On a July night at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, Nickie White makes last-minute adjustments to his car before a dirt track race, thinking about the advice his great aunt used to give him: “Beat them before they beat you.” That aunt, Nale Thomas of Magnolia Springs, raced on the beach at Daytona with NASCAR, running alongside Red Farmer and other members of the famed Alabama Gang under the number Red 7.
Thomas’ old Red No. 7 car has stayed in the family for roughly 85 years, White said, and his son Jimmy now races it. Both of White’s sons, Jimmy and Jesse, race alongside their father at Deep South Speedway, and White said he intends to pass the tradition down to his grandchildren, many of whom are already fixtures at the track every weekend.
White’s own car, the No. 48, is decked out with Paw Patrol characters, a deliberate choice meant to draw in the youngest fans trackside. “Every kid here loves the Paw Patrol car,” he said.
Elsewhere in the pits, Chris Bayhi slides into his No. 56 car and tightens his helmet before a race. Bayhi has been racing since he was 10 and, like his father before him who worked on the pit crew of the late Davey Allison, has built his life around the track. “I put at least 40 hours a week in it,” he said. “But I don’t just work on just strictly my car. I also hang bodies for other people and set up their cars and stuff like that… This is 24/7. It’s all I do.”
Bayhi began racing with Deep South Speedway owner Billy Roberson after a 2015 incident with a newly built car forced him to sell it. He said it’s the relationships built at the track, as much as the competition itself, that keep him coming back each week. “It’s just always a lot of fun, and it’s a family event,” Bayhi said. “Like everybody that works on my car, they’re my real friend, and we do this together every week.” He finished second in his most recent race and said he’s chasing a bigger win.