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www.shelbyinfo.com Our 42ND Year • Issue No. 21 • May 22, 2025
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Phil Combs is the Cleveland County king of collectables By Alan Hodge “Every piece has a story.” That’s what Phil Combs of Shelby says about his colossal collection of stock car racing and other types of memorabilia. The sheer volume of stuff Combs has combed the land for and housed in his home and museum at 833 Pleasant Drive is astounding and what’s even more amazing is his ability to tell each piece’s tale- and you better believe there’s some doozies. Combs comes by his love of all things collectable and racing related naturally. His father Roby Combs was a flagman and race official at local tracks back in the 1950s and 60s. Places he flagged at included Hickory Speedway, the old Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway, and at the first World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Phil’s mom Irma also worked as a track steward doing everything from taking entry fees to paying drivers at the end of the race. Little Phil was also in the thick of things on race days. “When I was seven-yearsold I was selling Southern Motor Racing newspapers at Hickory Motor Speedway,” he says. “The cost was twenty-five cents
Vintage collectables connoisseur Phil Combs of Shelby with a (cardboard) friend. Photos by Alan Hodge each.” The collecting bug soon bit Phil thanks to his mom who was a race memorabilia collector herself. “I started out collecting decals,” he said. “Then I collected postcards. One thing led to another.” As the years passed, Phil, 67, who retired from Fed-Ex several years ago, added to his collection at a breakneck pace. Currently, nearly every room in his house is chock full of racing related and other antique items.
Combs with an early racing car hauler made from a 1957 US Mail truck.
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A smidgen of the Combs Family Museum racing stuff.
One room is devoted to Harry Gant stuff including Gant’s helmets and driving suits. Another room is in honor of Richard Petty. There are Petty jackets, sponsorship materials, photos, and posters. Some of the posters even show Petty before he started wearing the sunglasses he seems to have never removed in decades. Adding a bit of antique variety, another room in the house contains Cleveland County Fair stuff including posters advertising the dirt track races held there, programs, and fair photos. “My grandfather Vic Bowen was one of the fair’s first stockholders,” Combs says. “I have over 200 scrapbooks of fair materials. It’s probably the biggest collection of fair stuff anywhere.” Yet another room in Phil’s house has a row of immaculate Schwinn Stingray bikes from the 1960s and a vintage radio that still works. Add to that old bottles, vintage furniture, and lots of ancestral family photos. Stepping out the back door of the circa 1922 farmhouse reveals a building made of street signs painted white. Yep, there’s See COMBS, Page ___
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Just a few of the vintage Cleveland County Fair items in the Combs collection.
Some of Phil’s racing reference materials.
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