Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 12/30/11
With the New Year now upon us, it’s time to take a moment and thing back to some of the things that occurred during the 2011 racing season.
It was, without a doubt, one of the most interesting seasons in recent memory. From the short tracks to the super speedways, it was certainly one to remember.
Let’s start with NASCAR. Nobody knew what to expect in Daytona when a rookie scored his first win in his first start in the biggest race of the year. Piloting the famed Wood Brothers’ Ford, Trevor Bayne shocked the racing world by putting the No. 21 in victory lane.
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Posted 30 December 2011
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Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 12/16/11
With the big raceways sitting silent and fans counting the days to the start of the major racing seasons, the question comes to mind as to just why we see so little racing in the winter months.
The obvious first answer is the weather. Traditionally, NASCAR and other larger touring series have always taken the winter months off to keep teams and fans from having to deal with cold winter weather.
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Posted 16 December 2011
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Georgia's Huston Platt poses with his Funny Car, the restored Dixie Twister. Photo courtesy Racin' Today.com
By Rick Minter-Guest Contributor
Posted in Columns 12/9/11
The phone call on Wednesday, Nov. 30 from Rocky Platt brought sad news. His father Huston Platt, the pioneering drag racer, had died at his Buford, Ga., home. He was 79 years old.
I’d heard of Huston Platt for years, but never actually talked to him until a few years ago, when Rocky invited me to their home to see the “Dixie Twister”, Platt’s old Funny Car that had been tracked down in Nova Scotia and restored by one of his former crew members, Randall Davis.
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Posted 09 December 2011
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Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 11/25/11
It’s not been very often that a good, solid friendship between the Georgia racing scene and television has come together.
That has not been the case, however, when it comes to Dave Wiley and this Commerce, Georgia based TV station, JBTV-54.
Dave’s channel has become a favorite of the locals in and around north Georgia. While it is carried solely on Windstream cable, Dave sends his programming all over north Georgia, including high school football, gospel music programs and other local based programming, including races from Gresham Motorsports Park.
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Posted 25 November 2011
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Mike Bell
By Mike Bell
Posted in Columns 11/18/11
In the beginning of our research on the old days of racing, I found the library at the University of Georgia. I can’t remember who told me about it, but it was either Joe Cawley or Eddie Samples.
Eddie actually accompanied me on the first trip there. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. We stayed for hours. In the basement of that library were microfilms of almost every newspaper printed in the state of Georgia. I’ve been told that the only place with more is the Georgia State Archives, which is now located south of Atlanta near Ellenwood.
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Posted 18 November 2011
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Senoia, Georgia's Bubba Pollard has had a banner year in 2011, and will be honored as the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Driver of the Year. Photo by Justin Poole
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 10/21/11
2011 has been a Hall of Fame season for Bubba Pollard.
The Senoia, Georgia native has turned in a performance on the short tracks around the south that many drivers would love be able to call their entire career.
In 41 Late Model starts to date, Pollard has scored 18 victories, 30 top 5 finishes and 32 top 10 finishes.
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Posted 21 October 2011
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Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 10/6/11
Racing historian and GRH.com contributor Mike Bell is currently hard at work on a book chronicling all of the race tracks that have existed in the state of Georgia.
He says that, to date, he has discovered around 175 tracks that operated at one point or another in the state of Georgia. Of those, around 25 still are in operation.
Right now, the future of one of those has come into question.
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Posted 07 October 2011
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Mike Bell
By Mike Bell
Posted in Columns 9/23/11
In August of 2007, Walter “W.M.” Fulmer of Saluda, SC passed away at the age of 71. The former Marine Korean war veteran was born in Martinez, Georgia and was involved in racing most of his life.
W.M. Fulmer started racing in the late 1950s when they reopened the fairgrounds race track at Greenwood, SC. They ran flatheads and in-line six cylinders. On a very limited budget, Fulmer did quite well. His father-in-law, Lewis Maw, promoted Greenwood and Newberry Fairgrounds until the overheads took over.
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Posted 23 September 2011
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The cars of George Robson (left) and George Barringer (right) at the scene of the Labor Day, 1946 crash that took both men's lives. Photo courtesy Eddie Samples
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 9/16/11
It was planned to be a race to celebrate Labor Day. It ended up as one of the darkest moments in Atlanta racing history.
It occurred on September 2, 1946. Racing promoter Sam Nunis put together a 100-lap Indy car race at Atlanta’s famed Lakewood Speedway, a treacherous one-mile dirt track located on the grounds of the Lakewood Fairgrounds. The event was sanctioned by the AAA, who also sanctioned the famed Indianapolis 500, which had run its first event since the ending of World War II only a few months prior.
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Posted 16 September 2011
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Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 9/9/11
A couple of weeks ago, I traveled with Georgia racing historian Mike Bell down to New Senoia Raceway in Senoia, Georgia to take in sprint car action on the fast 3/8 mile track.
After a great night of racing, we headed back north towards the Atlanta area. As usual, we discussed various aspects of racing, both past and present.
Now, there are many things Mike and I agree on when it comes to the history of auto racing. There are others that we don’t quite agree on.
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Posted 09 September 2011
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