Now, it's see you in September at Georgia track

TOM HIGGINS' SCUFFS

Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009

So now Atlanta Motor Speedway gets a September date.

The Pep Boys Auto 500 is scheduled at the 1.54-mile track on Sept. 6.

That’s the Labor Day weekend date that was held from 1950-2003 by Darlington Raceway for the staging of the storied Southern 500. It’s a date that still should belong to the South Carolina track. However, that contention isn’t the gist of this column.

Since the opening of the Georgia superspeedway in 1961, NASCAR has scheduled the track’s second big time races each season in June, July, August, October and November.

And now September.

Why such shuffling at the facility which for many years was known as Atlanta International Raceway?

Officials at AMS lobbied to escape the November date because of often foul weather conditions that late in the autumn. Never mind that holding the season finale gave them the possibility of hosting the Sprint Cup Series’ championship-deciding event. They got their wish in 2002 when the final race was move to Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida and Atlanta was given a weekend in October.

Last year they sought, and received, relief from racing in October, in part to avoid conflicts with Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference football, Atlanta Falcons NFL football and the possibility of the Atlanta Braves being in baseball’s playoffs. Hence, this year’s Pep Boys 500-miler on the day-before-Labor Day.

The long-ago summertime shows at the speedway located south of Atlanta near Hampton, Ga., produced some memorable winners and incidents.

The earliest of the track’s “second time around” races was held on June 7, 1964.

Ned Jarrett, destined to win two championships and 50 races en route to several halls of fame, took the checkered flag. Driving a Ford fielded by colorful car-owner/crew chief Bondy Long, Jarrett finished four laps ahead of runner-up Richard Petty.

The race was marred by a savage crash by Doug Cooper. A tire blew on Cooper’s Ford on the 43rd lap, sending him into the guardail. Cooper ripped up 30 posts supporting the railing. Rather than red-flagging the race to a halt for repairs, NASCAR kept the field rolling for 47 laps under caution while the barrier was replaced.

NASCAR held a 250-mile race at the then-new Atlanta speedway on July 9, 1961, having scheduled the event only a week earlier.

According to the great stock car racing historian Greg Fielden, this came about when the U.S. Auto Club pulled its cars and drivers from an Indy-car race set for the speedway, citing “unsafe conditions.” USAC gave Atlanta president/promoter Nelson Weaver only 36 hours' notice before the teams were to check in.

NASCAR founder/president Big Bill France came to Weaver’s rescue and “slid” an event called the Festival 250 into the schedule of what was then known as the Grand National Division.

Fred Lorenzen dodged a 13-car crash on the first lap to triumph, driving a Holman-Moody Ford to a one-lap victory over Bob Welborn.

Fielden relates in his series of books that no drivers were hurt in the big accident. However, a wrecker operator, Robert Higgenbotham, was slightly injured when his vehicle flipped while he was trying to tow away damaged race cars.

From 1987-2000 NASCAR scheduled each year’s final race at the Atlanta track. Moving the finale back to Dixie after holding it in California since 1974, first at the 2-mile Ontario Motor Speedway, then at the Riverside Raceway road course.

Critics had wailed for years that a series born and nurtured in Dixie should have the race possibly determining its champion scheduled in the South.

Several titles were decided at Atlanta. The list:

1988 - Home state favorite Bill Elliott drives conservatively, finishes 11th and captures his only championship by 24 points over Rusty Wallace, who wins the Atlanta Journal 500.

1989 - Wallace finishes 15th in the Journal 500, to beat Dale Earnhardt by 12 points for his only crown.

1990 - Earnhardt finishes third to Mark Martin’s sixth in the Journal 500. Earnhardt takes the fourth of his eventual seven titles by 26 points over Martin.

1992 - Team-owner/driver Alan Kulwicki rallies from 30 points down to leader Davey Allison and beats Bill Elliott by 10 points for the championship, the closest margin in NASCAR history. Kulwicki triumphed by leading one more lap than Elliott for five bonus points. If Elliott had led the most laps, the two would have finished tied in points, and the title would have gone to Elliott on the basis of most victories during the season. Allison seemed to be en route to his first championship, but a wreck not of his making foiled his hopes. Sadly, both Allison and Kulwicki were to lose their lives a few months later in aircraft crashes.

1995 - Jeff Gordon had a tough race with an ill-handling car, but his 32nd place finish was good enough to hold off NAPA 500 winner Dale Earnhardt by 34 points. It was the first of Gordon’s four crowns.

1996 - Driving with a cast on his injured left hand, Terry Labonte managed a fifth place finish to beat Gordon for the title by 37 points. Terry’s brother, Bobby, won the NAPA 500 and the two shared a post-race victory lap together.

1997 - Gordon again experienced trouble, but was able to finish 17th and take the crown by 14 points over Dale Jarrett and 29 over Mark Martin.

Will another championship ever be decided in November at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

Could be if the track’s majority owner, Bruton Smith, gets his way.

Smith is pressing NASCAR hard to have the season finale returned to Georgia in future seasons.

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