Reunion of moonshiners, revenuers reflects NASCAR’s heritage
Parsonsville Road meanders through a beautiful valley in Wilkes County, N.C., past Benny and Terri Parsons’ elegant mansion, which sits atop a hill above the Benny Parsons Rendezvous Ridge vineyards.
Two lanes of asphalt give way to one lane of dirt. It winds its way to the old Parsons homestead. There, sitting beyond a creek and on the slope of a hill, the home in which Parsons was raised by his great grandmother Julia still stands.
Recently, this was the site of what was called a “moonshiners reunion,” where many gathered to hear bootleggers and the men who chased them – the “revenuers,” as they were called – tell stories.
It was more than that. There was music, food, exhibits of handsome old cars from the moonshine days and samplings of Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon, a legally distilled product that, well, tastes pretty much like the illegal stuff he used to haul.
“Junior is the only man in North Carolina who could get a one-day permit from the state to push moonshine,” Terri said with a laugh.
Johnson, of course, was in attendance. He arrived with his peers – and past adversaries – in a parade of glittering hauler cars.
They sat in rocking chairs on a stage, haulers on one side and revenuers on the other, and began to tell their stories in front of a rapt audience, most of which sat on bales of hay.
A number of NASCAR’s greatest drivers, owners and mechanics were lured to the event because it celebrated the men and cars that gave birth to stock-car racing. Among those in attendance: David Pearson, Ned Jarrett, Bobby and Donnie Allison, Hoss Ellington and Waddell Wilson.
They were also there, no doubt, to honor the memory of the late Parsons, who was one of them.
The bootleggers and lawmen are now much older men long retired from their professions. But their minds – and senses of humor – were sharp.
Johnson’s father, Robert Glenn, at one time had 1,000 stills in operation in Wilkes County.
“He had to,” Johnson said. “He couldn’t go out of business if the law smashed one up.”
Once, he recalled, he and his brother, Fred, were offered a bribe. Revenuers offered them $5 to reveal their father’s whereabouts.
That wasn’t enough, Johnson said. So they were offered $5 apiece. That would buy a lot of soda pop and candy.
They accepted. But they wanted the money before they said a word.
They were asked why.
“Because,” Johnson said, “if we tell you where daddy is and you go there, you ain’t comin’ back.”
When asked what they did with the hauler cars they confiscated, an old-time lawman said: “Well, we would drive ’em around for a little bit and then sell ’em.
“And sometimes, well, we’d sell ’em more than once.”
They might have been rivals once, but the bootleggers and revenuers admitted they had, and still have, respect for one another.
When he was in high school, Parsons often had to walk home from football practice. School buses had long departed.
It was said the journey took him three hours.
But he always fondly remembered his old home. In fact, for years it was the site of what was called a “homecoming,” held prior to each race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Parsons’ relatives, friends and invited guests would gather by the creek for an evening of feasting on home-cooked food. There would be plenty of tall tales and laughter well into the night.
When a trunk lid on a car or two sprung open, well, the “bar” was open.
Back then, the homestead was virtually overrun with wild vegetation and weeds.
“It looked really snaky,” a family friend said.
But now the site is immaculate. The grass is mowed, flowerbeds have been planted and the home – even with its aged look and faded, dark-brown wood – is elegant.
It was the perfect site for yet another Parsons homecoming.
This one was different in that it honored those who contributed much, in their own way, to the heritages of Wilkes County and NASCAR.
But, as much as everyone enjoyed the festivities, many of them couldn’t help but reminisce about Parsons.
You know, they said, he would have enjoyed this.
