Buck Simmons

Georgia Racing legend Buck Simmons got his start driving the water truck at Banks County.  Photo courtesy Mike Bell

Another famous dirt track racer that got his start at Banks County Speedway was Buck Simmons.  Simmons, from Baldwin, has over 1,000 feature wins and is a member of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame.  But, according to Irvin, he started out on the water truck at Banks County Speedway.

“His parents were good friends of mine.” Irvin said. “When he was about 12 or 14 years old, he got an old car and started driving around the track on Saturday’s while we were working.  Finally, his daddy put him in a car, and he really started racing down there when he was 14.”

The water truck that Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Buck Simmons drove around Banks County Speedway still sits at the track today. Photo by Brandon Reed

Along with local racing stars, there was at least one national sports celebrity that was a regular attendee to the races, but hardly anybody knew he was there.

“Ty Cobb, one of the greatest baseball players that’s ever been, was a regular down there.” said Irvin. “But Ty had a habit of being mean.  His nephew was a co-owner of the track, and Ty would come down and he’d be set off way down in a corner, and nobody knew he was there.  They didn’t want anyone to know he was there.

“Now, if we could have announced that Ty Cobb was going to be there signing autographs, we could have had a big crowd.  But if someone were to go out there and ask him, he was liable to cuss them out.  He was ill.”