Countdown: Georgia

From Blue Ridge to Brunswick, Stone Mountain to Savannah and Atlanta to the Okefenokee Swamp, the Peach State is a study in contrasts.

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Johnny outfiddled the devil there, according to Charlie Daniels. Gladys Knight and the Pips were leaving on a midnight train, while the Harlem Globetrotters won't play without Sweet Georgia Brown -- and of course, it wouldn't be proper not to remember Ray Charles and "Georgia (On My Mind)."

Georgia played a big part in NASCAR's success, right from the start. Dawson County native Raymond Parks and Atlanta garage owner Louis "Red" Vogt had prominent roles in the formation of Bill France's new sanctioning body.

Parks, who owned cars driven by France in the '40s, provided financial assistance -- and was the owner for the 1949 Strictly Stock championship won by Red Byron. Vogt, who was Parks' chief mechanic and car designer, reportedly came up with the phrase "National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing" during that famous 1947 meeting in France's Daytona Beach garage.

Best behind the wheel

• Bill Elliott, Dawsonville

George Elliott began bringing his three sons -- Ernie, Dan and Bill -- to the racetrack because "I wanted them to stay away from the back roads. If they were going to be driving fast, I wanted them to do it in the right place."

Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers Bill Elliott's Cup career Year Races W T5 T10 1976 8 0 0 0 1977 10 0 0 2 1978 10 0 0 5 1979 13 0 1 5 1980 11 0 0 4 1981 13 0 1 7 1982 21 0 8 9 1983 30 1 12 22 1984 30 3 13 24 1985 28 11 16 18 1986 29 2 8 16 1987 29 6 16 20 1988 29 6 15 22 1989 29 3 8 14 1990 29 1 12 16 1991 29 1 6 12 1992 29 5 14 17 1993 30 0 6 15 1994 31 1 6 12 1995 31 0 4 11 1996 24 0 0 6 1997 32 0 5 14 1998 32 0 0 5 1999 34 0 1 2 2000 32 0 3 7 2001 36 1 5 9 2002 36 2 6 13 2003 36 1 9 12 2004 6 0 0 1 2005 9 0 0 0 Totals 746 44 175 320

The "right place" for Bill Elliott growing up was Woodstock's Dixie Speedway, where as a teen-ager, he began winning with regularity.

In a car owned by his father, the man who would later be refered to as "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" made his Cup debut in 1976 at Rockingham, where he made only 33 laps before the engine in his No. 9 Ford expired. However, that only fueled Elliott's desire to succeed in NASCAR's premier division. Over the next six seasons, Elliott would run a limited schedule but post a pole and two top-fives at Darlington.

That caught the eye of Michigan businessman Harry Melling, who stuck Elliott in the driver's seat for 21 races in 1982 and a full season in 1983. Elliott responded with eight top-fives in 1982 and his first victory the next season, at Riverside. He would win at least one race in each of the next 10 seasons.

Elliott exploded onto the scene in 1985, when he won 11 races and 11 poles -- including victories in the Daytona 500, Winston 500 at Talladega and Southern 500 at Darlington -- the first Winston Million, earning him another nickname: "Million Dollar Bill."

Three years later, Elliott earned his only Cup championship, winning six races -- including another Southern 500 -- and posting 22 top-10 finishes in 29 races. He would come close to a second title in 1992 while driving for Junior Johnson, losing the championship by 10 points to Alan Kulwicki despite winning the season's final race.

Still competing on a limited basis, the two-time Daytona 500 winner has accumulated 44 Cup victories over his 30-year career -- and finished in the top 10 in nearly 43 percent of hs starts.

Always a fan favorite, Elliott was named NASCAR's most popular driver an amazing 16 consecutive times.

