Drag Illustrated Issue 139, December 2018 | Page 60

DIALED IN
LINDSEY CALLAWAY
the best care possible at Covenant Children’s
Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, but her condition
would take a terrible turn in 2000 during her
sophomore year of high school. Her parents
vividly remember the fateful call they received
on a Friday from Lindsey’s oncologist, telling
them that her cancer had progressed beyond
any treatment they could offer. “We were right in
the middle of the bracket finals here at the track
that weekend and we knew we had to somehow
get through this race,” Tracy recalls. They kept
the girls out of school on Monday and sat them
down and told them the grim news. “It didn’t
really sink in to her that she was going to die,”
Rick adds.
Lindsey was the outdoors type and she mainly
inquired if she was going to be able to hunt next
season. She also talked about playing softball
next year, optimistic that her future would extend
until then. Her parents knew she had far less than
a year to live, and in fact, she passed just three
months later. Lindsey’s high school used a fleet of
buses to bring her classmates to the funeral. “So
many people came,” Rick remembers. Lindsey’s
vibrant nature made such an impact on Covenant
Hospital, they even dedicated a playroom to her
memory, calling it “Lindsey’s Park.”
She’s been gone for 17 years now and it seems
that so much has happened since then. Amaz-
ingly, Lindsey’s sister, Jessie, grew up to become
a pediatric nurse and for five years she worked at
Covenant Hospital, right down the hall from the
playroom named in her sister’s memory. She got
married recently and relocated to Texas, where
she still works as a pediatric nurse.
As for the drag strip that cherishes Lindsey’s
memory, a lot has happened there too. The track
was sold shortly after her death and was oper-
ated by a variety of people. It eventually closed,
seemingly for good in 2013. After much persua-
sion, though, the Callaways agreed to return and
reopen the track, along with a dedicated board of
directors that desperately wanted the drag strip in
Roswell to remain in operation. “My biggest fear
after Lindsey died was that she would be forgot-
ten,” Rick says, although her memory continues
to soar in this community.
Not surprisingly, the biggest yearly gathering
at Alien City Dragway is the Lindsey Callaway
Race for Kids, which has raised $600,000 in
toys and donations for the children at Covenant
Hospital. Participants in the race always bring
a toy for the donation, and it’s not uncommon
for the winner of this race to donate their win-
nings right back to the cause. Once a racer even
donated his track championship Wally trophy
to the Callaways to be placed in Lindsey’s room
at home, which has remained completely intact
since her passing. When the “Lindsey Race”, as
it’s commonly known, was first launched in 2009,
they collected several SUVs full of toys, although
it now takes several race car haulers to contain
the donations. Racers from the Roswell area will
often travel to Covenant Hospital in December to
deliver the toys for the patients who are spending
Christmas in the hospital.
In mid-August, Alien City Dragway held the
most recent running of the race in Lindsey’s honor,
and the turnout continues to be overwhelming
year after year. Racers and fans may also visit
“Lindsey Callaway Memorial Toy Drive” on Face-
book for more details on how to donate to Cov-
enant Hospital in Lindsey’s honor.
DI DI DI
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Back at the Helm
Sammy Helms’ return to drag racing after a 30-year hiatus
S
ammy Helms almost seemed des-
tined to become a drag racer from early
on, especially considering how he grew
up in the drag strip-rich state of North
Carolina, while surrounding himself
with drag racing friends throughout his teen-
age years. The inevitable most certainly hap-
pened for Helms, although most were surprised
that he waited so long before taking the leap
into driving race cars.
Helms’ first exposure to the sport happened at
age 16 when he drove his 1962 Ford Fairlane to
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Shuffletown Dragway near his native Charlotte.
“I went to watch Ronnie Evans and some other
guys I knew race their B/Gas dragster,” Helms
remembers. For whatever reason the familiar car
was called the “Box Knocker” and it had a picture
on the door of a cave man dragging a cave woman
by her hair! “It is what it is,” he laughs.
For years, Helms continued to frequent the
track to enjoy the sights and sounds of the rac-
ing life, all while resisting the urge to get further
tangled up in the sport. “I owned a variety of
street cars and never made a single pass in any of
Issue 139
By Van Abernethy