Old School NASCAR Legend Dave Marcis' Asheville Race Shop History Tour! The Lost Era of Owner-Driver

that will fit a 426 Chrysler Hemi. There was only one light bulb in the entire building, hanging on a cord. Most of these axles are from Dale's car. This old man would throw you up to your ears. We're in my old workshop, where I came when I first started racing in NASCAR, in late '68 or early '69. When I came here, there was only one light bulb in the building, hanging from the ceiling on a cord. That's all. And there were also wooden doors that had to be opened manually. There . Are you serious? And they were heavy. Did you rent this space then? Yes, I rented it from a man named Nick Kuhn, he was a Gulf Oil distributor in Asheville, North Carolina. I had a tire changing machine in this corner, so I was constantly changing tires and stuff. He can do it all: deliver the car to the track, fix it, drive it, tune it, do anything. For me, he is a human orchestra. Because back then we often had to remove and mount tires on rims ourselves. Were you here alone or did you share the workshop with someone? No, I was alone. Quite a good sized workshop. And this canopy wasn't here then, but this part of the building wasn't at my disposal. This was the limit of my space. And I only heated this place with a wood stove. It seems like you can't even see where the chimney was, but we had an old wood-burning stove here. And that's all we could do to heat the room. There was an air compressor behind us. It looks like they still use a wood stove. And this door was n't here at that time. When the glass in the windows broke, instead of putting in new ones, we simply welded in a metal plate, because the frames were steel. But when they put this door in, they removed it. This door appeared here not so long ago. Where did you keep yours? How long have you had this hole? Last summer was just last summer. Eight months. I think 6 months ago. Yes. I was just telling him that this wasn't here when I had the workshop. Yes. I needed it, you know, because it's the only place I could put it. You know, when I used to race, I had to block the road. We drove the truck with the trailer right up to the door, and we literally blocked the road to push the car out and load it onto the trailer. Is this our movement? This movement is truly terrifying. Yes, he is bad now. But I'm talking about 1969, 1970. The traffic wasn't that heavy back then. Not too much. This time, David. My God. You just have to stand there on the road. You call to let them know that the customer has arrived. Yes. That's what I'm opening here. And I say: now it's good. Yes, that's what I do. You know, my stove is right here, you know, my stove is right here. Yes. Well, you see, I had a stove over there. Ugh. And when I was painting the car , yeah, we would put one side near the stove, and I would come here all night, throw wood on it to make it warm, and then we would paint that side of the car. Then they turned it around and tackled the other side. It had to stand there all night, and then we would paint the other side. That's right. Because there wasn't much space, you know, so... Well, it's a big garage. I said it's big , but yes, it's hard to warm it up, it's too tall. I know, that's the thing. You are right. The ceiling here is too high, and it's impossible to keep warm. When it's summer, it's good, you know. It's better to work right here. Yes, you are right. I know, you just see, I didn't have that part here. I just, everything I had—I worked here for many years, and it was cold in the winter. I left here. I think it was in the fall of '87. 85th or 87th . I think years later someone rented it for motorcycle repairs right here, after that. Yes. I think it's from Nick Kuhn. They still own it, right? They still own this place. Yes. Yes. Oho. The same people. He's already dead, but I think his daughter or someone else. Daughter. Yes. The daughter still runs it. Did you have an office here? Oh, no. I did n't even have a phone. Oho. I once installed a payphone here, and we used it as a telephone. OK. I didn't have money to pay for a phone, but they could install a payphone for free. And other people came to use the payphone, well, from the street? Well, yes. Every now and then, but if I needed to use the phone, I had to pay too. Ahem. Yes. This is interesting. Because when I called people back then to try to get help with sponsorships and stuff , and they then had to call me back, I couldn't sit at home and wait for the call. I wouldn't do anything. I had no employees then, just myself. Helen would look for parts for me and help sand the race cars before painting and things like that. So , uh, how were the cars located here at that time ? Uh, well, we usually worked on the car there, and here we built a platform because there were no flat places here . So we built a big platform in that area to put the cars on. We pushed them onto that platform for measurements and all that to be accurate. So that it can