The front gate at Athens Speedway, circa 1965.
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 3/12/10
On Saturday, March 6, the inaugural Athens Speedway Reunion was held at the Bogart Community Center in Bogart, Georgia, just a few miles from the site of the Athens Speedway in Athens, Georgia.
Around 400 former drivers, officials, fans and family members came out to remember the speedway, which opened around 1959 and closed in 1991. The speedway has long been a part of north Georgia racing lore, viewed by those who saw racing there as being one of the finest facilities in the northern part of the state.
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Posted 12 March 2010
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Georgia racing legend Charlie Mincey. Photo courtesy GARHOFA
By Mike Bell
Posted in Feature Stories 3/5/10
When stock car racing started, they were mostly whiskey trippers driving race cars on the weekends with loads of moonshine form the Smokey Mountain areas to either Charlotte, Greenville, Knoxville, Chattanooga or Atlanta, the largest city in the south…then and now. One of the myths presented over the years was that they were all war veterans looking for an extra paycheck and some thrills.
What if you heard about a fourteen year old that had been driving around Atlanta at the age of ten in 1941, and got his driver’s license at the age of 12 (yeah, he lied)?
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Posted 05 March 2010
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Georgia racers have been winners at Daytona from the beach days up to the superspeedway era.
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 2/12/10
With the 52nd annual Daytona 500 scheduled to take the green flag Sunday afternoon, many people have been talking about the rich history not only of the 500 and the speedway, but also of the events that took place on the beach before it.
One fact that seems to elude many of those that look back through the records books seems to be that drivers from Georgia have had a dominant presence at Daytona Beach.
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Posted 10 February 2010
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Georgia's Billy Carden was a stock car racing pioneer and an early NASCAR competitor.
By Eddie Samples
Posted in Feature Stories 11/27/09
When we first approached him for an interview, Georgia stock car legend Billy Carden initially declined, saying we should be talking to some of the drivers from either South or Middle Georgia.
“Those boys are not getting the recognition they should,” stated Carden, a native of Mableton, Georgia.
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Posted 29 January 2010
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Pete Craig was one of the first auto racing stars out of Georgia.
By Mike Bell
Posted in Feature Stories 1/8/10
Atlanta had three national stock car champions in the late 1940s, and these were considered to be the grassroots pioneers around the south.
When Red Byron won the first NASCAR Strictly Stock (now Nextel Cup) title in 1949, Georgia’s Pete Craig had been retired for over a decade. Craig started racing Indy-type cars in 1922.
The aforementioned “pioneers” were just kids when, in 1930, Craig, a native of Gainesville, Georgia, held the 100-mile racing record at Daytona when they were barrel tracking at the Beach.
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Posted 08 January 2010
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The reconstruction of Gresham Motorsports Park was chosen as the top historic moment in Georgia racing for 2009. Photo courtesy GMP media
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 12/31/09
According to a group of motorsports writers and aficionados polled recently, the most historic moment in Georgia racing in 2009 was the rebirth of the old Jefco Speedway into the new Gresham Motorsports Park.
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Posted 31 December 2009
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Harvey Jones (6) and Sam McQuagg (90) lead the pack down the backstretch at the Thunderbowl Speedway. Photo courtesy Earl Powell
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 12/11/09
It was a time for reminiscing down in Valdosta, Georgia back on November 15.
That’s when the South Georgia chapter of GARHOFA held the latest installment of the Thunderbowl Speedway Reunion, celebrating the venerable old 3/8 mile dirt speed palace that once saw some of the best racers from south Georgia and northern Florida come to do battle.
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Posted 11 December 2009
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Tim Flock gets congratulated by wife Frances and brother Fonty after winning at Detroit in 1952. Photo courtesy Frances Flock
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 12/4/09
The 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship is now history, the champagne has been poured, and most of the Lowe’s team members are enjoying the spoils of victory.
With winning a record fourth straight title, Jimmie Johnson has surpassed the mark set by legendary throttle stomper Cale Yarborough, who won three back-to-back championships from 1976 through 1978.
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Posted 04 December 2009
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Jimmy Mosteller in 1952, shortly after he began his extensive career.
By Eddie Samples
Posted in Feature Stories 11/27/09
Back in the 1830s, when the area we now know as Atlanta was still a wooded paradise belonging to the Cherokee Nation, Roswell King left his home on St. Simons Island by horseback to visit the new United States Mint in Dahlonega, GA.
En route and upon arrival at the Chattahoochee River, he was impressed with the view of hills north of there and thought of it as a pleasant place for a community. With the river supplying abundant power, he established the Roswell Cotton Mill, and with friends John Dunwody and James Bulloch, decided this was where they would live.
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Posted 27 November 2009
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Jack Smith's portrait at the Talladega-Texaco Walk of Fame. Photo courtesy Jackie Smith
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 11/13/09
On October 31, Georgia Racing Hall of Fame member Jack Smith was inducted into the Talladega-Texaco Walk of Fame.
Smith was voted in by the fans, along with long time NASCAR competitor Morgan Shepard.
Each year, the fans vote in one active driver and as many as two inactive drivers to the Walk of Fame, which was implemented in honor of the late Davey Allison.
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Posted 12 November 2009
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