Swayne Pritchett (left), seen here with mechanic Jack Edwards, was true racing pioneer. Photo courtesy the Pritchett family
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature 8/5/11
Racing historian Mike Bell is working on a book on all the different race tracks in Georgia. One section of the book, he says, will honor all the drivers who lost their lives while competing in the state.
It’s hard to say how many of those there were, to be honest. Between races on obscure, dusty bullrings and events held prior to World War I, there are huge gaps in what we know about the happenings on the various race courses in the Peach State.
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Posted 05 August 2011
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Mike Head (right) and Dale Earnhardt at Woodstock, Georgia's Dixie Speedway.
By Mike Bell
Posted in Feature Stories 7/29/11
In the past, many of the drivers we have profiled here on this website were born before World War II. We felt that some of the modern racers defined the word “throwback.”
Mike Head does just that. In the very early years of stock car racing before and just after the war, weekly racing was unknown. Drivers traveled to other cities, sometimes distant, to race. The early Georgia drivers made the choice to go where the racing and money were. Daytona to end every winter; then Charlotte, Columbia, Chattanooga and other cities had their races.
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Posted 29 July 2011
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The 2011 Georgia Racing Hall of Fame inductees are, left to right, George Elliott, Mike Head, Harold Kite, Swayne Pritchett and Ken Ragan.
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Feature 7/22/11
The votes have been tallied, and the five inductees for 2011 into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame have been chosen.
The 2011 inductees are George Elliott of Dawsonville, Mike Head of Ellenwood, Harold Kite of College Park, Swayne Pritchett of Baldwin and Ken Ragan of Unadilla.
The 2011 Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Induction banquet will be held on Oct. 21, 2011 at 6 pm at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, located inside the Dawsonville Municipal Complex in Dawsonville, Georgia.
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Posted 22 July 2011
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Herman Wise sits in the Super Modified that he drove from 1964 through 1966. He built the car from scratch.
By Mike Bell
Posted in Feature Stories 7/7/11
Before the Swindell brothers and Bobby Davis Jr. left Memphis for the Outlaw Trail; before Rickey Hood invaded Indiana and won his USAC titles; and before the ageless Frank Riddle drove up from Florida to show his physical prowess by winning the Little 500 in Anderson, Indiana, there was a deep South driver who invaded sprint car country and was successful.
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Posted 08 July 2011
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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.
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Posted 01 July 2011
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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.
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Posted 24 June 2011
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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.
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Posted 03 June 2011
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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.
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Posted 27 May 2011
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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.
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Posted 06 May 2011
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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.”
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Posted 29 April 2011
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