ATTALLA, Ala. — As a teenager, Freddie Kitchens drove a crimson-colored pickup truck (of course he did), and he drove it fast. Everything was a competition, which meant everything was also a race.



Kitchens and his friends would race from summer workouts to the golf course, from the golf course to baseball practice, from school to football practice and from football practice to the Kitchenses’ house, where his father cooked his locally famous chili on Thursday nights.



“Freddie always lived in the fast lane,” said Raymond Farmer, Kitchens’ second high school football coach. “And he ain’t changed a bit.”



Before Kitchens drove his truck two hours down I-59 to the University of Alabama, and more than 25 years before he ever had to worry about snow affecting his drive to work in Cleveland, he zipped along Route 77 in a sports-crazed corner of a sports-crazed state. That’s Alabama Route 77, which takes you...