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Five Flags driver Paul Jean out-races Ala. tornadoes

Editor's Note: This story first appeared in May 12, 2011 editions of the Pensacola (FL) News Journal.

Chuck Corder

News Journal correspondent

Eleven minutes.

Eleven minutes. That’s all the warning Five Flags Speedway regular Paul Jean had for he and his wife to evacuate their home and hunker down in one of the tiny town’s many churches before a devastating tornado ripped through Cordova, Ala., last month.

Ten seconds.

Ten seconds. That’s all it took for the F4 tornado to turn century-old buildings into sawdust that April 27 afternoon, rip wide gashes in vehicles and shred a 5.9-square-mile town to infinite pieces.

“You can’t begin to understand until you see it,� Jean said. “The pressure (inside the church) increased and your ears started popping like you were taking off in an airplane.�

Ninety-three.

Ninety-three. While the tin roof was torn away and the shop was reduced to a card table, Jean’s No. 93 Super Stock car that sat inside unfathomably survived the storm with some mud and barely a scratch on it.

He’ll have it here at the half-mile asphalt oval Friday in Pensacola when the Super Stocks compete in a 50-lap race.

The Sportsmen, Bombers and Pro Challenge cars also will compete with a special admission price to the grandstands being two-for-one. Gates open at 5 p.m.

It will be a welcome respite for Jean, who has spent every day since the storm hit helping his sleepy town clean itself up.

“I need to get away from all this up here and see some fresh scenery,� he said. “This is depressing.�

The 45 year old is Cordova born and Cordova raised. He married his high school sweetheart — “the whole nine yards.�

Jean opened the church’s doors after the storm passed and couldn’t believe the devastation. He stepped into the open air and nearly choked from the lump lodged in his throat.

“It was like turning TV channels,� Jean said. “Two minutes and everything around you is gone. We didn’t know if we’d find a dead body. It tears your heart out.�

His childhood memories torn apart, too. Those Saturday evenings, grabbing a hamburger at the Rebel Queen, were all just rubble now.

The chain-link fence around the old downtown ballpark stretched so far it looked more like cable. It was pulled across a railroad rail and had unearthed the spikes.

A Cordova couple’s wedding photo wound up on a stranger’s lawn … in Stone Mountain, Ga., some 200 miles away.

“You see and hear things like that, it’s an eye-opening experience,� Jean said. “A tornado is an act of God, there ain’t no doubt.�

Four people died in Cordova. A miracle it wasn’t more. A strange miracle, at that.

The F4 was the second tornado of the day. A smaller one came through 12 hours earlier. It did little damage, but was strong enough to knock out power and shut down businesses.

“This is ‘Small Town USA,’ � Jean said. “There’s been a huge outpouring of people coming together to help everybody overcome. But you don’t overcome this in a week, month or year. This takes a long time.�

Which means the happy ending to the story of Jean and Cordova must wait, too. Rightly so, Jean’s racing has been stuck in the backseat for several weeks now.

Five hours.

Jean will be 5 hours from his tattered hometown Friday night. In front of him, will be the unyielding task of taming the abrasive asphalt of Five Flags.

But close in the rearview mirror will be Cordova. Always Cordova.

“You never know when you’re gonna get to race, much less having to overcome this,� Jean said. “But that’s what life’s all about: overcoming adversity. God gives some of us a competitive spirit. We could ask why, but we’re just a small spoke in the big wheel.�

 

 

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