Jimmy Summerour sits in his dragster outside the trophy lined garage of R.T. "Buckshot" Morris in 1959.
By Mike Bell
Posted in Feature Stories 7/1/11
In racing today, after interviewing the winning driver, they go to the crew chief for insight on how the car worked. That crew chief spouts off a few names of the crew who made the victory possible – the tire changer, the engine builder or even the body fabricator.
Fonty Flock led most of the Feb. 15, 1948 event at Daytona Beach, but crashed hard after a spindle broke on his Ford. Red Byron picked up the win in the first NASCAR sanctioned event.
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 6/24/11
The question has come up many times over the years as to just how important the Georgia Gang was to the beginning of NASCAR.
If you look beyond the initial early years of modified stock car racing, which would eventually evolve into modern day NASCAR, you need look no further than the results from that first official season of racing in 1948.
Friends and fans of racing turned out in large numbers Saturday for the Grand Reopening of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville, Georgia. Photos by Justin Poole
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 6/3/11
With sunny skies overhead, several hundred race fans traveled to Dawsonville, Georgia Saturday to celebrate the grand reopening of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.
Race fans were treated to two new displays honoring two potential future hall of famers, Dawsonville’s Chase Elliott and Spencer Davis, as well as an opportunity to meet several Hall of Fame members during an autograph session, which featured Hall of Famers Bruce Brantley, Jack Jackson, Hoyt Grimes, Charlie Mincey and Hubert Platt, along with veteran racers Jabez Jones, Donald Tyson and Bobby Whitmire.
In 1919, Arthur Thurman became the first Georgia racer to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 5/27/11
With the storied history of the Georgia Gang in racing events around the country, and around the world, there is one historic event that has not been a lucky one for drivers from the Peach State, and that’s the annual 500 mile open wheel event in Speedway, Indiana known as the Indianapolis 500.
In fact, only a small handful of drivers with ties back to Georgia have made an attempt to compete in the event, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary on Sunday.
Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Raymond Parks changes a tire on Red Byron's Cadillac during the running of the first Southern 500 at Darlington, SC in 1950.
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 5/6/11
From the first race on Labor Day of 1950, the Georgia Gang has played a big role in the happenings in the famed Southern 500, held annually at the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
Darlington Raceway in the fifties. The lack of a seperating wall between the pits and the track would lead to disaster and death during the 1960 Southern 500.
By Eddie Samples
Posted in Feature Stories 4/29/11
The racing world started for Jerry Elzey as a youngster in the 1950′s, when his dad, D.J. Elzey, leased his garage across from their service station on Howell Mill Road in Atlanta to Frank Strickland, a prominent local businessman.
“Frank’s family owned Hudgins Wrecking Company so they had money,” said Jerry. “But my dad was leery of renting to race people. It was an expensive hobby even at NASCAR level, and my old man wanted his rent.”
John Henry Maddox, a tough man with a big heart who was a great race car driver.
By Mike Bell
Posted in Feature Stories 4/22/11
Whoever said big men come in small packages knew John Henry Maddox.
In a lot of sports, there are special considerations for size, but then they always talk about “heart” when someone comes along that doesn’t meet their requirements.
In racing, the first requirement is “heart”, or whatever the unknown qualifier is that makes a race driver a “great” race driver. Great race car drivers win a lot of races, money, championships, and even the fans.
It looked like old times when former racers, fans and officials gathered at the old Middle Georgia Raceway for a reunion hosted by Racer’s Reunion.com earlier this month. Photos by Joe Cawley
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature Stories 4/1/11
Back on March 12, the folks at Racers Reunion.com held the inaugural Jeff Smith Chevrolet Middle Georgia Raceway Reunion, held at the historic Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron, Georgia, near Macon.
The old track had sat dormant for many years, but a group of volunteers worked tirelessly to get the track ready for the big day.
Dalton, Georgia's Tammy Jo Kirk became the first woman to win the famed Snowball Derby back in 1994. Photo courtesy Ronnie Solesbee collection
By Jeff Hood-Guest Contributor
Posted in Feature Stories 3/25/11
It was another day at the office for Tammy Jo Kirk at her motorcycle shop in Dalton, Georgia back in December when word arrived that 18-year-old Johanna Long had won last the 43rd annual Snowball Derby Super Late Model race in Pensacola, Fla.
It was welcome news to the 48-year-old Kirk, the 1994 winner of the Derby. But Long’s win means Kirk is no longer the only female winner of the Derby.
The Betty Lilly owned #24 Ford, driven by Sam McQuagg, provided one of the most iconic moments in NASCAR history, as McQuagg tangled with Cale Yarborough (27) while racing for the lead in the 1965 Southern 500.
By Mike Bell
Posted in Feature Stories 3/11/11
When I sat down to write about Mrs. Betty Lilly, I wondered if all those South Georgia racers realized what an influence she was on racing down there. She spent an enormous amount of money helping Sam McQuagg to become “Rookie-of-the-Year” in NASCAR’s Grand National Division, the premier division of racing as far as Southerners were concerned at that time.
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