 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:53.760 not just to show off, but because if you were 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:57.080 selling in Dry County, the federal government really couldn't have 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:01.760 cared two bits whether you were not. Yeah. Most of 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.440 the time, though, if you were smart at all, you 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.800 weren't reporting these sales on your taxes. Yeah, I read 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:09.680 that had more to do with it than anything I 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.400 would was they didn't want to pay taxes. I mean, 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:14.800 it had to do with prohibition all that stuff, but 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:16.640 it was really like, you know what, we were making 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.400 the stuff ourselves, selling it to people across county lines, 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:22.320 like why should I give the federal government a piece 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.400 of that? Well that that um, not just whiskey making 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.039 or moonshining, but also the idea that you shouldn't be 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:33.320 paying taxes on that predates the United States. I'm like, 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:37.200 the Whiskey Rebellion was the that that actually came after 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.279 the United States, but moonshining came before. But the whiskey 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.159 Rebellion the first the one of the first things George 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:47.119 Washington had to deal with was because of taxing corn liquor, 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:54.800 which is it's an American tradition, don't tax our booze um. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.880 So all these factors add up to, uh, either it's 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.640 your family business and you're maybe fifteen, but you've been 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:04.880 driving the truck on the farm since you were eight, 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:07.680 and the tractor so you're like in the South, it 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:09.840 wasn't like, oh, you don't have a license yet. You know, 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.040 we shouldn't let you behind the wheel of a car. 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:13.720 It's like, you know, are you old enough to reach 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.640 the pedals? Or we have wood blocks? Yeah, exactly like 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.480 the kid in uh oh Brother Where Art? Though you 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.320 didn't like that one right now, I like that? Okay, 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.800 that kid and then all the wood blocks right in 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.440 short round from Templar Doom Oh yeah, the good Indiana 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.679 Jones movie or one of them? Yeah, one of two, 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:35.000 one of three? Yeah, I would the fourth one right, yeah, 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:36.520 I would put that third in the list, though, I 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.040 would go Raiders, then Last Crusade, then Temple of Them 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:44.200 and then I don't even count the last one. So um, 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.000 Either you're in the family business and they're like this 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.120 kid can drive or you can drive, and some other 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.440 families like, hey that you know that Clark kid, he 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.560 can get on it in that forward, let's get him 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:58.960 to run the shine and so also, you got a 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.000 job that pays you dough. But it's not just paying 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.560 your dough. It's also extremely thrilling. Yeah, and a lot 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.120 of bragging rights going on when you're out running cops. 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.280 It's it's like the Dukes of Hazzard. Can we just 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:12.920 go and say it? Yeah? It is. I mean you 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.480 can't read this article without thinking bone Luke, Duke, Bone, 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.520 Luke Duke. You know what's crazy is not onstead? I 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:20.840 think of really how man? The whole time I was like, 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.680 this is the Dukes of Hazzard. Were they moonshiners? No? 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:27.680 But it was the same thing, like juicing up your car, 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:29.920 beefing up the suspension and the engines so you can 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.640 outrun the local cops and you know, you know all 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:34.760 the back roads. All right, I don't want to give 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.800 away too much, Okay. So, um, we've got the depression 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:40.840 thing and unemployment in the South, and then we also 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.600 have prohibition, and these things are coming together, and so 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.160 all of a sudden you've got fourteen year olds who 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:50.959 know how to operate cars out running cops and revenuers, right, 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.760 the revenuers. So there was a revenuer named John Carter, 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:58.320 and he became a great source of mars. Now okay, 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:03.600 different John Carter. Uh. He became a great source from 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.400 the laws side. He was one of the guys chasing 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.880 these people, and he was the source for um that 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:14.199 fourteen year old quote about how like by the time 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.720 these kids are fourteen, not starting when fourteen they're driving 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.480 by the time their fourteen. He said they could outraw 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:22.760 any law man he knew, and he was one of 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.800 the lawmen. Yeah. And so one of the ways they 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:29.360 did it was, like you said, was by modifying uh 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:33.360 stock cars, right, Like taking a Ford coupe and putting 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.960 a Cadillac ambulance engine in it. Do it um, switching 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:43.400 you know engines between makes. Right. So like apparently Chevy 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.840 engines are easier to modify than forwards. So you might 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.720 have a forward car with the Chevy engine, um, and 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:52.800 they'd say that if you see it. Go to one 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.400 of these auto shows today, some of these old twenties 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:57.760 and thirties forwards will still have Chevy engines in them. 