photo by Kenneth Boone

Enthusiasm about muscle cars: Harry Lee Hyde talks to fellow muscle car enthusiasts at the Aero Warriors Review on Friday. He was a pit crew member of the No. 71 K&K Insurance Dodge Daytona that Bobby Isaac drove when he won the Winston Cup in 1970. That car is currently in the Wellborn Musclecar Museum. Hyde is the son of the legendary NASCAR crew chief Harry Hyde.

Downtown muscle

Wellborn Musclecar Museum brings big crowd to downtown for car show

By Katie Cole (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Friday, October 30, 2009

The downtown parking lot flashed back to the 1970s on Friday with Plymouth Superbirds, Mercury Cyclone Spoilers, Ford Talladegas and Dodge Daytonas lining the roads.

The muscle cars are in town through the weekend for the Aero Warriors Review, a private car show, and on Sunday, their owners will drive the vintage cars to Talladega for the AMP Energy 500, where they will take the first lap around the track. Tim Wellborn, owner of Wellborn Musclecar Museum, and his wife Pam host the annual event every five years. Alexander City’s location makes it a big draw for muscle car owners.

“It is a big deal for them to get to drive around the track,” Wellborn said. “If they can’t make the other (shows), they’ll wait and save money and come to this because of the Talladega 500.”

These muscle cars are different from other racing cars thanks to their engines – 426 Hemi and Boss 429. In the 1960s, NASCAR executives told car manufacturers that racing engines needed to be the same that the public could buy. Instead of making new engines, the manufacturers put these “exotic motors” in streetcars but only from 1969 to 1971.

“This group of cars is from the very first race that ran in 1969,” Wellborn said. “It was the only time in history that a true NASCAR race engine was installed in street cars that the general public could buy. That’s what makes these engines very collectible.”

Charlie Glotzbach, who set numerous records during his career, made the trip from Indiana for the car show, but he’s going to skip Sunday’s pre-race lap.

“I’ve been around the racetrack enough times,” said Glotzbach, who once broke 28 land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats. “Going around with them takes too long.”

Harry Lee Hyde, another big name with racing fans, also attended the gathering. Hyde’s father, Harry Hyde, was a famous NASCAR crew chief and the younger Hyde spent most of his life working on cars, including a stint on the pit crew of the No. 71 K&K Insurance Dodge Daytona that Bobby Isaac drove when he won the Winston Cup in 1970, a car that now sits in Wellborn’s museum. Hyde was surprised at the enthusiasm of car owners at Thursday’s show.

“It’s a little bit humbling to know that this many people are interested in what we were doing back them,” Hyde said. “I wouldn’t have believed there were this many cars still left.”

Wellborn expected a smaller crowd given the economy, but muscle car fans from across the United States and even Canada visited the museum on Thursday, inspecting cars, trading stories and viewing art by well-known muscle car artists Michael Irvine and Dave Snyder.

“The event even surprised me with the turnout,” Wellborn said, adding that the help from city officials made it run smoothly. “We’ll probably begin to have an annual event of all makes of muscle cars, which will be good for downtown.”

Listening to the comments from the muscle car fans viewing the cars on Thursday, there’s little doubt that future events will be equally if not better attended.

“I’m from Milwaukee,” Cal Anderson said. “I just came here to see this. We made a vacation out of it.”

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