The Huddlestons lived on a farm positioned on several hundred acres of family land , and after seeing the dragstrip over in Smithville , Gary ’ s dad realized that if he took out a cornfield , he too could own a dragstrip ! So , in 1965 the family farm was reconfigured to accommodate a brand-new dragstrip , originally called Middle Tennessee Dragway . “ Even back then , most people referred to the track as ‘ Buffalo Valley ’ which is , of course , the name of the town ,” says Huddleston .

After he and his wife , Teresa , took over managing the track probably 30 years ago , they officially renamed it Buffalo Valley Dragway . A wide array of drag racing celebrities have made passes down this vintage track , including “ Jungle Jim ” Liberman , Ronnie Sox , and more recently , “ Daddy Dave ” Comstock of Street Outlaws fame .

“ Daddy Dave was actually the largest crowd we ’ ve ever had ,” Huddleston recalls . “ Every field was completely packed , and there ’ s another road that goes through the woods which leads to another field for parking , and it too was completely full !”

Back in the early days , a lot of NHRA record holders came this way ,

as well as many exhibition vehicles such as the Hemi Under Glass , the Cool Bus , the Army Tank Wheelstander and plenty of jets , which were always cause for concern for Huddleston . International Drag Racing Hall of Fame member Fred Sibley Sr . came here decades ago with his jet car and insisted they go to the local junkyard and retrieve a couple clunkers to be used in his show that night .

“ He chained those old cars to his jet and every time he ’ d hit the afterburner those things would come off the ground ,” Huddleston says , “ and eventually burning parts flew off those junk cars and caught the

field across the road on fire !” To this day , Huddleston still marvels at the fact that the whole thing was Sibley ’ s idea !

Even when the burning of cars is taken out of the equation , Huddleston still found himself pacing the floor every time a jet was scheduled to put on a show . “ I was always afraid something would happen and the ‘ chutes wouldn ’ t deploy and they ’ d wind up in another town or something . Those things scare

me !” he says .

He fondly , but nervously , recalls the track record being obliterated by the “ Queen of Diamonds ” jet car in the early 2000s . “ That little girl driving that thing wasn ’ t but about 4 feet tall . She clocked a 3.40 at 217 mph – scared me to death !” Afterwards , Huddleston had seen enough of jet-powered vehicles blistering down the little strip where corn used to grow .

These days , a wide array of personalities frequent this little strip in central Tennessee , and while some are newcomers to the sport , there are many racers who ’ ve been coming here for decades .

Davey Boyd has been racing his 1965 Plymouth Satellite here for the last 50 years . “ I bought the car as a junker in 1971 and turned it into a race car ,” he says . Boyd ’ s intent was to take the car to the dragstrip and sell it , but when he placed runnerup on the car ’ s debut outing , he quickly changed his mind . All these years later , Boyd and the Satellite are still making weekly laps down Buffalo Valley ’ s eighth mile .

Veteran racer Mickey Stephens

enjoyed success in the IHRA Pro Stock scene back in the 1980s , placing fourth in the world in 1983 . Stephens still enjoys the sport and frequently comes to Buffalo Valley , where he and his son campaign a great-looking 1969 Camaro .

And then there ’ s Amanda Hickman , who had never taken a tree in her life until she came with her husband and was hooked from the very first pass . “ We moved here from Texas and I had never raced in my life . From the very beginning they were the most welcoming people here – made us feel like family from the get-go ,” she smiles .

Another relative newcomer to Buffalo Valley is Trey Sommers , whose gorgeous , wheel-standing 1956 Chevy is featured in this month ’ s column photo . “ My dad bought this car 32 years ago . It was supposed to be my high school car , but he thought we should race it a little first ,” Sommers says . Needless to say , the ‘ 56 never left the dragstrip . “ My dad and I moved to Tennessee from California last year . All the tracks out there are closing , so we decided to move out here where there ’ s plenty of racing !” Sommers adds .

In my travels , I never grow tired of hearing the stories of what the local dragstrip means to those who come here : stories of excitement they ’ ve experienced , win lights they ’ ve celebrated and , of course , the many friendships they ’ ve forged along the way . Buffalo Valley Dragway is yet another classic example of how residents gather weekly , eager to experience the type of unique exhilaration that only burning rubber at their local dragstrip can provide . DI