Throughout most of the track’s history, George and his technical inspectors classified race cars based on a unique combination of regulations from the 1961 rulebooks of both the National and American Hot Rod Associations. Over the years, he added new divisions as the need became apparent, but many classes were offered at George’s track long after they had been abandoned by the associations themselves. A few of those rules, which include dual disqualifications during eliminations and the splitting of purse money in the final round only if both competitors agree to race full throttle to the finish, (“Out the back door” or “OTB“, as George called it), can only be found at George’s raceplant.

Likewise, George resisted all efforts by those same racing associations (and others) to have his Hot Rod Drag Strip join their legion of officially sanctioned racing facilities. George always believed any involvement by a national organization would simply force an increase in costs while offering little in the way of tangible improvement to what he already knew was a successful racing operation. The fact the original Tennessee track which motivated him to create his own facility was affiliated with one of those national groups also factored heavily in his distrust of the big racing conglomerates, and George remained true to his own way of racing. Eventually, George tacked on the name “Wildcat” to the front gate to make clear his allegiance.

George was one of the last track operators in drag racing to add a Christmas Tree starting system, elapsed time clocks and even win lights to allow the fans to instantly determine the victor of each match. George never purchased lights for night racing, the track still has no running water available and, to this day, there is no such thing as a time slip at George’s track. For most of those first 35 years, flag starts and finish line judges were standard procedure at George Ray’s Hot Rod Drag Strip because there were no complaints. George’s race track worked. Everybody was happy.

It was George who made it work. Although the man with the vise-like handshake still carried a pistol in his belt under his untucked, long-sleeved dress shirt, he seldom needed to allow the gun to see daylight. His ability to control nearly any situation was renowned. People listened to George when he spoke and the pistol was only ever used to make a point to the extremely hard of hearing.

George always took time to hear both sides of an argument but all racers knew George’s word was final. He was as steadfast as those trees along the track and, for the most part, everybody accepted his decisions knowing full well they would be unable to change them.

Yet, those same racers and fans knew that George was always looking out for them. An example was the track’s admission price, which to this day remains the lowest of any dragstrip in the country. Asked why he didn’t double his prices to something on par with the other tracks in the area, George once admitted, “This place is for folks to have fun. You don’t overcharge folks to have fun. If you do, it stops bein’ FUN!”

George knew well what his market would bear and his market, after all, was a part of his family. He treated his spectators and racers like family even if it meant a bit of disciplinary action. George understood that when customers came through the gate they put themselves in his charge for a Sunday afternoon. Although they were guests in George’s backyard and he expected them to behave as such, he also knew that Arkansas family gatherings often get a bit rowdy. Like any strong father, he’d often let things go until they posed a danger and then he’d put his foot down. Like good kids, those customers quickly realized Dad meant business and straightened up.

After his first four decades of business, George Ray’s Hot Rod Wildcat Drag Strip catered to more than just the kids of the community. It wasn’t unusual to find three generations of a family attending an event on a summer Sunday. In recent years, a few families can count four generations who have attended the races at George Ray’s. It has, by any definition, become a tradition for members of hundreds of clans to head to George Ray’s Hot Rod Wildcat Drag Strip when the weather is nice. Continuity, consistency and clarity had been the hallmarks of George Ray’s racetrack. In the mid-1990s, however, things changed everywhere but George Ray’s Hot Rod Wildcat Drag Strip.

It was publisher Todd Silvey who first introduced the track to fans and racers outside the central U.S. through his Midwest Drag Racing Magazine. By offering results and location information about the track in the mid-1980s, Silvey brought many new attendees from outside the area to George’s track.