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.680 Well that's where hot rods came from. To it's just nastcar, 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.400 but hot rods and like that whole hot rod thing 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.920 in the in the California in the sixties, straight out 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:13.000 of bootlegging moonshine with cars. That's pretty cool. Um. So 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.400 the revenuers I don't think we specified there. They were 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.160 the tax guys, yeah, who came to collect and they 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.240 were they were Feds, the Alcohol Tax Unit. Yeah, Like 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.560 they were sending these guys in from like New Jersey 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:27.679 and New York to these rural southern towns, and Bow 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.400 and Luke were like, bring it on. Yeah, you don't 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.520 know these roads like I know. I'm pal. You don't 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:34.880 know these roads. You don't know your car like I 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.560 know my car because I'm the one who modified it 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.240 in all these crazy ways. I added the turbo charger. 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:49.240 I brushed out the piston hole cylinder, the piston hole cylinder. 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:56.360 Is that a common method, brushing the cylinder? I believe? So? Okay, Um, 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:00.480 they would modify. They would built in custom switches. We 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:02.839 could turn off your brake lights or your tail lights 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:07.599 or both. That was a Clay call. It was a 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.079 buddy of Junior Johnson. He did that. So what what 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.680 happens is you're flying down the road behind one of 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.000 these cars at night and let's say the tail lights 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.480 completely go out and they can pull in a little 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.640 you know, like side dirt road, or you're following them 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.800 during the daytime and they're banking on a corner and 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.080 they're hitting the brakes and the cop doesn't realize that, 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.840 so he goes flying into the corner and then he 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:35.520 smatches into something pretty smart. Yeah it's so basic though, 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:40.040 you also need really really good shocks and struts, um. 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.800 And the reason why is because the best thing to 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:44.839 do is to not have to try to outrun the 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.080 cops and just drive right past him and wave like 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.880 you're just a law of Biden citizens, like I don't 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.920 have five pounds of liquor in my trunk exactly, um. 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:54.800 And that's the whole point of the shocks and struts. 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:56.880 And also so when you do have to outrun them, 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.600 your car is not just bottoming out on every divot, 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.679 that's true. Um. And if you do get pulled over. 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:09.640 Another early line of defense was false bottom trunks, um, 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:14.560 hidden cargo panels, basically just places you could stash flicker. 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:20.000 That's true. But ah, who wrote this? Was this the grabster? No, 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:26.560 this was Jamie page Dton jp D uh. As jp 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.280 D points out, cops would eventually get wise to all 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:31.400 these things as well, and then it came down to 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.120 what would lead to NASCAR, which is I can drive 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.960 better than you, period. So that's like when the banjo 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:40.000 music would start, exactly when the cop turned on the sir, 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.480 right and like, I know all your tricks, but now 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.800 the race is on. So um, you've got these local 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.880 roads that are often very What is it thunder Road 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.080 in North Georgia. You know there's a place there's a 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.000 road called thunder Road, North Georgia, And I think Bob 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.360 Mitchum was in a movie about it or something back 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.360 in the day, really called thunder Road, I think. But anyway, 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.520 it's like like a lot of people died, especially revenuers, 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.600 because they didn't know like the curves. It was particularly dangerous. 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.560 But those Moonshine boys like knew exactly what they were 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:13.720 doing and could take these curves. Most of them. A 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.000 lot of Moonshine runners died in their own cars on 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.520 their own roads, just going too fast, too far, too hard. 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:23.280 But if you were a revenue you're at a greater 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.320 disadvantage because also you didn't know where to double back 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.760 and hide out. Um. And there was a move that 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.720 was created by Junior Johnson called Bootleggers turn, which we've 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.360 all seen. It's where the car goes um one direction 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:38.880 and then all of a sudden it does a one eight, 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.840 straightens out and drives back the other direction before the 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.880 car that's chasing it can turn around. Bootleggers turn. I've 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.680 never knew that. Yeah, Junior Johnson patented that one, and 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:53.440 also later on would go on to um I wouldn't 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:58.320 say an event, I guess discover the drafting, which if 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.600 you don't know what drafting is and car racing, it's 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.680 when and you can experience. This is very dangerous. You 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:05.440 don't want to try this. But if you get behind 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.800 like a big eighteen wheeler on the highway and you're 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.319 close enough, it often feels like you don't have to 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.800 hit the gas is hard. It's because you don't. You're 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.760 being sucked up into the wind behind it, and it 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:20.800 breaks the draft and essentially you're in a little vacuum 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.400 getting right up on the car behind you. And in 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:28.040 nineteen sixty I think at the Dayton of Junior, Johnson 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:33.120 realized this by accident on a practice lap and apparently 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.080 had an inferior car to the rest of the cars 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.360 and won the race based on that technique. And then 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:43.360 everyone was like, what's June you're doing. We gotta do 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.520 it too, let's name it. So they named it drafting. 