Arnwine is a true local that took to the track in its earliest days and drove away to great success on the small dirt racetrack between the hills of Cave Springs and other tracks in the East Tennessee and Southeastern Kentucky areas. According to Jim he raced his first Tazewell race in the fall of 1964, although he claims that some that will say that the track did not open until 1965 will dispute this. He insists that he indeed raced in the fall of '64 in which only a few races occurred. Nevertheless, it was a beginning of a great racing career.

In a time when admission to a race was a dollar and winnings were sometimes only thirty dollars Arnwine worked out of his small shop where he began innovating racing by hand building some of the parts he needed. He always looked to better the parts that was out there and to make them more suitable to his racing needs. Helping him along the way was Dan Coffey, Wayne Fultz, Lee Love, Jimmy Cupp, Lawrence Duncan, Lynn Barnard, J.B. Payne, Jeff White, Kenny Eastridge, Bill and Blake DeBusk, Bill Lakins, Jerry Parker, Larry Burke, his son Anthony, daughter Angie and wife Pat. Upon looking back he listed Lawrence Duncan Auto Parts and Bud Torbett's 33 Gulf as his first major sponsors. He added that they were many more that helped throughout the years and that he could not possibly remember all that had helped but insisted they were all important to his career.

When it comes to the driving and set-up aspect he credits Buddy Rogers, M.C. Kerr, Claude Donovan and C.J. Rayburn as huge influences. Jim took his first checkered flag in 1965 driving a 1956 Chevrolet 6-cylinder. He drove in several classes of racecars including the Bombers, Old-Style Modifieds and Late Models on both dirt and asphalt. Arnwine could not recall the exact number of races that he won in his career but stated he would put the number into the hundreds. He also grabbed several track championships.

When it comes to talking about his greatest rival he smiles and says Jack Trammell. Even though he calls Jack a friend now he admits they were some volatile times between the two. According to Arnwine, one of his greatest personal achievements was breaking the stranglehold on the track championship streak that Trammell held in the 1980's. You can tell that Arnwine holds great appreciation for the battles that he and Jack had fought over the years.

He also mentioned a National Dirt Racing Association event at the Atomic Speedway that he participated in that was a 250-lap event. Out of 117 cars that qualified he was the 11th fastest. He had to pit 3 times for fuel and rubber and finished the race in the 11th spot.

The number 11 was special for him as the number was often found on the side of his racecar. Arnwine has stayed in racing as an owner and his son Anthony is now running a super-late model/ crate late model at Tazewell Speedway and Volunteer Speedway.

When asked about his son's career he said, "Anthony has never had the opportunity that I had due to the ever-increasing cost of racing now and the lack of help that I enjoyed." Anthony is a race-winner at Tazewell Speedway most notably driving in the Modified Street class but is hoping to achieve some of his fathers winning ways when he rejoins the racing in the late model class driving the familiar number 11 that once so proudly adorned his fathers' machines.

Jim Arnwine would like to give a special thanks to his wife Pat who he married in 1962. "She's been behind me all this time and for the most part enjoyed watching me race except for a few times when I went flying over the fence into the parking lot or was involved with a little extra after the race activities." After we had completed our talk of the good old days Jim added one more thing, "I would like to do it all over again."

Photos courtesy of family archives.

If you know of a local legend you would like to have featured in the Claiborne Progress contact Allen Earl at pitchadude@hotmail.com or call 423-526-3480.