A Thanksgiving dinner revelation in 2019 launched a short film that traces one Alabama family's path from moonshine running to the earliest days of NASCAR.
"The Fabulous Flocks" screens at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, at the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre on Marietta Square as part of the 12th Annual Cobb International Film Festival.
Producer Allegra Deneroff told the Cobb County Courier that the project started when her husband casually mentioned his ancestors were early NASCAR drivers.
"He said, 'Oh yeah, I have a great-great uncle who's in the NASCAR Hall of Fame and there were women drivers and Tim rode with a monkey,'" Deneroff said. "And I'm like, 'Yeah, right.'"
A Google search confirmed every claim. The Flock family of Fort Payne, Alabama, produced four siblings who raced in NASCAR's top division, including Tim Flock, a two-time Grand National champion inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2014. Tim famously raced with a rhesus monkey named Jocko Flocko as co-driver in eight races in 1953. Sister Reo Flock was a wing-walker and stunt parachutist who barnstormed across the eastern United States before dying of tuberculosis in 1936.
The film is set in 1920s Alabama and follows teenager Carl Flock, who runs moonshine with his uncle Leonard "Peachtree" Williams to feed his family. Williams, a bootlegger based in Atlanta, was the first to employ mechanic Red Vogt, who later became NASCAR's official mechanic, according to Deneroff. No confirmed photograph of Williams exists.
That didn't stop actor Robert McLeroy from finding the role.
"I have a natural Southern accent. I too am a big guy with a big personality," McLeroy told the Courier. "It was just kind of a hand to glove thing and he was really fun to play."
McLeroy was cast through a friend of the filmmakers after other auditioners kept delivering what Deneroff described as stereotypical Italian mobster impressions for the Deep South character.
The community rallied behind the project. Deneroff started a Facebook group to gauge interest, and the team raised more than $60,000 through community fundraising. The filmmakers even held a fundraising party at Williams' former mansion in Atlanta's Inman Park neighborhood, a home originally built by Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler that still stands.
If you go
The Cobb International Film Festival runs Thursday, Aug. 6, through Sunday, Aug. 9, at the Strand Theatre, 117 North Park Square, Marietta. Tickets: $15 single-day pass, $25 weekend pass, $50 full-festival pass. Presented by Long Shot Productions and East Coast Talent Agency. For information, call (678) 626-0461.
Upcoming on Marietta Square:
- Thursday, Aug. 6 – Sunday, Aug. 9: 12th Annual Cobb International Film Festival, Strand Theatre, 117 N. Park Square, Marietta
