Saturday morning, Charley Miller, of Cookeville, Tennessee, sat in a chair in a sunny parking lot between the Second Presbyterian Church and the Mountain City Club downtown.
Just back from the Pace Grand Prix racing area on this second day of the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival, Miller unpacked a bucket he’d received for free from the O’Reilly Auto Parts tent. His new swag, which he collected in the bucket, included a magnetic cup holder, a stress ball, a blanket from the Volkswagen tent (“had to take a survey”) and a hat that said “Flatrock,” which happens to be the name of a motorsports park in development near his home.
He fished the hat from the bucket and placed it on his head.
Though the Motorcar festival, now in its third installment, goes on into Sunday, Miller would be loading the green Corvette he was displaying in the parking lot onto a trailer on Saturday afternoon, as he had a race at his local drag strip later in the evening.
“Us drag racers, we’re like family,” he said. “And that’s what my wife can’t understand.”