Jerry Williams (left), David Sosebee (center) and Capt. Herb Emory (right) go three wide during the vintage car pace laps at GMP. Photo courtesy GMP Media
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 5/21/10
On May 15, Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Georgia played host to the inaugural Georgia Racing Hall of Fame night.
The track, which was recently named as the official track of the GRHOF, invited every Hall of Fame member or family members of Hall of Fame members who are no longer with us, to take part in this special evening.
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Posted 21 May 2010
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The Augusta International Raceway was part of what was planned to be a multi-track facility in Hephzibah, Georgia. Photo courtesy Henry Jones
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 5/14/10
On May 1, 2010, one of the most unique and interesting race track complexes in Georgia history was remembered.
It was exactly 50 years ago to the day that the Augusta International Speedway complex was opened in Hephzibah, Georgia. It was intended to be a massive racing facility that would include a three mile long road course, one mile dirt oval, a two mile long tri-oval superspeedway, a half-mile paved oval and a 1/4 mile dragstrip.
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Posted 14 May 2010
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Bill Elliott turned in a historic performance in the 1985 Winston 500 at Talladega, Ala.
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 4/23/10
It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since Bill Elliott ran what may be his greatest race, and made what is without a doubt the greatest comeback in NASCAR history.
It occurred on May 5, 1985 at Talladega, Alabama.
Leading up to the event, NASCAR had been looking for a way to slow down Bill Elliott and his Coors sponsored Ford Thunderbird.
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Posted 23 April 2010
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Two years after Columbus Speedway’s first historic NASCAR season, the only Grand National event was held there in 1951. The race was promoted by Fonty Flock and won by Tim Flock. Photo courtesy Greg Fielden
By Eddie Samples
Posted in Feature Stories 4/9/10
Columbus Speedway, which was actually built in nearby Midland, Georgia, was in business from 1948 until 1952.
“It was developed because of the financial success they were having in Jacksonville, Florida, Macon and Jonesboro, Georgia,” GARHOFA historian Mike Bell told us. “The men who built it were in the car business, except for Tom Sikes, a lawyer friend of some of the others. The midget races across the Chattahoochee River in Phenix City, Alabama, were a success, so why not Columbus.”
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Posted 09 April 2010
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In the late 1940s, the NSCRA was one of the most popular stock car sanctioning bodies in the southeast.
By Eddie Samples
Posted in Feature Stories 3/26/10
So here it is in the middle of the racing season at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta in 1951. Buddy Shuman had won the 100 mile event on June 24, and had leap-frogged over Jack Smith to move into second in the point standings, chasing Ed Samples for the NSCRA’s 1951 crown.
Samples had won the NSCRA (National Stock Car Racing Association) title in 1949, while Shuman was the champ in 1948 and 1950. Smith lost by a hair in 1950. So could this have been his year?
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Posted 26 March 2010
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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 1/29/10
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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