A little more talk means a lot more action at Oglethorpe Speedway.

Stock car racing and the South boast a subtle harmony not unlike biscuits and gravy. Both pairs are greasy and potentially hazardous to one’s health, yet utterly satisfying.

The sport’s origins in the Savannah area date back to the birth of the Oglethorpe Speedway, a half-mile dirt track that opened in Pooler in 1951. Many of racing’s seminal figures—Dale Earnhardt, Johnny Parsons and Lee Petty—cut their teeth on the D-shaped clay oval, just 15 minutes from downtown Savannah.

Every Friday evening from April to October, motor sports enthusiasts still congregate at the Pooler track for stock car and go-kart races. Narrating the action for the 2009 season is the team of Big Red Womack, a former Oglethorpe driver, and Jim Weaver, a veteran racing announcer.

The South took a pit stop with the pair to learn a little more about loudspeakers, short tracks and the beauty of four left turns.

The South magazine: How do you enhance the action on the track?
Jim Weaver: Before [the race], I’ll try to go down in the pits and visit with as many drivers as I can to get any insight into how their day is going, their week, or life—anything they’d like to get across to their audience. I’ve always believed that the people who are buying the tickets and sitting up there, aside from seeing the cars on the track, they’d like to know about the drivers and what they’re involved in.

TSM: It must be a huge rush to announce a race.
Big Red Womack: I still get very, very excited following the races. It’s not the same kind of adrenaline rush you get driving a car, because that’s in a [league] by itself. But announcing is the next best thing to driving a car.

TSM: What does this sport mean to the fabric of the South?
JW: Stock car racing was born in the South, grew up in the South, and originally, there were no paved tracks. Everything was a dirt track. If you’re a driver and someday have dreams of driving on the big asphalts, this is where it all starts. You’re seeing tomorrow’s drivers today racing on the dirt.

TSM: How do you handle it when tempers flare between drivers on the track?
BRW: I raced for 20 years. I know what’s going on inside that cockpit. If two drivers start running into each other, I know what each of them are thinking. You can’t tell me you’re not pissed off at the other driver. I know better. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. But, as an announcer, you can’t say they’re flippin’ the bird or shakin’ their fists at each other. So I’ll try to make a joke out of it, like, “What they’re doing right there is one of them is inviting the other over for Sunday dinner.” H