be repeated. Then I had a workbench right here. I worked on all the back gears and stuff here. I had a workbench along this wall. Um, I had an air compressor right here. I didn't have much then . Was the platform screwed to the floor or just standing? I'm just thinking of things you could mount on the wall or something like that. There would still be a hole you drilled, or it would be like proof of your, well, property. I did not rent this corner of the building and did not own this part. Oh, it happened right here. But where he fenced it off was very narrow, and that's where I kept my spare parts and the rest. And there was no one in this other part of the building . It was simply empty. But I didn't rent that part. Still a very large workshop. Yes, that's not bad at all. Do you remember what the rent was back then ? Uh, 75 bucks a month. Wow. That sounds good. Yes. So, when was the last time you were inside this building? Uh, when I, um, I think when I left here in '87. You never came here again after that. I don't remember. Uh, maybe once I came to pick up some things that were upstairs. I had a lot of storage space there, spare tires and stuff. But you see, he fenced it off. Now, I guess, I have to heat it. Yes, there were no doors there. It was just a brick wall. And, as you say, that door was n't there. This was the only door I had. Big door. We had to open and close them to get in and out. Have you ever tested your cars on the street there? Uh, not really, not really. As I said, when we loaded the car , we had to push the truck with the trailer. We were actually blocking the road. Yes. And they quickly pushed her inside. So we tried to do it very quickly, you know. But do you have any photos or albums taken here during those times? I...I don't really know. It would be interesting to see. I wasn't a big fan of taking photos. I worked, worked, worked all the time. It was necessary. Yes. Although I was actually on my own. What was in this corner? We were just working on the car here. A larger wood-burning stove is needed . Is this bigger than the one you had? No, not much. Mine was pretty small too. As I said, she was standing here. And then you could go around the building, but it's quite difficult. So it's really interesting to do things like that because you drive past this place and you would never in your life think that there was a race car workshop here. Yes. That's it. Yes. There's that building. Dave Marcus has performed from there before. I would never have guessed. At the time, it was a grocery store. Ahem. Where it says AMD Motors. Yes. Oho. Yes. And where that gas station is now, there used to be an Arcadia Dairy Bar. That woman had the best cheeseburgers in the county, malt cocktails, shakes, ice cream, homemade ice cream, and everyone ate there. The woman's name was Mrs. Arthur. It's funny because usually all old workshops always have the closest place to eat. It's always one of those things that gets mentioned. Like, where's the closest, quickest place to grab a bite to eat ? I thank that guy . Thank you. Please, David. Nice to meet you, David. Yes, it's nice to meet you. I'll come visit you sometime. Stand right here. You know, I'm still walking , just like you. Yes, stand here. Take care of your feet. Well, that's all I had—a little wood-burning stove on that wall over there. That's all I had. Is this what you had before? That's all. Aha. How difficult was it to heat it? I know. It was difficult. When I first came here, the entire building had one light bulb on a cord hanging from the ceiling. One light bulb. What do you see? Only light from the fly. Well, light from windows and various things, and extension cords. Yes. You have good eyesight. You also once had a workshop here. Yes, I've worked here since 1968 or '69. I remember, maybe he came at the beginning of '69. Oh, really? Until 1987. Really? I worked here for 20 years on a racing car. Racing car. Yes. Hey, nice to meet you, man. Former racer. I like it, man. I like it. I'll bring you the mail. A few postcards. Good. That would be great, buddy. OK. Hey, nice to meet you all. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Yes. Well, that was the best-case scenario, wasn't it? Yes, that's cool. That stove was right here. I guess we threw her out the window. I do n't even... Yeah. You see, we drove the trailer right here. So when there was traffic, we would put someone here and they would direct them around that pole because there were no cars or anything. There was a hole here. She was there. But we never...yes, but we never used it. Where did you park your truck and trailer? Right here. Yes. Right here. Usually a trailer behind a building. This is such a wonderful building. I think it was... It's an old, old building. It seems that many years ago it was a feed mill. Someone told me. A. It must have been a car repair shop once, with that old pit. This is so cool. Let's drop by my house, maybe I'll drop Helen off at home, and then we'll go to the old