Part 11: I was borned a coal miner’s granddaughter but my daddy joined the Navy

I was still 19 when Kenny and I got married; just a few days shy of being 20.  Our ceremony was at noon because Kenny said he wanted to get it over with.  Ha-ha!  Bless his heart; he just couldn’t wait to marry me!  We had a lot of family staying at my parent’s house.  My granny and granddaddy (in from Florida) slept in my bed so I had to sleep with mom and dad on the eve of my wedding.  I guess I could have slept on the couch but mama wanted me close.  Our wedding wasn’t anything fancy and we had the reception downstairs in the fellowship hall of the church.  My wedding dress was a hand-me-down from my cousin’s wife.  It had been altered to fit me by a sweet friend of my grandma’s, Ms. Elizabeth.  Daddy walked me down the aisle and gave me away happily because he loved Kenny, as well as mama.  She loved to cook for Kenny as much as he liked to eat.  I think he gained 20 pounds while we were dating.  The first time I brought Kenny home to meet my parents, I warned him that daddy wouldn’t have much to say but he surprised us both.  He took to Kenny right off and offered him a beer from his keg in the garage.   

We went to Myrtle Beach on our honeymoon. We did a lot of moaning on our honeymoon but not from what you might think. We had the worst sunburns ever! In early April, it can still be pretty cool, even in South Carolina. If you lay real still on the beach you didn’t get too cold and the wind would just roll over you. I was on my back and Kenny on his stomach most of the day. We knew we were sunburned but we didn’t realize how bad it was until that night. We got some green Aloe Vera gel to help soothe the burn and I’m sure the maids thought we were pretty kinky. We still laugh about it.

​Our first home was a rental house in Bluff City, on Boone Lake.  We rented it from a preacher and his wife, who lived across the street.  Every piece of furniture we had was given to us by family.  It was a bit eclectic but it was free.  The first thing we ever bought was a television from Rex’s.  It was huge and built in its own cabinet.  My husband was so excited that he couldn’t wait for me to get home so he carried it in all by himself.  I don’t know how he did it!  Did I mention that he has a bad back today?  

​Kenny finally figured out I wasn’t much of a cook.  One of the first meals I learned to cook was Shake ‘N Bake pork chops and we had them all the time, along with Rice-A-Roni. The only cake I could bake was from a box Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker with canned icing.  I made some corned beef and cabbage in a crock pot once and I was so proud but learned that Kenny wasn’t a fan of cooked cabbage.  Back then I never bought real butter because we thought that was bad for you.  Instead we used margarine.   We had a lot of ham sandwiches, Pop-Tarts for breakfast and of course mom and Grandma’s house were always a great place to eat.  We always went to Grandma’s after church and she would have a huge meal.  She would burn rubber in the parking lot after services to get home and get everything on the table.  It never ceased to amaze me how she was able to pull it off.  We go to Victory Baptist Church today and sometimes we’re invited to the preacher’s house for lunch after church.  Vera, our pastor’s wife, is also a miracle worker, offering so many meats and vegetables and everything is always delicious.  

​We lived in the rental home for about 6 months until we bought a little green house on Virginia Avenue from Mary C who went to our church.  It had 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, a living room and a kitchen big enough for a small table.  Mom and dad let us borrow the money for the down payment but we paid it all back.  Mom was very instrumental in helping us find the house and it was the start of her career as a very successful realtor.  

​My job at IHRA consisted of creating and soliciting ads for the bi-weekly newspaper and our annual rule books/souvenir books.  It wasn’t easy because I was always competing with NHRA, which was a bigger and more successful sanctioning body.  I was on the phone all day calling companies that made parts for drag cars, or anyone else that might be interested in purchasing an advertisement.  I remember calling a pretty large corporation in California.  The girl that answered the phone put me on speaker so everyone in the office could hear me talking in my hick voice.  

​Kenny would travel quite a bit going to radio stations and television stations to promote the upcoming IHRA race.  I went to a few races (Norwalk ,OH, Cincinnati, OH, Milan MI, Darlington, SC, Rockingham, NC, and St. Louis, MO).  At the race, Kenny would be in the media center, taking care of all of the reporters and writing releases for the newspapers.  I would usually work different jobs.  Sometimes I would handle credentials and sometimes I would work in the timing booth which was pretty cool.  Meeting drivers like Kenny Bernstein, who liked to flirt, was definitely an experience.  He won his first NHRA Funny Car Championship the year we got married.  Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Shirley Muldowney, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Joe Amato, Eddie Hill were all popular drivers at that time.

One time I was in the tower during an event and one of the drivers crashed his vehicle as he went down the strip.  I remember one of the officials saying it was a bad situation and the tension in the room was so strong.  The driver had hit the guard rail, cutting him and his car in half.  

There were lots of wrecks and also lots of shenanigans at the drag races.  

Our boss, Larry Carrier, who built and founded Bristol Motor Speedway, also founded IHRA, which was a huge rival for NHRA at the time. I always appreciated the fact that he hired me when I was so young, giving me a chance when no one else would. Of course he hired me cheap but he more than made up for it when I proved myself. Larry was a character and his mind was always working. Once, on April 1st, he called me into his office and said that he was sorry but Kenny would have to work the following weekend (our wedding day) at the round track race which had been postponed due to rain. Well, I just got so upset, not knowing what a prankster he was, and said, “We already sent out all the invitations!” He just laughed and laughed. I wrecked the company car once and the first thing he asked was, “Is she okay?” I’ll always remember how kind Larry and his wife, Shirley, were to us.

Kenny was offered a job at the Kingsport newspaper for more money so he decided to take it. He was a sports reporter, covering mostly football and races. Racing, especially round track racing, was so popular that Kenny eventually became a full time racing reporter, traveling all over the country, thus beginning his impressive career in NASCAR.