Sunday, June 19, 2005

Hubert Platts first job behind the wheel of a car was not exactly the prototypical start to a career in racing.

The alcohol industry in South Carolina was an illegal business, but that didnt stop Pratt from helping provide a taste to the people with a taste for white lightning. At 25, he began racing up and down the backroads delivering moonshine, even dodging the law when need be.

Pratt will be honored today during the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion at Beech Bend Raceway.

We had to make a livin back in the early days, Pratt, now 53, said. I probably hauled a few gallons.

The opportunity arose when Pratts friend, who made the special brew, lost his license. Knowing he was a target anytime he was on the road, Pratt was asked if he could start making the deliveries.

I was a pretty good driver, so he asked me to drive, he said. We would go one place and drop off a few cases and then go to another and drop off one.

Pratt would pick up the liquor in his 1950 Ford Coupe on Sundays and deliver it throughout the week, picking up the money the next Monday. Hauling such precious cargo was not a task for the faint-hearted. The delivery had to be made quickly and without the hassle of law enforcement. Pratts strategy was simple.

The local police would eat dinner at the same place at the same time. It was then he would make his delivery. Regardless of where the police were, Pratt wanted to get there in a hurry.

We were wide open there and wide open back, he said.

It was this wide open attitude that led Pratt to a more honest living. After serving in the Army, where he helped test atomic bombs on Marshall Island, he immediately got back behind the wheel.

The drag strip would have to wait, however, as Pratt jumped into round-track racing. Although he enjoyed it, the sport was too expensive. It was then he invested in a Chevy A-Gasser and started racing in the Super Stock division in Atlanta.

I started with the round, round racing, but I didnt like that, so I went to drag racing, Pratt said. I always like to go fast.

Pratt started racing in the Chevy gasser series as part of the Nalley Chevrolet team. After two years Pratt moved on to Ford, where he became a pioneer in funny cars, which included the wheelstanding Falcon.

From his 1962 start in drag racing to his retirement in 1977, Pratt raced Super Stock and Pro Stock, setting records along the way.

Pratts career began to pick up speed, literally and figuratively, when he outran Ollie Olson in a race in Florida. A few weeks later he returned to Atlanta to set both he A-Gas and B-Gas record at an official NHRA track.

That gave me a lot of incentive, Pratt said.

But it was a trip to California that really launched him into the drag-racing spotlight. With the help of C.J. Peppy Hart, Pratt took the opportunity and seized it. Hart convinced him to stay and race at tracks in Fontana and Irvindale for $500 a match. He accepted and won every race.

He put me on the map, Pratt said. He was the man. I have to thank him for everything I ever did.

As his success grew, Pratt never forgot his humble beginnings. Being on the Ford team allowed him to do something he says he enjoyed the most during his career teach the up-and-comers. Along with his teammates, Pratt toured the country, giving seminars at local dealerships.

We got to talk to kids and tell them what to run and what not to run. We just didnt want them wasting their money, Pratt said. I really enjoyed going out and teaching people something so they didnt have to learn the hard way like I did.

We didnt have anybody to teach us.

Looking back at drag racing in his era and todays high-tech sport has given Pratt and interesting perspective. Racers today make more money, have more time and help, but Pratt doesnt think its better. The hands-on part of the sport, which he said he enjoyed the most, is long gone. Nowadays drivers do not sacrifice or put the same amount of personal time into their cars, which Pratt feels was one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

We had to make our stuff. Today, if you have money, you can race, Pratt said. I think people learned a lot more because they had to do things themselves. Today you dont have to do that. You just go buy something and then go racing.

If I had to do it over again, Id rather have ran in my era than theirs.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700