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.480 That's weird, you, No, I guess drafting makes sense. It 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.640 does now, But is that just because we know what 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.680 it's called. No, it's like a draft, Yeah, like I 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:01.600 gets you're right, there's a draft, you know what I mean? Yeah, 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:07.320 all right, Junior Johnson hardoned too by Ronald Reagan. Yeah, 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:11.600 because you said he got arrested for not actually bootlegging, 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:13.840 but just for going to the still one night. Right now. 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:18.560 He was caught at his daddy's still by John Carter himself. 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:21.960 That's what. Yeah, when your father has a still in 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:26.200 the woods, that's daddy, um. You. He was caught at 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:30.480 his daddy's still, um by John Carter. And he did 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:35.880 eleven months three days in prison. Um in North Carolina. No, 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:41.520 I'm sorry, Chillicothe, Ohio or Chilla Coathee Ohio. Um so, 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.560 but he was caught in with Carolina. But apparently bootleggers 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.760 and whiskey runners had this reputation of being so honest 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.360 that when they were caught. His legend tells, when they 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:58.360 were caught and sentenced, the judge would frequently let them 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:02.120 leave um and just go home and be told when 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.320 to meet the prison bus, like meet the prison bus 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.280 March twenty one. And when the prison bus showed up 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.600 like at that stop, the bootlegger would be sitting there 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:12.560 waiting for the bus to take it to take them 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:16.440 to prison. They were known to be that that uma 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.200 despite their illegalities. Yeah, well that was I think one 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.960 of the reasons why Tom Wolfe called the North Carolina 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:29.120 Wilkes County specifically bootleggers the last the last American heroes 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.160 because they were kind of I mean, they were against 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:38.040 the law and they would like kill revenuers, but they 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.640 were also very honest in their dealing when they were caught. 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:43.520 Did he say, didn't you should point out there was 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:45.640 a movie coming out about this. Yeah, there's a movie 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.680 called Lawless, and it's based on a book called The 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.440 Wettest County in the World. Yeah. I saw. The original 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.800 name of the movie up until this year was Wettest County. Yeah, 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.240 which I have to men's pretty bad. No, it's gotta 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.920 be wettest county in the world, like the wettest County 0:16:59.920 --> 0:17:02.360 in the world. And it's about a county in Virginia. 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:07.320 I can't remember which one. Um and the They changed 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.600 the name to Lawless and Nick Cave wrote the script. 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.320 He is awesome and like every way Um and Guy 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.480 pierces in it. He plays the Treasury revenue guy. That's 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:19.320 Nick Cave with a V. By the way, not in 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:24.320 Nick Cage. Yeah, okay, Nick Cave of Bad Seeds Fame, Yeah, exactly. 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:26.879 Um and shy La Buff to bring it full circle 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:31.280 from Crystal Skulls. Yeah, I don't think we should bring 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.800 things full circle of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. Right. 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:37.120 You know that's two consecutive episodes where it just came 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:41.560 up organically. Yeah, strange, but yeah, Lawless is coming out 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:45.400 this month. The recording this the twenty nine I believe. Yeah. 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:47.919 I can't wait because I was thinking, I think I 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:49.280 told you this morning when I was reading this, I 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.960 was like, man, why haven't they made a movie about this? Well, 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:57.800 my friend, they have looking forward to it. Um, all right, 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.639 so where are we world War two? Yeah? What's what? 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:02.640 Why isn't this still going on? And by the way, 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.560 this this article is not correct, said that they were well, 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.200 they were running whiskey well into the seventies. Clay call 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:14.520 who's Junior Johnson's bff forever, Um, he was doing it 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.600 in the eighties really into the eighties. Yeah, And it 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.560 was the um, the rise of the chicken farming, like 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:25.919 mega chicken processing plants that converted all of these former 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:30.359 corn liquor distillers into chicken farmers because it's it was 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:32.720 just more lucrative, and they're like, well not, I'll raise 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.879 chickens then. Interesting. But he was into the eighties. He 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.239 said that one of his cars a an old New 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:42.160 Yorker from the sixties that he said, um the writer 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.960 of this hot Rod Magazine article called something that I 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.320 like doctor a lawyer would would um use would drive. 