"Tudy & Charlie Show" racing hit
By Lowell Cade
Tudy Adkins had a race car but couldn’t drive because of an illness.
Charlie Perry is a good driver, but was having trouble getting his new car ready to run.
Friendly rivals for so many years on tri-state area tracks, these two, with the help of Garland and Amon
Adkins, have presented the “Tudy and Charlie Show” this year.
“I wasn’t feeling too good, but I didn’t think it was anything serious.” Said Tudy Adkins. “But when they
got me in the hospital they kept me for a while.” He finally had to have an operation, and it looked like his
orange No. 47 Camaro would spend the summer in the garage.
“ I didn’t want just anybody driving it (the racer).” Said Tudy. “I figured Charlie or Herk Harbour could
drive or I’d let it set.”
Charlie Perry, a mechanic for Cabell County Board of Education, stepped right into a winner. Running
mostly at quarter-mile dirt tracks at Beckley on Friday nights, and Charleston on Saturday night. Perry
won 17 features in the 1971 Camaro.
The car has won 21 times in all. Harbour drove to two wins early in the season, and Adkins tested his
durability late in the year while Perry was on vacation.
“That just about put me back in the bed.” Said Adkins.
Other feature wins have come at Isom, Ky., and Ohio Valley Speedway at Parkersburg, including a 100-
lapper at Isom. The ladder carried a $1,000-to-win purse.
Perry has had a ball winning in a racer he’d never set foot in until he raced at Parkersburg.
“I’ve had some pretty good years in my own cars,” said Perry who drove for 40 per cent of the purses.
“But this has been my easiest. Tudy’s brothers (Garland and Amon) did the mechanic work while he was in
the hospital. All I had to do was be at the track at race time.
“One night we broke an axel in a heat (race). They got busy, pulled the rear end and fixed it in time for me
to go out and win the feature.”
Perry said two flats and some problems with the exhaust system knocked them out of three other feature
wins.
The car also set the qualifying record time (16.5 seconds) at Parkersburg, where track officials set a $100
bounty for any driver who could top it.
Next year? Tudy is already making plans to race again, and Perry expects to be in a Camaro of his own.
Charlie Perry is a good driver, but was having trouble getting his new car ready to run.
Friendly rivals for so many years on tri-state area tracks, these two, with the help of Garland and Amon
Adkins, have presented the “Tudy and Charlie Show” this year.
“I wasn’t feeling too good, but I didn’t think it was anything serious.” Said Tudy Adkins. “But when they
got me in the hospital they kept me for a while.” He finally had to have an operation, and it looked like his
orange No. 47 Camaro would spend the summer in the garage.
“ I didn’t want just anybody driving it (the racer).” Said Tudy. “I figured Charlie or Herk Harbour could
drive or I’d let it set.”
Charlie Perry, a mechanic for Cabell County Board of Education, stepped right into a winner. Running
mostly at quarter-mile dirt tracks at Beckley on Friday nights, and Charleston on Saturday night. Perry
won 17 features in the 1971 Camaro.
The car has won 21 times in all. Harbour drove to two wins early in the season, and Adkins tested his
durability late in the year while Perry was on vacation.
“That just about put me back in the bed.” Said Adkins.
Other feature wins have come at Isom, Ky., and Ohio Valley Speedway at Parkersburg, including a 100-
lapper at Isom. The ladder carried a $1,000-to-win purse.
Perry has had a ball winning in a racer he’d never set foot in until he raced at Parkersburg.
“I’ve had some pretty good years in my own cars,” said Perry who drove for 40 per cent of the purses.
“But this has been my easiest. Tudy’s brothers (Garland and Amon) did the mechanic work while he was in
the hospital. All I had to do was be at the track at race time.
“One night we broke an axel in a heat (race). They got busy, pulled the rear end and fixed it in time for me
to go out and win the feature.”
Perry said two flats and some problems with the exhaust system knocked them out of three other feature
wins.
The car also set the qualifying record time (16.5 seconds) at Parkersburg, where track officials set a $100
bounty for any driver who could top it.
Next year? Tudy is already making plans to race again, and Perry expects to be in a Camaro of his own.
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Charlie Perry after one of his 17 feature wins in Tudy's 1971 #47 Camaro.