workshop, my workshop. Good. This place is simply wonderful. I'll take her into the house. I think if you're in the area, these guys are super cool. We came here that time to take part in a race in Asheville, Weaverville. And then I had a few guys helping me in the pits. And one of them had an aunt who lived nearby. I'll show you. She once had a mobile home there . And that guy, his name was Dale Watson, told me about it. She was a widow, and he said she would be happy if someone lived there . She lived alone. So we went and talked to her. When we moved here, that's where we moved our mobile home. We lived in that mobile home for 24 years. So we did n't have our own house until we were 50. We were both 50 years old, I guess. But you just had to do what you could afford. That's all, we didn't have money for a house. It was a mobile home that I bought in the fall of 1965 in Wisconsin. I moved it here in 1969. And I transported it myself. Another guy who was racing NASCAR back then, Clyde Lynn. He lived in Christiansburg, Virginia. He had a dump and was in the business of transporting mobile homes. We took his truck, which he used to haul houses. He sold me that truck for $1. We registered it in my name so that he wouldn't be responsible. I insured it and moved the mobile home here. Our house stood on the same hill where that big gray house is now. Ahem. It was built there only in the last two years. But our house stood somewhere where those green trees grow and where the edge of that house is. Ahem. And the house of the woman we rented from was right here. It was demolished. I don't understand. They bought it for this development. But the house she had was built of river stones. It was a beautiful old house. They should have kept it. but they didn't do it. And so, when I finished the workshop, the distance from here to her was only about two-three- quarters or three miles. Did you practice on the road, driving to and from the workshop every day? Yes. It looks like an interesting road. But when we were talking about that wood stove, you know, I had to get up two or three times a night at this time of year, you know, in December and January, and go over there and throw wood in the stove to keep it dry and warm. But that big building, as you see, you were in it. It's damn hard to heat. What happened to that trailer house after you built a real house? When I built the house, the woman who lived there bought it from us, rented it out to people, and it was torn down about five or six years ago. He stood there for a very long time. Yes. She died when she was, I think, about 93 years old. And then her son got the place, later sold it to developers, and they demolished everything. Do you still have a plot in Wisconsin? I still have some land in Wisconsin. Yes. I still have my parents' old house and farm, and I'm sure I know this traffic light. I know it's not ready yet, but when the flow of cars pulls off that road, it then pulls off this road before letting the rest pass. And we also have her grandfather's old farm up there. Yes. Oh, that's cool. Yes. We noticed that all of your trucks have Wisconsin license plates . Yes. Well, this car goes back and forth, you know. Sometimes she's there, and sometimes she's here. She usually stands there, in Wisconsin. What prompted or allowed you to build the larger workshop that came later ? Uh, it was like this: when you're trying to find a sponsor, if they're going to spend any money, you really need some kind of collateral. So I did n't even have a workshop. I just worked in that old building where you were. And I said to Helen, "You know, if I want to get a decent sponsor, I need to have a decent workshop ." So that prompted me to build a workshop before the house. I just felt it was a necessity to have a decent facility and show the sponsor that if they were going to invest money in you , you were a racing team that was racing professionally, and it was a full-time job . This isn't just some garage business. So, that makes sense. Did that help? Yes. Oh, yes. Certainly. Yes, definitely. Yes, I'm coming. Yes. Okay, let me turn that off . This is Sam, my brother-in-law. Oh, was it all built at once or did you build it in parts? So , I built it all in one go. Well, we added those parts later. Yes, that was an extension, wasn't it, Sam? Yes. Yes. It seems to be somewhere in '96. Yes. When we found a sponsor, I think it was after Dwayne came along, right? Yes. Yes. This is incredible. By the way, this is Sam. Nice to meet you, Mitchell. Greetings. All this junk like Here's our old frame slipway. There's so much stuff piled up. I don't even understand what it is. So I could put the car here, and we could cut off the front end and, uh, weld a new one on if we wanted. There's a magnetic particle flaw detector behind the machine. I could conduct my own flaw detection. What was the last, uh , Cup car to leave here? Do you like it? When? Yes. I ca n't remember. I think after I retired, we didn't put Trickle or anyone