When a handcuffed Troy Selberg stepped from a patrol vehicle on April 4, he was escorted into the Speedway Service Center by Martinsville Sheriff Steve Draper, where former NASCAR driver Joey Arrington was among those calling for an impromptu trial to determine whether Wilkes County, N.C. or Franklin County, Va., was the true ‘Moonshine Capital of the World.’
Arrington, owner of the center, and others planned the event as part of NASCAR Speedweek, to help renew race week excitement from the past by bringing it to Uptown Martinsville. Several officials participated, including former Congressman Virgil H. Goode, Jr., State Sen. William Stanley, Dels. Eric Phillips and Will Davis, Henry Law, owner of Law’s Choice Whiskey, and Dr. Joe Kieper from the Virginia Museum of Natural History.
Selberg, a former NASCAR crew chief and owner of the Whisky Tango Charlie podcast, was whisked through the gallery of racing memorabilia and retired race cars to the area that had been set up for the trial.
Selberg, also a former County Commissioner, represented himself and his county.
“Anyone who is following history or knows that history is being erased would know that the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina are named after all the stills in Wilkes County that caused the smoke,” he said.
To refute Selberg’s claims, Goode called Roddey Moore, past director of the Blue Ridge Institute, to talk about the history of Franklin County and the investigation of the overwhelming sugar purchases used to make moonshine in Ferrum.
“I think you will agree that a lot was unloaded at the village or Henry, and in Rocky Mount,” said Goode.
Law detailing his history of making moonshine, noting that “millions and millions of gallons of it were sold up and down the East Coast.”
“My grandfather ran so much moonshine that they made a movie about him, ever heard of ‘Greased Lightning?’ (The movie) put bootlegging on the map, internationally, especially representing the southside,” said Warrick Scott, grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendall Scott. “My grandfather was the first to have that special relationship with Franklin County.”
Kieper called on dinosaur witnesses to help settle the debate.
According to research by his team, “The plant food that these animals used was of a finer quality than in other areas, including in more mountainous areas, and they concluded finally from this that the ingredients in Franklin County were a finer quality and gave the backyard distillers a bit of an upper hand here than down in North Carolina,” Kieper said.
“I think everybody out that way at some point or another was making good liquor,” Phillips said of the Shooting Creek area.
The jury (also known as the audience) voted and pronounced Franklin County as the winner by a landslide.
“The event is a lot of fun and focuses on the past history of this area,” Goode said. “I thought it was really listening to all the people talk about past experiences. It really indicated a big change from the 1850s to the 1920s and 30s, and now.”
Selberg said, “It’s not about the juice. It’s about the relationships formed, stories, and the heritage that’s preserved.”
“We must keep the stories and the ways of life of our ancestors alive,” Arrington said. “Moonshining is part of this country’s great history and a testament” to families. It allowed to put food on
the table and survive during the tumultuous times of prohibition,
reconstruction, and the depression.