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.359 But it was like one of his prize possessions because 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.560 that thing would just haul to He modified it. He 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.280 said that he um their bullet holes in it from 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.920 the eighties. So he was like real deal, seriously doing 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:04.520 this into the eighties, because I mean his car got 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:08.200 bullet holes in the nineteen eighties from bootlegging. When I 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.800 was smoking the band it that was seventies. Yeah, but 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.919 he wasn't. He was just he just couldn't drivetive. No. 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.720 They were smuggling beer. I don't remember that. Yeah, of 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.040 course that was what they were doing. Remember the big truck. 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:25.400 I didn't know that full of course beer, illegal course beer. Yeah. 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.400 Back then the course was only out west and they 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:32.720 wanted some in Georgia. Oh, so they sent Smokey Uh 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.119 Sarcana and Jerry Reid to get the truck load of 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.199 course beer to bring it back in like twenty four 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:43.159 hours or something. Yeah. Um, okay, So flash forward a 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.080 bit um in the thirties, forties and fifties, I guess 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.199 not forward. We're kind of right there in the middle. Um, 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:51.520 there wasn't a lot going on entertainment wise in the 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.560 rural South. Didn't have a movie theater, sometimes didn't have 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:58.320 a mall, didn't have a lot to do. So they 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.959 would clear out fields and make dirt track race tracks. 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:04.840 Well farmers would, yeah, it make some cash off of it. Yeah, 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:06.920 because sort of like Field of Dreams, except they would 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:09.399 build a race track. You know, if you build it, 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:13.720 they will come and like um Days of Thunder, except 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:17.560 in a farm field. And dirt track was huge. I 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:19.560 mean it's still big. People still race on dirt tracks. 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.720 But Junior Johnson apparently said that he never got on 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:25.520 pavement when he was bootlegging. He's like, you have a 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.760 ten to one better odds of losing the cops on 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:32.480 a dirt road because these cops, I mean, not only 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:34.280 did they not know the roads in the South, they 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:36.560 were not used to sliding around on dirt roads. And 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:41.240 these guys are just like you know, professional uh drifters, 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:48.280 not Tokyo drifters. Tokyo drifters, not hobo drifters. Um. So, 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:50.439 all right, while this is going on, you've got these 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:53.080 southern towns and farmers building these dirt tracks, making a 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.719 little scratch but also kind of making a name for 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.240 car racing, like this is kind of a new thing. Yeah, 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:02.000 I mean, the Indie was around and all that, but 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:04.240 these this it wasn't kind of big in the South. 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:06.320 I don't think was it. When did that start of 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:09.359 Formula one racing? I should say that was the earliest 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:14.480 auto racing was like maybe or they were racing like 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:19.280 Mercedes and stuff like that, but stock car racing was 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.679 very much new to the South. Well it was, and 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:26.960 then you know, eventually bootlegging dried up and these people realize, 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:31.520 you know what in n they got together in Daytona, Florida, 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:34.760 uh and said let's make this like a legit thing, 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:38.040 Like we think there's money to be made here. You 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.879 guys can drive really fast. These stock cars aren't that 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:44.879 much money because back then it was stock car racing. 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:48.560 Like that was the whole point was we want to 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:51.639 have the fans identify with these people by driving a 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.120 car just like they could drive. Yeah, it was all 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.440 on the driver, yeah, because it was like you weren't 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.400 allowed to modify, and any amountifications you could do very 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:03.480 slight and they were really heavily regulated and it was 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:06.760 all about your driving skills. And they did decide to 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:09.399 go that route because it was, like you said, a 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:14.960 common bond between the fans and the driver. Yeah, you know, 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:17.320 like well and it's still driving the same car. Yeah, 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.240 I mean that that brand loyalty is still huge. Yea. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:22.480 You know the Chevy guys and the Ford guys, like 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:25.560 they don't they stick with the car more so than 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:29.480 the driver even. Yeah, it's pretty interesting. Um. Of course 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:32.159 now they're much more modified. But back in the day 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:36.440 it was called strictly stock, meaning you know there s 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:41.439 S means on some cars. I don't know, wonder you 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:43.320 haven't seen that, I don't think so, Yeah you have. 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:47.040 There's like sometimes like you'll it'll be like a normal car, 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:50.359 like a Monte Carlo, but it'll say s S or 0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:53.160 something next to it. Oh maybe I don't know what's 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:55.400 look in at that, or maybe it means like superstock, 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:02.240