Lakewood Speedway
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David, I'm not Tommy but the photo of someone sking on the lake was taken at the last race held there.
Forum Activity for @robert-turner
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Lakewood Speedway
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Some of the others could probably tell this better:
What was the average car count in the late model class?.... I think that Lakewood was always a big event track even in it's early days. They ran champ cars and stock cars (read as Bootleggers cars) early and NASCAR Strickly Stock, and Sportsman cars through the years.
Were there any lights or was it all daylight racing?.... The only lights I remember were on the front straight. They would use the front straight in front of the grandstands for the "Joey Chitwood and the Hurricane Hell Drivers" shows at the South Eastern Fair each year.
How many laps in the LM class?.. Again this was mostly a special event track and ran 100 mile or so shows.
What is that big white building in turn 4?.... That is one of many exibition halls on the grounds, this is a state fair grounds complex and was where the South Eastern Fair was held each year.
If you will look closely you will find that this is the track used in the movie "Smokey and the Bandit". They blew up the old wooden roller coaster for one movie.
I don't know what kind of speeds they were turning when Buck won or even the older cars, but I bet is was pretty fast. Cody / Brandon are there any records that the GARHOF has that you might add?
Here are few other shots:
here.
Lakewood Speedway
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KUDZU is the state flower of GA. It was a gift of the Federal Darn Government as a way to keep down erosion. If only we could find good reason to charge for it our troubles would be over.
Lakewood Speedway
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Mike, I'm going to try to post your photos here: Sorry I didn't get to do this last night. Thanks for the photos.
photo 1: Lakewood #3 Raymond Payne; Forest City, NC. #6 Frank Cullum; Clarkston, GA; Gary Rowe of Monroe GA, rides his 69 Chevelle back to the pits after a hard hit. 50 lap late model race August 16,1970 Photo by Howard O'Reilly
photo 2: Gary Rowe of Monroe GA, rides his 69 Chevelle back to the pits after a hard hit. 50 lap late model race Gary Rowe of Monroe GA, rides his 69 Chevelle back to the pits after a hard hit. 50 lap late model race August 16,1970 Photo by Howard O'Reilly
photo 3: Photo 2 Charlie Padgett of Woodstock Ga, #34 Nelson Stacy of Atlanta in a 64 Mercury #1--50 Late Model Modified Race August 16 1970--Howard O'Reilly photo
photo 4: Tiny Lund at Lakewood NASCAR Grand American race April 4, 1970 photo by Howard O'Reilly
Lakewood Speedway
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Cody, I'm sure you're right. My brain's time clock doesn't work as well as it once did. I really hated that they destroyed such a historic track.
This is what turn 1-2 will do:
Lakewood Speedway
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They just show up as file numbers on my end?
A much younger Ronnie Johnson in the pits with the lake in the background. Note the car on the back straight, pretty far across.
Lakewood Speedway
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I was there when Curtis won. I remember being in the infield after the race and somebody saying to Curtis, " I hear they're talking about paving this track", to which Curtis answered, "Hell, don't let'em do that, you'll have to come here and race wearing a suit". I remember Curtis didn't get there until nearly race time and Brantley qualified the car, red with a black top '64-65 Chevelle if I remember right. That might have been the second race you mentioned?
I remember Tootle Estees, Tiger Tom and many others.
I'm not sure who won the second race you were talking about.
The last races I'm showing the photos of was in the late eighties or early ninties. They reopened the track and ran a couple of latemodel races. I can't figure out why the photos above don't show up???
Front straight:
the infamous turn one and two, hard to make after such a long straight:
Lakewood Speedway
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Just a little something different, from the last race at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, GA.The winner wasBuck Simmons. Lakewood was a one mile dirt track that went back to the old AAA days of the champ cars and had early stock car races and raced off and on up until the mid nineties.
Again check some of Brandon Reeds Posts for more information on Lakewood as he has been involved with the Lakewood reunion as well as having articles and sometimes talking to many of the early drivers.
updated by @robert-turner: 12/04/20 09:37:33AM
What I Miss About the Old Atlanta Track
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Tim you sound like me. The first NASCAR race I saw was the '63 Atlanta 500 and we set in the infield pretty close to the tunnel. It rained and there wasn't anything but mud in the infield. It had not been filled and leveled then and there were hills and valleys and it got pretty bad. Seems like we had to come back a time or two to see the race due to the weather. Atlanta's nickname back them was "Atlanta International RAINway". I have probably walked by your motorhome before while "patroling the infield" for "candid" shots. Before I became involved with photography and such we used to park in the fourth turn because you could see most of the track from there.
NASCAR infield back in the day:
Weyman Milam, early pioneer
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Sorry I wasn't clearer on my post. I just wanted to add another photo to the great pioneers of our sport. I didn't get into the whole store of his life because I knew that Brandon Reed had some good material on him. I will try to be more specific next time.