When the track was ready, it really wasn’t. Parking was bad, some seats were so low, you couldn’t see over the concrete wall, and the only restroom on the whole property was in the mud-filled infield and was in reality, a three-holed outhouse. So more costly improvements had to be made before they could make back their millions of dollars spent on the track.
After several setbacks from their goal of the first race in 1959 and two rain-dates later, the track had it’s first Nascar stint on July 31st, 1960. A Daytona boy, Fireball Roberts and a Pontiac #22 built by Ray Fox won the Dixie 300 with over 25,000 people witnessing history.
Now since this was a Nascar sanctioned race, you’d think the founder and then president would be on hand, but actually, Bill France was stuck in traffic the whole race. At the time, there was no such thing as I-75, so he had to take the backroads. The local police from Jonesboro were no help with traffic since they thought fans should be at church on Sunday and thought the track was sent from the devil.
Many thought the first race was not good at all, some said they’d come back until they died. It was this mixture of feelings that improved the track to what it is known as today.
The first few years were rough for Atlanta International; in fact, they were almost in bankrupt three times before things got steady in the mid -70’s. Even though things were shaky, they always knew how to draw a crowd; Jimmy Mosteller was the announcer, Ernie Moore and Weyman Milam alternated flagging the race, Alf Knight was the promoter, and you had an all-star field of drivers – Rex White, Richard and Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts, Tiny Lund, Marvin Panch, Jack Smith and Fred Lorenzen just to name a few. In 1962, fans got to see the fan favorite and hometown hero, Rex White take his only Atlanta win in his Gold and White # 4 Chevrolet. It would be one of Rex’s best seasons since his only championship in1960.
In the late 60’s, after changing through many presidents and executive people, Nelson Weaver held the reins from a short while, but declared bankruptcy around 1968. Then, the track had finally found a stable pair – Walter Nix, an airplane dealer, and L.G. Dewitt, a trucking company owner and later a cup team owner. The duo of Nix and Dewitt knew Nascar, and they knew what the fans wanted to see and knew what the drivers wanted to see.
By the time Benny Parsons had won the 1973 Nascar Winston Cup, Atlanta International was quickly becoming one of the most favored tracks on the circuit. Some more changes were made concerning the track like adding more grandstands and improved infields and parking along with better concession stands and restrooms. Like I said, in the 70’s, when it was still considered racing, Atlanta was a favorite for both the fan and driver.
One particular race in 1978, nearing the end of the season and closing to Cale Yarborough’s 3rd consecutive championship, Richard Petty was in a door-to-door battle with Donnie Allison for the last dozen or so laps. Donnie was flagged the leader at the end of 500 miles. This was before electronic scoring, so Richard knew he won, and he thought it was a mix up. So once he voiced his opinion to the track officials and Nascar, he was declared the winner. So Allison’s car was rolled out of victory lane and the 43 was in. Soon Donnie done the same thing Richard done, and just as Petty was finishing his victory Pepsi, his car was rolled out of victory lane and Donnie’s was back in. Nascar had changed there mind yet again.
In both 1980 and 1983, the track was used in two different movies starring Burt Reynolds – Smokey and the Bandit II and Stroker Ace, which featured some of the greats at the track including Dale Earnhardt, who is the all time winner at the track on both configurations, with 10 wins.
In November of 84’, Hometown boy, Bill Elliott grabbed the pole for the Coca-Cola 500, but lost to Dale Earnhardt in the race. He would have to wait until his breakthrough year in 1985, where he earned two poles and two wins at both races. He had another pole in 1986 and his third Atlanta points race in the fall of 1987. Bill won the only All-Star event at the track in May of 1986. Then president of the track, Mike Helton, and crew planned it for Mother’s Day to honor the racing moms. That was a mistake. With the truckload of roses they ordered for the 25,000 expected ladies, they kept a whole lot of em’. Reports say 18,000 were in attendance, but some say it looked like only 5,000 on the front stretch for the only Winston All-Star race at Atlanta.
Elliott won again at his home track in both races in 1992, his first year with Legendary Owner, Junior Johnson. But the last win of the season is what some say is the most historic in all of Nascar history, you be the judge of that. It was the Hooter’s 500. The track was now called Atlanta Motor Speedway, renamed by current owner Bruton Smith, who bought the track in 1990. Every one of the 150,000 was sold out. It was the season finale and going into the race, there were 5 eligible drivers to win the Winston Cup. Davey Allison was the points leader, but about a 1/3 of the way into the race Ernie Irvan spun his #4 and hit several cars including Davey and Richard Petty, who was competing in his last ever Nascar Race. Rookie Jeff Gordon also competed his first Nascar Race. So now that Davey was out of it, Bill and Alan Kulwicki in his Underbird were the favorites to win, but Kyle Petty, Mark Martin, and Harry Gant all had mathematical chances of winning.
The battle between 1st and 2nd in the points were so close. At the end, Bill Elliott won the race leading 102 laps. Alan Kulwicki finished 7th and lead 103 laps. One more than Bill, which gave him the most laps lead giving him 5 more bonus points earning the Wisconsin native, the Winston Cup Championship. And even though Richard Petty was the victim of a wreck early on, his STP crew managed to put in a new radiator and get him out for the last two laps of the race and to do some parade laps to say his final “goodbyes”
In 1994, a new complex of condo’s reaching 9 stories high was built by Bruton Smith. All this was early preparation for what some say made the track and what some say broke the track. In 1997, Bill Elliott was the last driver to drive a stock car on the track, and the first one to get on a bulldozer to tear up the oval track. What was presented to the 1998 season was a D-Shaped oval, very similar to both Charlotte Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Many complained about the new shape and size and surface along with the reversal of the track, but right after the new track was built, it turned speeds right along with Daytona and Talladega with the restrictor plates on. Since Atlanta was only a 1 ½ mile track, it didn’t require plates.
In 2000, Dale Earnhardt won his 10th and final race at the track in one of the closest finishes in Nascar history against Bobby Labonte. One year later, just three weeks after the driver of the #3 and just the third cup start of his replacement, Kevin Harvick, won in an even closer finish with Jeff Gordon. In fact, since the start of electronic scoring, Atlanta has earned several spots on the closest finishes in Nascar history.
In 2009, the track earned a night race, it took California’s place of the Labor Day race. Many fans were angry after the Darlington Southern 500 was taken away from the Labor Day Date. This Atlanta deal has helped fans cope with the loss of Darlington. In 2010, the track reduced to one cup race a year.
Now in honor of this weekends festivities at my home Nascar track, I hope some of you folks understand the Atlanta history a little better.
