She looked at the land and saw a house.
The country music star and her husband were looking for a place to raise their six children. When she wasn't working, she wanted a place with wide-open spaces where she could disappear. She saw a white house on a hill surrounded by woods and water on her drive southwest of Music City.
"My grandma fell in love with the house," says Tayla Lynn. She loved the land around it.
The house came with the town, which included a grain mill, a general store and a post office. To buy the house, the couple purchased Hurricane Mills, a peaceful place where the early-morning quiet was broken only by the American bullFrogs in Hurricane Creek.
Fans started coming out when they found out where they had moved. My grandfather told me to build a campground. Business at the ranch was slow for the first few years. The family stopped by in August 1981
Dave looked at the land and dreamed.
While his family was at the ranch, he was jogging. He stopped to take it all in after running through the valley's horse pasture. A race was held here.
Dave, a tall, charismatic motocross promoter from West Virginia, had a dream for his sons, Timmy and Davey, and for young riders like them. A moto mecca where "everyone gets a championship experience no matter who they are" is where an annual amateur national takes place.
Dave thought of a motocross track. He wanted a summer spot for race families. He was able to sell the Lynns on his vision. Rita Coombs remembers Dave talking anyone into anything. It was a family sport. Many of the people who don't ride dirt bikes stay for a week with their mothers and fathers. They would rent kayaks, shop in the gift store, and swim in Hurricane Creek.
It could be seen by the Lynns.
They hosted the first amateur motocross championship. Everyone referred to it as "Lena's." The first year saw hundreds of families pull up. They swam in the creek while camping. It was a litmus test for those who would turn pro and those who wouldn't. The business continued after Dave died on the first day of racing in 1998. For 40 years, it was the largest amateur motocross race in the world and in 2021, it was still a family event. The place is still there by the water.
The tie that ties it all together is the creek, according to the president of the company his parents founded. It was a big secret. You can walk to the creek regardless of who you are or where you are parked. You're all cooling off in the water.
On August the last summer of the year. Wayne Spears looked at the land after the final gate-drop at the 40th annual race.
The rain was going to come. The ranch manager knew it was time to move the heavy equipment to higher ground after just a few inches of rain. It's wet in Tennessee during the summer. Heavy rains can turn into floods. Spears thought he knew what to do in the event of flooding.
Spears and Mcelyea had been working at the campground for 12 years, working until the sun came up over the hill. "'We'll move this tractor, then we'll go to the shop, get the key to the lawnmower, come back and move that,'" Mcelyea remembers Spears saying, after they'd alerted the families camping along the creek to leave their tents and RV and The water went from nothing to chest deep while he talked.
The previous record was 17 inches that fell in the morning. The highest elevation in Humphreys County, McEwen, received the largest amount of rain, which flowed down the valley and carried heavy debris with it. Waverly and Hurricane Mills, the lowest points in the county, were protected by a makeshift levy for most of the morning. Waves were sent into the town by the collapse of the trestle.
The late-summer rainstorm turned violent, washing out streets and bridges, destroying businesses and apartment buildings, and damaging communication. When the railroad bridge blew out, a wave came through the city.
For hours, Davis and his colleagues tried to get back in touch with each other. He says that they didn't have a command center. It was an island.
The force of the water ripped more than 100 homes from their foundations across Humphreys County. The water tore the twins from their father's arms. The front windows of the store were smashed and employees were pulled into the current outside.
Waverly Police and Fire Chief Grant Gillespie is the husband of a teacher at the junior high. We couldn't evacuate the schools in time. It's difficult to evacuate a campground quickly, so the flood didn't come during motocross. It would've been worse.
Mcelyea tried to push the tractor Spears was operating to higher ground by using a four wheel-drive backhoe. The cab was filled with water. The electric line was close to the water. "Wayne yelled 'Go back!' as I looked at him." Go back to where you came from. Mcelyea said so. I couldn't get through when I went up the hill to call.
Spears fell from the tractor and was carried toward the pavilion by the stream. He was able to hold onto one of the wooden beams.
It was too loud and violent to speak with one another. As the water rose, Mcelyea ran to find a kayak or canoe. He says thatWayne didn't look frightened. I'll wait until the water goes down and walk out of this I thought about getting him out of the water.
Buildings were hit by debris from nearby farms. The starting pavilion was split in two by a barn that broke loose from its foundation and slammed into it. Mcelyea yelled at Wayne as he ran right to the water's edge. I promised to get you. I have a boat. He was sitting on some debris.
Spears was gone in less than a second.
COOPER WEBB sees the kid he used to be.
One day before the first gate-drops at the 41st annual event, the two-timeAMA 450 Supercross champion is walking the track with a group of young riders He came back to Hurricane Mills at the request of his sponsor to give back to the place he loved so much. One of these kids was wide-eyed and dreamed of racing in the pros.
He won a championship on a 50cc bike when he was six years old. For me to win my first year was really special.
