When you're passing anywhere near the sleepy hamlet of Sameold, enjoy a piece of lemon pie at Darla's Cafe, watch out for chiggers, and stop by Jerry Burkett's house. Not for the aluminum siding Jerry put up last year, but for the fascinating exhibit he has in his back yard. Between two tree stumps is a rusted out 1978 Plymouth Volare. Nothing special in and of itself, except that Jerry is certain that he's the owner of Jimmy Dean's death car.
"It was about 1988, maybe '89, when it happened," Jerry explains, "and this Plymouth comes flyin' around at about 80-some-dd miles an hour, and wouldn't you know it, the damn thing hits a ditch or something and flips over. Jesus Christ, what a mess."
The driver was decapitated. No positive I.D. was ever made, by Jerry remains convinced the dead man was moderately popular country singer, television personality, and sausage maven Jimmy Dean.
"Well, really, who else could it have been?"
The response of "Practically anyone" doesn't phase Jerry Burkett.
"I know who it was. You don't think I know who it is when a man dies? What kind of dipshit do you take me for?"
Jerry brushes aside critics, who point out that Dean is still alive and living in Virginia.
"Bunch of Hollywood horsecrap if you ask me. I know what's what, and don't you forget it!"
Viewing hours are 8 am to 11 pm, 7 days a week. $10 per person earns viewers a "quick glimpse" of the car, while $25 per head gets customers the grand tour, including a free Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit. Flash photography is not permitted, but 8" X 10" glossies of the car, of Jimmy Dean, and of the sausage can be purchased from the gift shop in Jerry and his wife Sue's spare bedroom.
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