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.
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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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.
Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 6/17/11
Following Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Pocono, Pennsylvania, the #18 M&M’s Toyota of Kyle Busch failed to pass post-race tech. According to reports, the Joe Gibbs owned Toyota was 1/16th of an inch outside the tolerances allowed by NASCAR.
The result was a $25,000 fine, the loss of six championship owner’s points and six championship driver’s points.
The debate over such fines and penalties has gone on for years. But today’s drivers should count themselves very, very lucky. Back in the “pioneer days”, drivers weren’t just slapped with fines. They were completely disqualified, or in some cases stripped completely of championship titles.
Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 6/10/11
There can be no doubt as to the biggest topic of discussion coming out of last weekend’s NASCAR events at Kansas City. It wasn’t the winner, or the fact that there was a fuel mileage finish for the second straight event, and third in the last four, counting Saturday’s Nationwide series event at Chicago.
It wasn’t the second straight near miss by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It wasn’t the second career win of second generation racer Brad Keselowski.
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.
Brandon Reed, Kyle Petty and Robert Marlow smile for the camera in late 2000. Photo from the Brandon Reed collection
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 5/23/11
Since launching Georgia Racing History.com almost two years ago, the one question that I’ve been asked over and over again is “How did you ever get so interested in racing and in its history?”
That answer is very simple. If not for my grandfather, Robert N. Marlow, this website and my connection with auto racing likely would never have come to be.
Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
Posted in Columns 5/13/11
It was one of the most improbable finishes to any NASCAR event in history, and it just happened to unfold around one of Georgia’s most legendary racers.
It occurred on May 17, 1981, at Dover Downs International Speedway, now known Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. The Mason-Dixon 500 started out much as any other race you might expect to see on a Sunday afternoon. David Pearson, piloting an Oldsmobile for Kennie Childers, started on the pole, with Morgan Shepherd outside in Cliff Stewart’s Pontiac.
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.
