Memories of Banks County Speedway Still Linger


A Classic Little Track

A field of late models comes off turn two on the pace lap at Banks County. Photo courtesy Mike Bell

For 15 years, fans would travel from all over to see drivers run on the little Banks County oval.  Irvin said it was the classic dirt track action that brought them out.

Something else that brought them out were some of the gimmicks that track promoters would come up with.  Irvin said one night, they held a donkey race at the track.

“But only two mules showed up, two or three of them had horses.  But it drew a crowd.” Irvin said. “We would have reverse races with the jalopies, where they would make three laps going forward, then run the last one in reverse.  Then, of course, there would be the demolition derby.  Some of the old cars they wrecked and tore up are still down there.”

Bell remembers the story of one crowd pleaser at the track.

“There was a race driver out of Canton named Red Green.  Green played a fiddle, and sometimes between races, he’d get his fiddle out and play it for the fans.  They did everything in those days just to entertain the folks.”

And the best way to entertain the folks was with good, hard racing on Saturday night.

“We had some of the best races there were any where over there at that time.” said Irvin. “We would only have about 12 or 14 cars, but we had 12 or 14 of the best cars that there were out of Florida and Tennessee.  The guys with the junky cars didn’t come down there, because they knew they didn’t have a chance to start with.  We had the best races going.”

James Harrington at the Banks County Speedway in 1955. Photo courtesy Bobby Whitmire

Among the great finishes Irvin remembers were several races between Bud Lunsford and Harold Fryer.  In one race, Lunsford was sent to the back at the insistence of the crowd after contact with another car.  Irvin didn’t want to penalize Lunsford, but after hearing the crowd’s reaction to the spin, reportedly told Bud he would still pay him first place money if he would go to the back.  In typical fashion, Lunsford charged to the front and won the race anyway.

Irvin also remembers a lot of the scarier moments at the track.

“We had one boy one night who started rolling over, and went completely over the fence and landed out in the parking lot. The big wrecks were what people went to see.“

Bell remembers one story from a big race night at Banks County.

“Joel A. Powers drove for Kermit McGee.  Powers ran off the track in the third turn and went through the fence.  Kermit said he went through the fence so perfectly, between the supports, all it did was bend the metal back, and when he got through it, it just fell back down.  You couldn’t tell he had gone through the fence.  But you knew he was out there because you could see all this dust out there where he was spinning around trying to find a way back through.”

But despite the wrecks and hair-raising moments, there were never any fatalities at the track.  In fact, Irvin says the most serious situation at the track resulted only in a $37 hospital bill after a driver was scalded by hot water from a blown radiator hose.

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