Many young riders return to the ranch with their family year after year hoping to prove themselves against the best riders in the country and turn heads with potential sponsors and factory teams. He became a pro after winning three titles in a row.
The best of the best gather here, according to Honda Racing Comissioner Joe Monge. You will get noticed if you win here.
It's where riders grow up, having their first crash, their first kiss, and their first fight. "I had a lot of fun off the track, going to the creek, playing with my friends, meeting my first girlfriend and people from all over the world." You develop a lot as a person here.
The town is similar to the one where riders grow up with the race. When Sheriff Davis was in high school, he worked as a caution flagger and went on to become an officer. "To see some of these riders make it at the professional level and know they all had to come through our town, shows the magnitude of Loretta's and what it means to our community."
Jamie Spears parked his custom LSU-themed outdoor oven and RV along the creek to cater the race for the event's staff for 20 years. He has a fish fry.
For a long time, the mayor brought his son and a set of earplugs to the place. Louise Spears, Wayne Spears' wife of 46 years, remembers how wild the hotel lobby was the first week in August when she worked at the Best Western. She says they hated it at times. They wouldn't have been able to clean the bike parts in the bathtub. How long did it take me to clean those tub?
Extra water, rain boots, and non-perishables are available at the local Walmart. Delivery drivers are hired by Waverly Wine and Liquor. The Milkshakery in Waverly has aMotocross Milkshake and local restaurants are open.
Humphreys County is double in size when motocross is here. It's a second Christmas for the businesses.
Motocross has arrived in town, and no one needs to do anything more than listen. Louise says that Wayne and she would hear the bikes. Everything was heard from the echo through the hollow. We would look down the hill for bikes.
The event's footprint has more than tripled despite the fact that the number of racers hasn't changed. Rita remembers the first RV to show up at the ranch. The kid's dad was the owner of an airline. I've never seen an RV. Everyone has at least one.
Dave Coombs was called "Big Dave" because he was the one who handed out the trophies at the campground. She swapped her couture ball gowns for jeans, sponsor shirts and her fair share of mud.
The son-in-law of a woman decided to change things in the early '90s. He fell in love with the daughter of the man he raced at. He had an idea. He told her to get on the back and not to move. We rode a ramp onto the stage. The crowd went nuts when she got off the bike.
The person is 90 years old. She listens from her home on the hill. She still enjoys the high-pitched "bumblebee buzz" of two-stroke engines and sometimes sends messages to young fans via her granddaughters' phones. She was elected to the motorcycle hall of fame.
You don't get to talk about the machismo side of Lynn when you're talking to her fans. She's the grandma in the ball gowns. She's also the grandmother who wants to invite thousands of thrill-seekers to ride on our property. She's wearing a dress. There are a lot of people who only know her name because of motocross.
He looks at the track and sees the last place he saw his friend at.
Most racers didn't know who Wayne Spears was. They were familiar with him. He was the kind, old guy with crystal blue eyes who wore a cowboy hat and smoked a cigarette while calling everyone "Buddy." Spears was a part of the ranch for more than two decades.
Wayne and Louise Spears lived close to the motocross track, but each year Wayne parked his camper atop a hill overlooking the track. Alan Brutto says that he stayed here for a long time. He would wave at everyone as they drove by. He spoke to everybody. He would be Johnny-on-the-spot if he got a call.
Spears was an icon. He wasn't a dirt biker. He worked with horses. He told anyone who would listen that he loved his Jeeps more than his horses. He said that Louise never had an argument. "None." All those years.
Spears was a big part of the ranch. There are only about 10 of us in the winter. Every morning we saw Wayne at the country store. Every day before school, the kids saw him on his tractor.
Spears was a close friend to Mcelyea. Mcelyea says he spent more time around Wayne than he did his own family. I tried to get him out of that water.
For several hours on that Saturday last summer, Mcelyea alternated between swimming and paddling a canoe in order to find his friend. Mcelyea was also listed as missing. He was exhausted and unaware of how long he'd been looking for. I couldn't get close to him.
There was a search party that included ranch employees and members of the Lynn family. Early the next morning, they resumed their search.
The sheriff got a call while he was on his way to the ranch. The body of Spears was found a half mile from the track. He had sustained a gash to his head. He appeared to be holding his wedding ring when they found him.
Anthony Brutto looked at the land two days after the flood.
He stood at the second turn of the motocross track and saw carnage. The grandson and general manager of the ranch said the damage was overwhelming. I wondered how I could do this.
150 cattle were lost due to the damage to the ranch. Historic buildings as well as the main road through Hurricane Mills were destroyed. The motocross track was badly damaged. There was a lot of racing that had taken place throughout the week. The contents of the semitrucks that drowned were dumped into the muddy water near the track. It all could be lost. It was not possible to rebuild and reopen the ranch in a year.
It would have been easy to say 'this is too much'. We're finished. It would have been disrespectful to my grandparents.
