Racing legend Charlie Mincey has died.

"You won't find a race fan nowhere in Georgia that doesn't know Charlie Mincey, cause he raced over such a span of time," said President of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Gordon Pirkle.

Mincey had recently been named grand marshal of the upcoming 49th annual Mountain Moonshine Festival in Dawsonville in October.

Mincey passed away April 7 at the age of 84.

He was unable to recover from injuries he sustained from a fall, according to Pirkle.

"He was so proud to have been named grand marshal," Pirkle said.

The one time moonshine runner was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2004, where his 1939 car is currently on display.

He got his driver's license when he was only 12 years old and his first speeding ticket two weeks later.

Mincey worked with his father, Roy Mincey, at his body shop in Atlanta.

"I first started coming to Dawsonville when I was about 14," Mincey said during one of his last interviews. "I was hauling some ‘shine back to Atlanta. I did that for about five years outta here. I got married and quit doing it and went to racing."

Over the course of Mincey's five year moonshine running career, he was chased frequently and even shot at, but he never lost a load.

"It never did get scary until right there when they started shooting," he said. "I didn't mind being chased but I didn't like being shot at."

Mincey raced for 33 years all over the southeast on both dirt and asphalt tracks. He won track championships at Toccoa, Athens and Atlanta's Peach Bowl Speedway. In 1955 he won the Georgia State Modified Championship.

"His career spanned the longest, most interesting part of racing," said Pirkle. "He raced with pioneers like Gober Sosebee."

He owned Mincey Paint & Body Shop in Atlanta after taking it over from his father.

Mincey had been coming to the Moonshine Festival since it began and though he had been in the parade many times over, he was looking forward to being up front.

"I guess I get to ride in the parade this time up front instead of in the back," Mincey said earlier this year of his role as grand marshal.

Mincey and his wife Carolyn would have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this June.

Services for Charles Roland Mincey were held April 11 at the chapel of Winkenhofer Pine Ridge Funeral Home in Kennesaw.