else in the race. Did you exhibit? Oh, yes. Exactly. Yes, Dick Trickle drove a few races. I don't remember exactly what races we did. Do you remember? Dick went to Atlanta, I think, and Bristol too. Exactly. I remembered now because I was busy with the IRA cars. I remember we were in California when you were in Atlanta and we didn't have to test the IRA cars that Sunday afternoon. So I called Parnelli Jones and Jim Solder and I drove to Parnelli's workshop in Long Beach where he gave us a tour. Then it was time for lunch, and he said, "Let's go down the street to the sandwich bar, I'll buy you a sandwich." We were upstairs. He showed us the SUVs he used to race in Baja and stuff . And I asked, "Do you have a TV here?" He replied, "Yes." I said, "Let's turn it on for a minute, see how Trickle is in Atlanta." He's driving my car in Atlanta today. Parnelli turned on the TV, and there Trickle crashes into the wall. He says, " I guess I shouldn't have turned on that TV, huh?" Now I remember. Yes, we weighed the cars in this area after we built the extension. We used to do it over there, in the corner. There was a nice flat floor. I used to assemble my gears and stuff here, and the transmissions are in that corner. I like seeing the car details on the wall. This is cool. G, sheet metal on the walls. Oh, yes. I remember cutting it off. I don't know what kind of race it was , but it's 2000. This is just the era of color schemes. What about that hood? Uh, he crashed it in, well, in Willsboro. I found these things in different places, you know , all the metal went to charity auctions and stuff. A guy in Gastonia had this. I cut that side off and then eventually bought it back from someone in Hickory. And that Lifeboy, that back end, was somewhere in Forest City, in some baseball card shop or something. Yes. You see, we donated a lot of things to charities to help them when they held auctions or events. Like that "Realtree" sign above, they were placed in Indianapolis. This was our first race in Indianapolis. We were given dimensions and we could make signs that hung above our garages at the racetrack. And behind that "Lifeboy" there is another one. You can barely see it, but yes, it is camouflaged. Yes, of course you don't see it. Yes, many of these photos Sam had collected over the years, and his stuff had accumulated. So, we worked on the machines mostly here. Turn on that trophy light. Yes, this is a good display case for trophies. I can't move it. I'll take it. I do n't know if you can pass. Can you do it? Yes. I think I can do it here. One of my favorite quotes. We have several SB2 collectors there. That's good. We also did some engine work here. And he worked here. So, it was just, well, there was never a specific plan to stop racing? Did you just stop and not start again, or was it the engines that stayed? When did you decide not to exhibit the car anymore? Was this planned or did it just happen? No, I...I guess, actually, I could barely...It cost so much money, more and more, and just for a small team, when all those big teams have planes and fly people back and forth , and we didn't have anything like that and didn't have the means to do it. It was becoming harder and harder to make ends meet . You couldn't...you couldn't keep up with them. You know, we did everything we could. We did what we had to do ourselves. I guess that's how we started this sport. I mean, you know, you and your guys are driving back and forth in the van for a day or two to some races, and everyone else is home that same evening, arriving on planes at 9 or 10 o'clock, in their own house and their own bed, and we're on the road driving, no sleep. When we were racing, I helped the guys drive the truck, and we never got back until Tuesday afternoon, leaving right after the race on Sunday night. Where is this board from? Are these engine numbers or what ? Oh, I'll be honest with you, probably so. I don't remember. Yes. Who kept that list, Sam? Bobby. What? Ha? Bobby. Bobby led. My nephew. This is great. One of those SB2s you said was new. Do you think you have bench test results for him? Yes. Uh, I don't know where it is , but I have them. Yes. Are these engines from Childress? No. Uh, Jim Michaels from Wakarusa, Indiana, made these engines. Have you ever heard of him? Uh , I guess not. Performance Tech. He builds a lot of engines. So he built many engines for the Arca series. Many. He has a good reputation. He built many engines for Kenny Shader. For a lot of guys in sprint cars. Frank Kimble of Arca. He made all the engines for Frank. Interesting size comparison, seeing the SB2 next to the big block. They look very similar. Yes, they are good. It was a pretty successful conversion that GM came up with. You know, it gave us a nice cylinder head. So , which one was your office here? There were spare parts here. Here are the spare parts. Most of these axles are from Dale's car, because Richard had to put new axles on every race, because of the sponsors he had. He…