Originally Posted by
HDonaldCapps
"Revisionism" is not necessarily an epitaph nor is it a sin. Indeed, the "revising" of the earlier interpretations of the past has often brought us closer to those ever elusive truths found in history. One of my former professors hammered the idea that "Popular history is not necessarily History" into his acolytes; by this he meant that often what is thought to be and usually taught as history is fraught with problems -- usually missing context, full of omissions, as well as presenting perception as the reality, always a dangerous thing when it comes to history. And these problems only begin to scratch the surface.
One problem with the Junior Johnson story is that it serves to perpetuate the notion that moonshiners -- especially those in Wilkes County and the surrounding environs -- were the bedrock for the origins of stock car racing. While it makes for a nice story, it little more than legend and myth -- wrapped within more than a few outright lies -- which does not quite fit the actual history of the origins and development of American stock car racing.