Larry Pollard's Abandoned Go Kart Track & Historic NASCAR Busch Series Collection

this restaurant up here used to be the the Harry Gant Steakhouse you walk around the corner and see one of these things you're just like let me see that I got to see that I'm from Canada Richard Petty asked you to go work for him you know that you've lived the dream of one me and probably like millions of other kids just have all you can eat access to a legitimate go-kart track it's been what three years now Chase since 2019 and then really whenever the co deal came we we shut it down and we cleaned it off here this year but the csu's already kind of took back over but these are the rails we're talking about here they're just is that like Rusty Wallace car out there yes ma'am we got to show you the carts they in the other building that one right there is always seemed to be for whatever reason day in and day out yeah it was just seemed to be the best one it would just fly how do you get out there I want to I want to I want to look at it last 20 years of being alive just disappear when you walk around the corner and see one of these things you're just like let me see that I got to see that there is actually two Hills there and then uh Thursday nights we had that was our race night it's called a Thursday night Thunder and that was fun man instead of just going out for a 4minute ride you know those was had cautions and all that it's it's Quine we we tried it all yeah we tried it all how old were you when this opened well I was born about the time it was open and then whenever I got well old enough to to work I worked here and then I ran it for probably last four or 5 years until it we shut it down but uh man I really would like to get it going but that's about the time we started racing so this restaurant up here used to be the the harant steakhouse and that was the same time frame so you know you can imagine and at one time it was a cool spot cuz people would go eat and then you know you you through the windows you could see the go-kart track down here then you're like oh we got to go do that and we're done and then you just bounced right down here you had your own little tourist destination yep exactly right man when this place was at its peak how many people could have been oh God in here at any given time I mean this these fences here would be lined up yeah just 8 eight good Saturday night just eight cards 4 minutes 8 and just when they're coming in the other groups going out it was just incredible put that vegetable oil on it and it make it slick and it's just you put vegetable oil on it yeah yeah it's sad walking out here seeing it like it is see all this rubbers coming up y oh that's all rubber yeah and and it and that's when it's perfect it's when it's like that cuz then it's slick the oil but now it's been four years the rain's taking it off we'll have to get it all built back up to get it back where it was but that's all rubber there did the configuration change cuz it looks like there's lines in here that don't match with the walls yeah when when we when I first built it it was off the end of the building there so it was it was all together different it was a whole different course and then when we built the back stretch with the heels and put that bank Corner in down there we could change the whole the whole track just made it so much better more racing and using up the same area so how did you determine what the layout was going to be did you kind of mock it up and play with it before you built the walls or just yep he's get in a cart and I call Chris Harrington Todd Harrington uh CER uh Dennis well his dad uh Dennis Dennis seter yeah cuz we were doing their stuff so we' we' he'd come over to pick up his gear and I said Dennis let's jump on a couple carts here then we go out and race for about half half an hour and and he said wow we need to move that wall here and that wall there so it was pretty cool deal but you get some air over that hill right there yeah did you get fast enough to get air you turned them up you could but what the deal is keep on the ground right they there's a state law it's for not having helmets and for for not having helmets it's got to be 15 or 16 yeah and and at 17 they jump so it worked out perfect for no helmets 15 M hour and they gave you a pretty good ride over the hills you know it was kind of a deal working within the rules and the the trooper come down here one night and they parked on that road down there and they had the radar on the backstretch to see how fast they're going and they were 15 mph so we were perfect on our speeds and with the heels it made it feel like you're hauling butt you know I mean so it was a it's a neat deal it it worked out really good did you build the hills up with dirt and then put concrete over them y I'm sure there was a little bit of a engineering involved oh yeah figuring those out oh Monty Payne he he did them there's two all that it's all that is a big hill that is super cool it's all uh concrete from there all the way around the corner and we we built a bank Corner down there we thought that'd be pretty cool too and it it really it really made it a fun ride with banked corner with a grease on it did you ever have your own like personal faster cart that you come out here with oh yeah oh yeah got one and I put two Motors on it you should give that video I know it yeah I find it typical Racers over the years they they'd find ways to bend the throttle oh Lord you know they they'd figur it out so we we'd have to come up with ways to It's just sad all this stuff is just sitting here but we kept it pretty pretty nice when we had it open it was it was a nice place to come to everything was pretty and clean and but this is the bank corner here and this is all concrete here which it went this way well on Race nights we go backwards and then on regular nights we go that way and the drive wheel is on the left side correct yeah so on the race nights with the guys that want to race we go backward and then the drive Wheels on the left side and it was a Power Wheel so you could you know you could work the throttle and make it go you know whereas when you go around the other way the left wheel just spins you ever have any catastrophic crashes Yeah couple one guy one night he I don't know if he's drunk or not but anyways he he he roll he crashed his car like it was and we rolled him back over here and he was all stretched out in the car like this and he was all tensed up and he says oh my God I can't feel my legs and I'm going oh my God you know we hurt somebody so we backed them up out of the way at the time this wasn't here and we