Last Laps
Mike Bagwell in victory lane at the Peach Bowl sometime around 1970.
In 1969 and 1970, Roy Shoemaker cut back to only one night of racing. New tracks running weekly on Fridays and Saturdays cut into his crowd too much. Senoia Raceway, Canton International Speedway and Douglas County Speedway took over Friday nights, while Athens Speedway and Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia, took over Saturday nights.
Shoemaker even had competition for Sunday’s as Rome International Speedway and Forsyth County Speedway in Cumming trodded on sacred ground.
After the 1970 season, Shoemaker sold the Peach Bowl Speedway property and it looked like the end for the little oval. But T.C. Hunt and Clyde Bowen, a local attorney, leased the track from Cleveland Electric, the new owners, and ran a final season of Sunday night Late Model Sportsman and Figure 8 racing at the Brady Avenue speed plant.
Roy Shoemaker died of a stroke in November of 1971. The race track that had been his life was sold the MARTA (the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority).
The little track would be razed the following year. A bus repair depot now sits on the property where so many racing dreams were seen and fulfilled over the years.
"The Ghost of the Peach Bowl". A look at the speedway yesterday and today. Photo courtesy Kenny Bugg
The City of Atlanta doesn’t have a race track now. It would probably be impossible to build what Roy Shoemaker did in 1949. Property values and taxes would eat up any profit you would make. Besides, all the neighbors wouldn’t want the noise. It would drown out the sirens, buses, airplanes and gun shots that are so prevalent in inner cities today.
While the track itself may be gone, its memory lives on today. For over 20 years, former drivers, officials and fans have gathered for the annual Peach Bowl reunion, organized by former driver Jack Jackson.
In 2007, Roy Shoemaker was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.
And hopes are that one day a memorial marker can be placed on the spot where the great track once stood so that, no matter what, the little track that made so many lasting memories and made such a huge impact on racing in Georgia will never be forgotten.
The Peach Bowl may have only been a quarter mile long, but its legacy is immeasurable.
Mike Bell is the CEO and historian for the Georgia Auto Racing Hall of Fame Association, Inc. (GARHOFA).
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