Big Surprises at 2009 Racing Vehicle Extravaganza !!

What a surprise I got on the first morning of the 2009 MS Racing Vehicle Extravaganza. The first thing I saw when I walked into the Trademark building was the #99 B-Car of the one and only Hooker Hood. This was the 1931 Ford coupe car that Hooker drove in the late 1960's. Hooker is from Memphis, Tennessee and has earned a spot in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa. He would go on to become a famed Super-Modified & Sprint Car driver. Hood ran his first races in 1948, racing both motorcycles and midgets in the Memphis area. He would ran a handful of NASCAR Grand National races in 1954-55 in his number 188 Car . Hooker's was the man to beat in 1966 through 1968. During that time he won 125 with about 150 starts. Hooker loved to come down to the Jackson area and race in the big money races.   Hooker raced on tracks all over the US and he could flat drive the wheels off a race car !!

The car was brought down from Memphis by it current owners Dennis and Melendy Kelly. Dennis was part of Hooker's pit crew for many years. When he found out where the car was located several years ago, he just had to get it. When he bought it, the car was all in pieces. He loaded it all up in the bed of his short wheel base pickup truck and hauled it home. It took about a year to put it all back together. After the show, the car sure sounds good when he fired up that 350cc and drove it to the trailer.

Dennis and Melendy are good folks and we truly enjoyed spending the weekend talking with them. They told us that the Memphis Street Rod Club was planning a car show to honor Hooker Hood in November 2009. Miss Chicken and the Little Widow are planning to make the trip up for the party. There will be more info to follow. We hope to see you all there.

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