Week after week she delves more into the sport that first attracted her just a few years ago. She watches the cars speed around the track, and just before Easter, she got a little closer to the action than she ever thought she would. What started out as a joke ended with the 90-year-old grandmother in a car going about 165 miles per hour around the Talladega Superspeedway. “We were having our Easter gathering at the pavilion at the airport and I heard the cars running,” said Jackie Swinford, Belle’s nephew. “I was just kidding with her and said, ‘If you want to, I’ll put you in a car.’ “Next thing I know she was reminding me about it and was just wide open and ready to go.” The two, accompanied by Belle’s son, Lynn Swinford, made their way to the track. “I just thought I was going to ride in a pace car,” Belle said. “We got out there and signed up and I said, ‘I don’t know about this. How am I going to get into this car?’” It was nothing a boost couldn’t handle. After a moment of hesitation, Belle made up her mind. She was going to do it. The lifelong Munford resident climbed into her racing suit, strapped on her helmet and was ready to go. “They had to get me a chair so I could get in,” she said laughing. “I had plenty of help.” With a good luck wish, she was off. “Someone asked me if I was scared and I said no, I was riding,” Belle said. “They said, did you talk to the driver, and I said no, I wanted him to drive. “I was looking at the track and you know how up it is. When I got in and got started, it didn’t scare me.” After just a few minutes and four laps around the speedway, Belle had successfully experienced what many women her age wouldn’t dare to do — she had gone the distance at Talladega Superspeedway. “The crowd was just amazed that a lady of her age was willing to do that,” Jackie Swinford said. “When she came out (of the car), she had a big smile on her face and everyone in the crowd was cheering for her.” “I thought it was great,” Lynn Swinford said. “To be honest, I really didn’t think she’d go through with it, but she did.” For everyone who knows Belle, the experience was typical of her. “She’s just full of life,” Jackie Swinford said. “She can handle it. I never worried a minute. I was more worried about her children fussing at me than her having fun.” Armed with pictures of her experience, Belle said, “I wouldn’t be afraid to do it again. … I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fast all right.” “I was just tickled to death that she still wants to do things like that,” Jackie Swinford said. “I hope when I’m 88 I have that life left in me.”
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