1937 by Brian Katen
Until the late 1930s, automobile racing in Virginia appears to have been held exclusively on the fairground tracks. The first track built specifically for automobile racing was probably Airport Speedway in Winchester, built in 1937. The 1930s also saw the introduction of other types of auto racing at the fairgrounds, and by 1940 Airport speedway was holding “jalopy races,” competitions between inexpensive, cut-down cars (typically Fords with flathead V-8’s) often salvaged from junk yards.
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1938
"MAD" MARION MCDONALD
Marion McDonald was raised in a home built in 1887 at McDonald Station, Florida and learned to drive in the family orange groves. "One day I hit the railroad tracks and my car jumped a four-foot gate on the other side. After that I never opened that gate again, " he said.

In 1938 Mac went to work at Bill France's gas station in Daytona Beach, and that same year he entered the time trials for the beach-road race. In a 74-mph dash, he posted a time two mph faster than France. At age 21 he entered the race driving his personal car, a 1937 yellow Ford Phaeton (No. 14). Mac was tied into the car with a rope and carried an open knife taped to the dash to free himself in an emergency.

During one pit stop Mac grabbed a hamburger from one of his pit crew. The fans were amused to see Mac racing into the North Turn and down A1A eating a hamburger. One fan remarked, "Look at that madman eating lunch while driving in a race," and Marion McDonald became "Mad" Marion McDonald.

As he sped down the beach on a later lap, Mac came up on a car stalled across the North Turn. The driver was out of the car and running across the track toward safety. To avoid hitting him, Mac took the high side, climbed the dunes on two wheels, and drove on. He discovered that taking the turn on two wheels improved his speed and began entering the turns more often than not on two wheels. His daredevil style delighted the fans, but Mac describes it as "just Sunday afternoon driving."

Mad Marion raced the beach course in 1938 and 1939. He got married in 1940 and at the request of his bride tried to settle down. But the roar of the engines was too strong, and without his wife's knowledge, Mac raced the Florida short tracks in a 1935 Ford nicknamed the White Ghost. McDonald's last race was in Casselberry in 1946, and he still has vivid memories of the crash that ended his racing career. "A car in front of me hit a guardrail, and the rail came through my windshield and out the back window. It just kept coming and coming." Mac escaped without serious injury, but even today he flashes back to that guardrail. After the Casselberry race, Mad Marion retired from racing and became a gentleman farmer.

Mac's racing skills were unexpectedly revived in 1973. On February 27 he was driving on Florida State Road 15 when a station wagon with two women and two small boys overturned in a ditch. A three-year-old boy was pinned under the crankcase with four inches of clearance. Mac tried to dig under the boy but failed; he tried to flag help, but again failed. He drove his truck through the mud and up the steep canal bank, lowered the power lift tail gate, backed under the car, raised the front, and pulled the child to safety. He received a commendation from the Florida Highway Patrol for his heroic action.

Marion McDonald lives with his wife, Mary, in Port Orange, Florida and is a member of the Living Legends of Auto Racing.

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1938
CARL D. "SMOKEY" PURSER
Smokey Purser holds two racing distinctions that will never be equaled. He was the first driver to be officially disqualified and the first driver to take a provisional start.

Purser was born in Lumber City, Georgia. He arrived in Daytona in 1919 and soon became known about town as a colorful character. He worked as a mechanic on a dredge boat and referred to himself as a sea lawyer. But most of the cases that Smokey handled were filled with illegal liquor. He occasionally traveled from Florida to St. Louis, dressed as a priest, with a car full of moonshine. On other runs he drove a car with "Fresh Florida Fish" painted on the side and a few dead fish in the back.

Despite his reputation as a bootlegger and a gambler, Smokey had a soft heart. Every Thanksgiving he took food to a Daytona orphanage, and one year he bought and installed ten new pews in a local church. But on a race track, he was entirely different.

Oldtimers say that after one race, as Smokey accepted the trophy, an inspector wanted to see the engine. When he opened the hood straps, Smokey slammed the hood shut, reached under the glove compartment, and pulled out a pistol.

"Well, it looks like this car is legal," said the inspector. Years later Smokey corrected the story: "The pistol wasn't in the glove compartment. It was in my wife's purse!"

In July 1938 Smokey became the first driver to be officially disqualified under the emerging NASCAR rules. The first five finishers had to submit their cars to a post-race teardown to ensure that the cars were strictly stock. Instead of stopping to accept the trophy, Smokey took the checkered flag, sped up the beach, and disappeared for three hours. When he finally appeared at the inspection station, he was disqualified. It seems the officials thought Smokey had altered his car during those three hours. Notwithstanding the disqualification, in the minds of the fans Smokey had won the race.

Purser finished second to Roy Hall on March 2, 1941 and won the March 30 race. Qualifying for the July race was rained out, and Smokey took the first provisional. In just 30 laps he passed 30 cars but went out after breaking a piston.