More than 270 homes were marked as uninhabitable in Waverly. The people who had lived in the area all their lives didn't know their own streets. Governor Bill Lee came to assess the damage the day after the flood. He was going to talk to the family of two people who died.
When Davis looked up, he realized he was in front of his grandmother's house. I don't recognize the place where I was raised, where I had snowball fights as a child. Reality hit me when that happened.
He had a dream the next night. He says he is reliving that same moment, standing at Turn 2 and catching motion out of the side of his eye. Wayne is standing there. He smiled at me and told me to start.
Brutto and his staff had long hours. Alan Brutto was on a dozer for 3 months. More than 100 loads of gravel and sand were removed from the motocross track. What happened at the ranch isn't much different from what happened in Waverly.
Church ministries, retirees and disaster relief workers from all over the world came to town to help with the aftermath of the flooding. Some people are still there, cleaning up and rebuilding.
We used to walk into restaurants and see people from all over. They have become part of the community. Sometimes I can't believe that there are people in the world that are willing to take time out of their lives to help others. It's refreshing for an old cop.
Amy Cochran and Doni Dennis drove from central Florida to help clean up the ranch after the flood. A campaign was created to raise money for Waverly families and businesses affected by the flood. He called the owners of motocross tracks to show their support.
The president of a bike manufacturer called his counterparts. "He said, 'This is my property,'" The person is Waverly. This is what I am doing. "'What are you doing?'" asks R2R marketing director. I've never seen that for any reason. In the first week, we raised over $100,000.
A steady flow of small donations from former racers, race families and fans, as well as larger donations from companies like American Honda, PartsUnlimited and Troy Lee Designs brought in more than $360,000 and continues to this day. Monster Energy sent truckloads of water and drinks to Waverly.
Motocross riders wore "Racers 4 Waverly" patches on their jerseys at the first race after the flood. The winner of the 250cc race donated his prize money to the recovery. Yamaha donated bikes, and Ken, Eli, Dylan, and Cooper gave jerseys.
Cotter says that charity begins at home. We may not get our mail in Hurricane Mills, but we're still here.
The motocross track and its surrounding buildings were restored by a separate effort led by the Lynn family. Yamaha Motor Corporation is based in Georgia. The labor was donated by the owner of the Honda Phoenix Racing team. The observation tower has stood across from Turn 1 for more than two decades.
The men traveled from North Carolina to Hurricane Mills. When he arrived, he wasn't prepared for what he saw. He said that everything was gone. It was difficult to find a starting point.
The billboard was rebuilt by the crew. The mechanics area, spotters' tower and the staging pavilion were sketched and framed. The structures were rebuilt in four days after they camped at the track.
Jeff Russell is married to Dave and Rita Coombs' daughter, Carrie, who is the CEO of the company. He said it was a headaches. Before new dirt and sand could be trucked in, the rock had to be taken out. There were parts of the start gate that needed to be replaced.
We are rebuilding 40 years in two weeks.
On August 1st. Tim Cotter looks at Wayne Spears and sees a new beginning.
The start pavilion where he was last seen has been bronzed and mounted on a broken beam. There is a memorial to the man who took care of this place and a reminder to stop and take in the moment. I hope the riders have a good day.
The speakers are loud at 7 a.m. I was the daughter of a coal miner. The first day of racing is the same every year.
The start gate is walked by the race director at 7:30. The sound of engines fills the morning air as he clears the track. There is a feeling of joy and relief as the 42 riders clear the first turn. Track officials and race dads are hugging. The excitement of a race day can distract from the pain of a year ago. There are reminders throughout the place.
The buildings around the track have been rebuilt, but the creek's shoreline has changed. The dirt on the track is not the same as the dirt on the road. The town is still working on its recovery. It will take at least four or five years for public housing to be restored. There are homes with black X's that are going to be torn down. This could happen again to the town, the ranch and the race as the community prepares to reopen.
Public housing is going to be high ground for us. The mayor says they are looking at re-channelization of the creek and a project east of the town. New types of construction are being looked at.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is studying the event along with the Army Corps of Engineers. The early flood-warning system will be triggered by the sensors that were installed in July.
At one point, I didn't believe in climate change. This has made me believe in something.
Three days after the flood, Louise Spears was invited to visit her at home. She wanted to know if she wanted Wayne Spears to be buried in the Lynn family cemetery. If Louise chose to do so, she could be buried next to Wayne.
Wayne's body was taken by a covered wagon to his final resting spot, up a tree-lined dirt trail just off the main road between the ranch's entrance and the white house.
Louise didn't remember much of her visit to the cemetery on the day of Wayne's funeral. She came back to his grave by herself. She says it's pretty.
She walked past a small group of gravestones that evening. She sat on a concrete bench next to Wayne's gravestone and brought solar lights. He is buried in the Lynn cemetery with another non- family member.
Louise says you can see the lights at night. He is where he should be. The entire motocross track can be seen from the top.
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