NASCAR's Atlanta news has memories racing back

Alas, time races on…

And it has come to pass that the venerable Georgia superspeedway near Atlanta is now a one-race venue.

As stock car fans probably are aware by now, starting in 2011 Atlanta Motor Speedway will be the site of a single NASCAR Cup Series event, on Labor Day weekend.

Bruton Smith, chief of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns the 1.5-mile track, and NASCAR officials jointly revealed the decision last week. A spring date that has been Atlanta's for most of the speedway’s 50 years is being transferred to Smith's SMI track in Kentucky.

Now, anniversary festivities planned for the facility near suburban Hampton, Ga., during next month's race week sadly won't seem so golden and glittery.

Located only a few miles from the speedway in rolling, forested hills is a picturesque old plantation that served as the inspiration for Tara in author Margaret Mitchell's epic book about the Civil War.

The name of that novel essentially summarizes how old-time followers of NASCAR like me assess what has happened to Atlanta's treasured spring race date.

It's "Gone With The Wind."

We hold on to the memories, though.

Following are five of my favorites, in chronological order:

March 27, 1966 – Jim Hurtubise scores what will remain through the decades one of Atlanta's biggest upset triumphs, taking the Atlanta 500. Making only his 11th big-time start dating to 1957, the driver from New York state wheels a Plymouth to a one-lap victory over Ford stars Fred Lorenzen and Dick Hutcherson.

Sometime later a smiling Hurtubise reveals that illegal gadgetry probably helped him triumph.

"I carried a monkey wrench with me in the car," he confesses. "During caution laps I'd crank a bolt and lower the car's body so it would cut the air better. After taking the checkered flag I threw the wrench out. If anyone had seen it, they might have suspected something."

No kidding!

It was the only big-time NASCAR victory of Hurtubise's career.

March 21, 1976 – A special visitor makes his way to the press box to do some politicking. He's Jimmy Carter, the friendly Georgia governor who is making a long-shot bid for the U.S. presidency. As David Pearson rolls toward the 90th of his 105 victories, rallying from a lap down to edge Benny Parsons in the Atlanta 500, Carter makes a bold campaign promise.

"If I win the White House," he says, "I'm going to have all you NASCAR folks and media up there for a party."

Carter does win. And he keeps his promise.

In September of 1978 drivers, team owners, crew chiefs and members of the press are treated to a party on the White House's South Lawn.

Unfortunately, the president can't be there. He's at Camp David negotiating the Mideast Peace Accords with Menachem Begin of Israel and Egypt's Anwar Sadat. First Lady Rosalynn Carter is the hostess.

Willie Nelson provides the entertainment. Those attending are treated to a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle: Willie Nelson singing "Up Against The Wall You Redneck Mothers" at the White House!

March 16, 1980 – Dale Earnhardt scores the first of his superspeedway triumphs, taking the Atlanta 500 in a spirited battle with a relative unknown.

The young newcomer, sporting a wild shock of red hair, is a Midwestern driver named Rusty Wallace.

Roger Penske has brought Wallace to Atlanta to help test and set up the cars for an International Race Of Champions Series event. Penske reasons that since Wallace is at the track, he might as well enter him in the NASCAR show so he can gain some experience.

Wallace runs competitively throughout and finishes as the runner-up to Earnhardt.

Earnhardt nicknames Wallace "Rubberhead" because of his long, unruly hair. The race gives birth to what becomes a colorful rivalry.

March 18, 1984 – Benny Parsons, known for his mild-mannered ways and smooth, non-aggressive driving style, shows a new persona in the Coca-Cola 500.

Benny battles like a banshee against hard-chargers Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough to score a popular triumph.

Parsons outduels Earnhardt in a sensational sprint over the last seven laps and wins by 0.9 seconds for newcomer team owner Johnny Hayes and crew chief Leo Jackson.

Representatives of the team's sponsor, U.S. Tobacco, are so delighted that a few months later they treat Jackson to a special surprise in appreciation. They take the avid fly-fisherman on a 10-day trip to Alaska to catch rainbow trout and salmon. And they order the company’s drivers to go along – Parsons, his younger brother Phil, and Harry Gant.

Those drivers don't like to fish, so Jackson is permitted to ask an angling pal to accompany him to help tie on lures and give casting instructions.

That guy was me!

Not surprising I remember, eh!?

March 17, 1985 – Favorite Georgia son Bill Elliott triumphs at the Atlanta track for the first time, winning the Coca-Cola 500.

The drawling, immensely-popular "Awesome Bill From Dawsonville" is en route to one of the most storied seasons in NASCAR history.

Prior to winning at Atlanta, he'd captured the season-opening Daytona 500. Win followed win, including victories in Talladega's Winston 500 and Darlington's Southern 500.

By scoring in three of the season's Big Four, or Grand Slam events, Elliott earned the Winston Million Bonus the first season it was offered.

Ol' Awesome finished the 1985 tour with 11 victories, including a sweep at his home state track when he added the Atlanta Journal 500 in November.

Little, if any, of the cheering Elliott heard that magical season was louder than thundering ovation in March at Atlanta.

I've never heard a volcano erupt, but the sound must be something like that.

Yes, the winds of change have borne Atlanta's spring race date to Kentucky. But the memories of races amid the peach blossoms will cling forever to the track out there in the countryside near "Tara."