Thread: The Spyder Slays a Dragon

Tweet

After the “Pickers” stop, we headed over to our main goal for the day. Driving the infamous “Tail of the Dragon”. For those that don’t know, the Dragon is an 11 mile stretch of US129 that runs from Deal’s Gap in North Carolina into Tennessee. Most of it is in TN. The publicity hypes it as “318 curves in 11 miles”. Is that true? Don’t know, but it IS a bunch of curves and I do like curvy roads. Way back in the 90’s, it was a place few people knew about, other than the ones that drove it all the time, but at some point, it became a “motorcycle” road. Then the real hype kicked in, businesses were built, and it became famous. People come from all over the country and yes, even the world to ride or drive this little stretch of country road. At one time, it was pretty much an open road with very little traffic and very little law enforcement. That has changed on both fronts. Today, it’s a very busy little country road, especially on the weekends. Then it’s absolute insanity. We were there late on a Monday and it wasn’t bad, but there is rarely a time with no tourist traffic.

There aren’t many country roads that have names for nearly every curve or section. Names like The Whip, Gravity Cavity, Crud Corner, The Dips, Brake or Bust Bend and Shaw Grave Gap. You can draw your on conclusions on that last one. The store at Deal’s Gap has a Tree of Shame that is covered with parts that are the detritus of the many and frequent motorcycle wrecks that happen. It has become a road to test your mettle on and sadly, sometimes, the exuberance exceeds the skill set of those that feel compelled to go for it, but such is the hype that has become the Tail of the Dragon.

Even law enforcement has unwittingly contributed to both its fame and infamy. By talking constantly about how dangerous it is, they have thrown down the gauntlet of challenge for many, many riders and drivers, while others just want to see what all the hype is about. Professional photographers set up at several locations and take action pictures of just about every vehicle that passes by (more of those Dragon businesses). These are sold online and make some of the most unique car related souvenirs, IMO. These guys are very, very good at framing action shots on the fly since they get more practice in a day, every day, than most photographers will get in a lifetime.

I’ve ridden or driven the Dragon somewhere around 18 times over the years, so I guess I have fallen for the hype, too. Most of those times were when I was with a motorcycle group and the daily rides were preplanned. There always seemed to be someone that hadn’t been on it and wanted to give it a go. To be honest, I’ve made wrong turns in the Pigeon Forge area and accidentally found roads as good or maybe better than the Dragon. There is one in particular that I wish I could remember! I’m sure the locals know many better roads but keep them secret for fear they will turn into the next Dragon and become too busy to have fun on. If there is one thing that keeps me coming back, it’s the photographers. Most folks will never have a professionally done action shot of their car and it has become a personal thing for me to collect them of my various toys. Otherwise, I would have no regrets skipping it in favor of some other “road less traveled”.

These are some of my pictures.







I have an in-car through-the-windshield GoPro video, too, but doubt I will put it up. It’s not that I’m afraid of getting a ticket, quite the contrary. My average speed worked out to be around 30 MPH. The posted speed limit is 30. My video looks very slow because it was and doesn’t come close to the thrill I felt. That’s the beauty of a low-slung go-kart like car. Even 30 feels fast on a curvy road like this one. I doubt anyone wants to watch a 20-minute video of me appearing to just drive around curves. To put my speed into perspective, the only “unofficial” world record I could find is about 18 minutes from the overlook to the crossroads at Deal’s Gap and back to the overlook (2-way trip). That average speed was over 50 and was set in the 90’s when it was, for all intents, an open road. Try that now and you would get pretty much the same results playing Russian Roulette with 5 in the gun. Also, the number one rule for the Dragon is “Stay in your lane”. It is a public highway with an abnormally high volume of traffic. Try using “all the road” and “cutting a tight apex” and you will soon be sporting some form of 2-wheeled hood ornament. And, there is nowhere on the Dragon that you would want to take an unplanned off-road excursion. You typically have your choice of a rock wall or a tree-filled 50–90-foot ravine. Given the choice, I think I would take my chances with the rock wall. At least with the wall, gravity ain’t giving me any help.

Mike, you reminded me of a funny story about low slung sports cars. I had a 1963 1/2 Triumph TR4A when I was in high school. My late friend, Terry, was reminiscing some years ago about riding in that car over the speed limit.
He said that car sat so low and the seats were so flat on the floorboard, you could feel rocks coming off the road hitting you in the ass. LOL
Nolan