For the drivers in the Southern Ground Pounders Vintage Racing Club, it’s about passion, a love for the sport and a desire to entertain.
The Southern Ground Pounders features two different classes of vintage cars, Vintage Modifieds and Vintage Sportsman. Combined, the club brings 10-15 cars to whichever track they visit. This is not just a car show though. Unlike some other vintage car clubs, the Southern Ground Pounders race hard and entertain.
“We’re a racing club for vintage racecars and you know, we’re just like any other club,” club president Mack Tatum said. “I just happen to be the spearhead for it and be the president. I’ve been the president for a couple years. We have meetings just like any other club. We’re doing the best we can with it.”
Tatum said the Southern Ground Pounders are, in no way, boring. The drivers who race in the club are racers and they race with a winning attitude.
“We’re not boring,” Tatum remarked. “We’re racing. The fastest car is going to win. And we’re going to run hard. We’ve got cars that have just as much horsepower as most stuff at the racetrack. We strive to race hard and clean. Every now and then, things happen and we scuff something but we strive not to scuff anything and our guys are very respectful. If you have a car, you’re racing and you’re not having fun at the racetrack, you need to do something else.”
The drivers race hard but they race clean. The Southern Ground Pounders don’t often have cautions for wrecks but they do feature spectacular side-by-side racing wherever they go.
“Tearing a racecar up is not fun and we’re not about that,” Tatum explained. “We want to put on a good show for the fans because this is an entertainment thing. We’re part of the entertainment venue for the promoter. The real show is the Late Models and premier division. We’re here to entertain the fans and show them what racing was like in the 60s and 70s and to relive some of their memories.”
While the Late Models are often the premier division at short tracks in the Southeast, it’s not uncommon for the Southern Ground Pounders to bring a car count that rivals or even eclipses a track’s feature division at select venues. Tatum hopes that, when the fans leave the track, they leave talking about the Southern Ground Pounders being the best race of the night.
“We want to be the best race at the track,” Tatum commented. “We love showing up with 12 or 15 cars and having more cars than the feature division at some place. That’s not a slam against any racetrack. It happens sometimes. We don’t get paid a penny to race. We’re here for pit passes and we race and have fun and I guarantee if you like racing and having a vintage racecar, you would enjoy being a part of this group.”
The first race of the nostalgic series is already in the books, having been run at East Carolina Motor Speedway on May 2nd. The series has races at Southern National Motorsports Park, Orange County Speedway, Ace Speedway, Shenandoah Speedway and Wake County Speedway in the weeks and months ahead.
