Gene Hollis
The Jackson County Speedway from 1951 surveyor's aerial photos.
The Jackson County Speedway was the brainchild of Gene Hollis. Hollis was a former Georgia State Patrolman, who graduated with the first class of patrolmen at Fort Bragg in 1937.
“He was the 12th man they pinned a badge on,” said Ron Hollis Sr., Gene Hollis’ son.
“At the time that he was real active as the sergeant (of the post) here, there was a lot of moonshining going on in the outlying counties. He always had one car built that he could actually drive himself that he could catch the bootleggers with. He was quite a character. He could drive, and he could do anything mechanically. He was a smart guy, and pleasing to be around.”
In 1947, Hollis left the State Patrol to become the service manager at the Gainesville Ford Company, doubling his salary.
In the meantime, Hollis and his friend Johnny B. Brooks, who at the time was sheriff of Jackson County, got together to acquire for Hollis a good, flat piece of land that had previously been owned by an area doctor. The doctor, identified by Hollis Sr. as a Dr. Lancaster, owned his own plane, and used the land as an airfield, with an airplane hanger on the property.
Hollis’ goal for the property: to build a racetrack.