With the NASCAR tour heading for the mammoth Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, we thought we'd take a look at some of the weird goings-on at the track over the years, the the possible connection they have to a legendary member of the Georgia Gang this week over at Georgia Racing History.com .

Fonty Flock was a stock car racing champion and a proud member of the Georgia Gang. After hanging up his helmet in 1957, he began looking around for an opportunity to build a track that would continue the legacy of racing for him and his family. He spied a chunk of land between Birmingham and Atlanta, and thought that would be a great spot for a new super speedway. There was only one problem - he shared this information with NASCAR czar "Big Bill" France, Sr. That led to heartbreak for Fonty, and to the day he would place a curse on the big track at Talladega. We take a look at the legend of Fonty's Curse this week over at Georgia Racing History.com .

Before we go any further, we need to stop right here and send a HUGE thank you out to GRH.com's technical guru, Patrick Aikens . Late last week, we discovered a glitch in the website that prevented us from adding any pictures to the site. If you've been a long time reader, you know that we love to include pictures with all our stories, as we feel they enhance and make the stories better. We called Patrick earlier this week, and, just in time for this week's update, he discovered the problem and got everything back on the beam. So a huge thank you to Patrick Aikens from all of us here at GRH.com!!!!!

Congratulations to Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Rex White , who was inducted Thursday night into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega, Alabama. Congrats, Rex, from all of your friends and fans here at GRH.com!!!!

Unfortunately, we have some sad news to share with you this week, as we lost two prominent racers in the state. On Saturday, we received word that 26 year old Beau Slocumb , who raced late models out of Macon, passed away after a valiant three year long battle with cancer. Slocumb was one of the best loved and most respected young members of the Georgia Gang, and had been an inspiration last year when he returned to the track at Gresham Motorsports Park, doing battle late in the going and just missing a chance at victory due to a restart infraction. Slocumb was a multi-time winner in late models, and will be missed by the Georgia racing community and by all who saw him race. You can read more about Beau here . Also last week, we lost Toccoa Speedway promoter David Prichett . Pritchett, who was 48 years of age, passed away of a heart attack on Monday. You can read his full obituary here . All of us here at GRH.com send out our thoughts and prayers to the friends of family of both Beau and David at this sad time.

You have only ONE DAY LEFT to submit your nominations for the 2011 class of inductees into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame . If you know somebody that you think should be in the Hall, it's easy to nominate them. Just download a copy of the nomination form here , fill it out, and get it to the Hall of Fame prior to the close of business on April 15 (tax day), or have it post-marked and mailed no later than today. If you have any questions about the form or the nomination process, go here for more information. You can also email questions to garacinghof@gmail.com, or call 706-216-RACE (7223). But please don't delay, if you want to see your heroes in the Hall of Fame, here's where you can be their hero - nominate your favorite Georgia racer for the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame!

The second annual Athens Speedway Reunion last Saturday was an AWESOME event! Many thanks to Donald Brooks , Freddie Massey and Charles Burkhalter, Jr . for all their hard work in making it such a great event. Thanks for having us, and we're looking forward to next year's get together!

And, plans are underway for the second annual Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Night at Gresham Motorsports Park (the official race track of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame) on April 23. Hall of Fame members get in free with their special track pass (if you didn't get yours last year, no problem - we still have them in hand for you!), with a big autograph session planned for all our Hall of Famers! Plus, the 2010 Hall of Fame inductees, Ted Edwards , Ernie Elliott , Jack Etheridge , Laverne Kendrick and Jerry Wimbish will be honored in a special pre-race ceremony on the track's front stretch. We'll have more information as we get closer to the event, but you can have a look at photos from last year's event here , and get more information on Gresham Motorsports Park here .

Happy Birthday wishes go out this week on April 16 in memory of Georgia Racing Hall of Fame member Bob Flock (1918-1964), and in memory of Tommy Moon (1925-2003), on April 20 to Ron Barfield , and on April 21 to Bob Varsha .

Thanks everybody, and have a great weekend!

Brandon Reed
Georgia Racing History.com