backed him up behind the building there and and it just so happened a trooper was here A friend of mine Trooper he was there so he jumped in there with us you know and he's sitting in the car and he says oh my God I can't feel my legs and he's just going on and on and his wife come running over there and oh honey you know and he's oh man I can't feel my legs you know so we said the trooper he kind of looked at me funny and I says man he says call the ambulance I said we got to get the ambulance down here and get him on a board or something you know and as soon as I said as soon as I said ambulance he got his feeling back so we figured that of it but that was pretty funny deal but that's too bad we can't have a lane here we'd get you on a cart so cut I did not know this cuds who come right across the track now this is awesome I didn't know there's ramps were here how often did you have to change the tires on the carts with the oil on it it really slowed down the wear it helped that yeah remember the first night first weekend we opened got all done got our insurance got the inspection and got open Thursday no we opened Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday that was the first four nights were open man oh man there was people just everywhere and everything was good and and anyways I come in Sunday to check the carts just to kind of check everything out first weekend open I looked at all the tires and on them recap tires you get for concession carts they got a white rubber on underneath them so when they wear down the white rubber shows you can see that you got to change Tire I just went back there in the room and I'm looking at these tires and every one of the carts was white all the way around with with no oil on the track it just ground the tires off the first night four Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday night 16 carts Time 4 tires they were they were gone they were just ate up the tire and I said huh I thought we made some money here so that's when we started thinking about we got to put something on the track to to just to try to slow down the tire where did it become profitable yeah yeah it's it's a good deal CU we there again we we never did borrow any money to get started we just kind of picked away at it so we owned everything here and all we had to pay for was a 10 grand a year insurance and the inspection fee and gas and you know stuff like that but you can make a living at yeah oh yeah it was good it's a neat little deal if we could find somebody that would just lease it and run it you know and so we wouldn't have to it's just so much time prepping and getting ready and then working on the weekends so we're going away racing we can't do it so that buddy mine Wayne hudon from Nashville Tennessee he says uh his girlfriend she we went out one night with my wife and them and and she says man you need to make need to have a go-kart track and they made one in Nashville she said that thing is just packed all the time and I saw so anyway we thought about it there was a hole out here they were building a road over here off of 16 and the guy came by and said uh man uh you got any place put dirt we'll leave a bowl over here and everything said it won't cost you nothing we'll just bring these loads of dirt in and we'll we'll spread it around so they did and all of a sudden they made a big lot there you know it was just filled lot you couldn't build on it cuz it's all fill so I said huh that's looks like a good place for a go-kart track so I traded out the fansing to a guy that wanted some rear end work done for his race car and his boy so made that happen so in other words we're trying to make it work without spending a million dollars on it and then uh it's the Racer's way it is yeah the pavment guy Nelson Sigman he was a friend and he's got a Paving Company so I got it all filled up with dirt and sped around he said well man you you pave that thing don't you so he come by and he he paved it for us for a sign on the fence Barry moose I traded out the the rear end stuff he built a fence around it got a bunch of old race car tires to make the guard rail and just kind of picked away at it without spending a bunch of money on it to get it you know and I we got built the racetrack we got everything ready to go and then then we needed carts that was a big thing so looked around for carts and that was the first money that we had to spend to make it work we had to be sure we were going to do this deal you know so we get everything done fence up pavement guard rails track set office done got all the go-karts and I was ready man I we got everything out there got them all painted up put stickers on like like other cup cars you know stuff you had to change one letter just like your copyright for the music yeah you know if you got skull you put School banded or you know you don't put skull you can't it's liability deal so we had them all painted up like that and ready to go and I was going to open that weekend and I was just out there tining around and get stuff straight up this little guy come in from the state he had a book in his arm like this he says what you got going on here and he I said oh this a little go-kart track yeah okay uh got your inspection no uh oh you need that and I said okay well we'll go with that all new carts and guard rail man we should be good he says uh got your insurance I said no no no see that sign over there he said I'm not responsible for anything no that don't work so he's no you need insurance and he's I'm going to have to tell you you can't open until you get inspection and insurance I said okay well that can't be too bad you know holy crap you tried to find insurance for a go-kart track in North Carolina it was a big deal you know so then we got that all sorted out and then uh the inspection he come out and we had the guard rails had it all laid out it was beautiful you know and the old guy come out to try it out and he says oh them guard reils they won't work I says what do you mean and he said well you need every two foot a steel post and then polyurethan yeah some some piping that goes over it and this and that and I'm going holy crap you know this like thousands of dollars and I says really I says I didn't know that he yeah yeah it's state law and I said well try them out there you know just get on one of them Gokarts and just see what you think go hit the wall yeah just you know just see what how they work you know and he says he's kind of whatever but he got out and sure enough he gets out there and Bam and he gets into it like this and he gets out and he says my goodness that's a neat deal he said that that absorbs