 by Skip Wall
He cant seem to get racing out of his mind. All 79 years of it.
Meet Ernest “Rosie” George from Kernersville NC.
He still likes to climb behind the wheel of an old coupe race car in the East Coast Flat Head Association Series.
He still has a good time running whether he runs good or not. “Its just the fact that im still able to do it” he says with a sheepish grin.
Moreover he will tell you he still thinks he can win even at his age.
But Rosie George comes from the old school of racing.
For years and years he was an official at the famed Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem NC during the Joe and Alvin Hawkins era.
George was a feared man around the stadium as he didn'’t play games with the drivers.
Known as “Ramblin Rose”, he could also be known as “Grumblin Rose” for his no nonsense tactics. “They wont say it, but I was always fair over there (at the stadium)” he says.
 George may be still officiating at the stadium if it wernt for his son, Joe, a flagman at the stadium, getting hit by an irate Bobby Loftin one year.
“That was as close as I ever wanted to hurt someone. And at that point it became no fun over there.”
However Joe George serves as his dads crew chief on the number 18 Georges Garage Special.
Its hard to imagine that George, a hard nosed racing official would retire and drive school buses for the Winston Salem/Forsyth County School system.
He was well respected by his elementary kids on his routes. Now was it because of his no nonsense tactics or him being a “Ramblin Rose”? He also had his garage, just down the road from the school, called Georges Garage.
He still piddles around the garage after getting out of school buses a few years ago. In fact, Rosie has been known to have “tested” his coupe down the road a few times in and around the Maple Leaf Golf Course area. Again George just gives a sheepish grin.
All in all its great to see Rosie compete in a series that wants and needs people like Rosie George.
The East Coast Flat Head association is a throwback to the old coupe and coach modified days.
The series features older drivers from the stadium like Johnny Johnson and John Barrow who is an attorney at law. It even has Mike Norman running the series. He is the pace car driver at Bowman Gray.
And its neat to see people like Rosie “rumbling and grumbling” up and down the hills and streets in a race car, “just a testing” he says.
Yes sir, those were the years and olden days…
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