all the energy it doesn't hurt and it plums right back out he says I'm going to recommend that all the go-kart tracks put this up they put this up from now on he said I'm going to let you go use this so shortly after that NASCAR started that one in uh morisville and guess what that's the guard rails they put up in there really yes sir from this place right here there's all the old carts there but these the same carts you started with mhm fkl is out Canada we probably repl plac all the bodies at least somewhere down the line twice maybe yeah but the same chassis just every year we'd rebuild them you know and go through and just yep LP gear we said let them sue us so we can put that like we had to did people ever try to fight over the one they thought was fastest or something oh boy you get an ear heart fan old Monty porch come down here he would not ride it unless you got the three car oh there it is there yeah was there one of them that was faster than the other ones I you you always setting them so you always had one that that was better than the other we whatever reason that one right there always seemed to be just for whatever reason day in and day out yeah it was just seemed to be the best one it would just fly the school Bandit one school Bandit yeah is that a coincidence it's pretty much s that it happened to be the fast one or have a little bit of extra tinkering yeah yeah we had them all ready to go um well 2020 and that said the co deal is still kind of going and we couldn't find any workers so it's just kind of left sitting but they were ready yeah we had the office painted out bathroom yeah if we get her open we'll have to get you guys down here heck yeah do some rides and put another 100 Laps on the tried to get the rubber back on that's right cuz it took a lot of years to get that track the way it was I don't think you have a hard time finding people to do that for you find that what was this garage here built for Harry built it just for a wash pit huh this is a that's his car there I think isn't it that's Harry's car there yeah then he put a suite on there and his uh wife's brother come down and stay and it's got a bathroom and everything here it's kind of a neat little deal it's kind of a cool tool boxes forgot that was there yeah Matt gave him all that has one heck of a wash pit yeah yeah till it stopped up the septic tank and then they quit doing that so it was just use too much water all the soap and the stuff it it it killed the the action on the septic tank so they had to quit doing it did you leave the carts outside overnight or did you have a little service area for them in the shop somewhere yeah we got that on the back side of the building there's a big room and that's where they stay but Chase's truck's in there right now cuz he's painting it so we said just get them out of there and bring them over here and rather than making this place nasty and dirty with painting yeah we didn't get to see the entire shop yet there been so many other things to ping pong around with which is usually good thank goodness you can added it right yeah this was a ticket counter so this comes up and then like you said you both these doors open so you can see the whole track from there you know just make sure everything was good so what do you paint the Tahoe in there yeah or is it a Yukon it's a Tahoe and then in the office here is a whole disassembled Tahoe but it's the year with that bad primer so it's oh we have one of those it was white and the paint was falling off oh yeah it was pretty much gray the white was about gone so with was this your first car or something was there a significance to wanting to do this to this particular one Facebook Marketplace I bought it for like 700 bucks and I've got a lot more than that in it now but you know when did you build this building golly bum 89 yeah got hurt in 88 took a year to get better had young ones and had to eat when I was with petties I built gears and I was crew chief at petties in 83 their gear guy was leaving or something like that so Richard said man is anybody you know that build gears and I said wellow I can do them so I was building gears for Kyle for Richard's cars and crew chief and the 43 car with Robin that it was just almost inherited you know so I started building all them gears and then Ford Richard terer from Ford from the Sterling axle plant he called me and said uh he says why don't you come up here and spend two weeks of me and I'll show you how ford9 in gears are built made process the whole deal so I said heck yes we had a couple weeks off from racing so I went up there and spent two weeks at Ford and saw the whole process I learned a lot about gears and how they're made and how they're cut and so that was invaluable it just kind of formed into a a business you know what I mean then when I got hurt I had to find something like I say I just got to eat kids got to eat wife got to eat so we do a little everything that's a that's a restoration for a 194 5 Jeep or 55 Jeep guy wants it done that's the rear there this is the front we're still waiting for parts you know just it's really hard getting parts for these old things but these are ones that are ready to go out here we do ton of Quick Change here we just I don't know very much about these my shifters have all been the old actual heurst stamp pieces but this looks like it's more derivative of that style it than that one does can you explain the difference well that there is a copy of a Hurst and all they really did here here was made bill at casing for it and then you know they they they made everything for the but it is absolutely a copy of the heurst and we like them just because the the dirt doesn't affect them as much as what they call the straight rail shifters like your Longs and stuff they're real susceptible to getting dirt in them off the racetrack and then they have a tendency to to get tight and Gall up whereas these ones are way more forgiving in my opinion but some of the guys when they bring them in they want the Longs or or the other ones but we have good luck with these here we we used a lot of them that's interesting CU yeah I didn't know are the is the throw shorter on the straight rail one or like why do people not any they used to be but now they've made new uh shift levers for them which has made the ratio so much better so that these here now are a very short shift as far as you know first to second they're really short and be in the past used to be like that now they've got this ratio down and now they got the shifter set back so you can have the shifter closer to the driver and guess what put a shorter handle on and with a shorter…