Other noteworthy drivers from Georgia

• Sara Christian, Dahlonega: With husband Frank, became the first husband-wife drivers to compete in the same race (1949 Daytona beach course)

• Bob Flock, Atlanta: Half of his four career victories came in the 1949 season, although he swept two Daytona beach races in pre-NASCAR 1947

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• Fonty Flock, Decatur: 19 wins in a nine-year career, including the 1952 Southern 500

• Tim Flock, Atlanta: Two-time NASCAR champion, known for having a monkey ride with him, won 18 of 39 races in 1955

• Harold Kite, East Point: Won the 1950 Daytona beach race; killed in a Lap 1 crash at Charlotte in 1965

• Sam McQuagg, Columbus: Captured the 1966 Firecracker 400

• Ethel (Flock) Mobley, Atlanta: Named for the gas her father used in his taxi; finished 11th on the beach in 1949, beating two of her brothers

• Frank Mundy, Atlanta: 24 top-10s in 52 starts, including three wins in 1951

• Jody Ridley, Chatsworth: 1980 rookie of the year won his only Cup race at Dover a year later; a legend in southern short-track circles for three decades

• Jack Smith, Sandy Springs: 21 wins over a 15-year career, including three at Concord (N.C.) Speedway

• Gober Sosebee, Atlanta: Both wins were home-state victories, Augusta in '52 and Macon in '54

• Frank Warren, Augusta: 29 top-10s in 396 career starts from 1963-80

We wish ...

Baseball legend Ty Cobb had become a NASCAR driver.

The native of Royston may have been the original Intimidator. A fierce competitor who reportedly sharped his spikes in the dugout to rattle his opponents, the Georgia Peach stole 892 bases, had a lifetime average of .367 and hit over .300 in 23 consecutive seasons.

Keeping it on the track

• Atlanta Motor Speedway

Garland Bagley's dream of a 1.5-mile superspeedway south of Atlanta almost came to an end before it started. Four of the original investors dropped out when insufficient funds halted construction. However, four others joined Bagley and spent $1.8 million to get the facility ready for the first race in 1959.

Credit: Autostock

Construction delays and bad weather forced the first race to be postponed until July 31, 1960, when Fireball Roberts won the Dixie 300.

The new facility, then known as Atlanta International Raceway, continued to struggle financially, going through bankruptcy proceedings in the '70s before Burton Smith purchased the speedway in 1990. At the time, the Weaver grandstand and wooden backstretch bleachers were the only reserved seating available, as many fans brought blankets to sit on the dirt bank.

Smith's first decision was to expand the facilities. The East Turn grandstand added 25,000 more seats -- and 30 luxury boxes. In 1994, 46 luxury condos were added, along with a swimming pool and tennis courts. A year later, the North Turn grandstand was added.

Then in 1997, Bruton made the biggest change yet -- relocating the start-finish line to what was the backstretch and adding two doglegs to make the track a 1.54-mile quad oval. In addition, the Champions grandstand was built, along with improvements to the infield facilities.

A tornado in July of 2005 heavily damaged many of the track's buildings, but repair efforts allowed the track to host its October events without incident.

Gone but not forgotten

• Lakewood Speedway, Atlanta

Originally built in 1915 as part of the Southeastern Fair, the one-mile dirt track hosted its first auto race in 1917 when a match race between Ralph DePalma and Barney Oldfield drew a crowd estimated at 15,000. Known as the Indianapolis of the South, Lakewood primarly hosted open-wheel Indy cars throughout the '20s and '30s, with crowds of up to 30,000.

Stock cars made their first appearance in 1938, as Lloyd Seay, cousin of Raymond Parks, took the 150-mile win despite having limited use of one arm. Three years later, Seay raced in the Labor Day event at Lakewood, this time in No. 13. The next day, he was shot to death by another family member.

The last race run at Lakewood before World War II was just five days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The track remained shuttered for four years. The first NASCAR sanctioned race at Lakewood came in 1951, as Atlanta native Tim Flock won a 100-lapper.

Lakewood's final Cup race, in 1959, had an unusual finish. Richard Petty crossed the finish line for what would have been his first career victory but his father Lee was handed the win after filing a successful protest.

The speedway remained in operation until 1979. An amphitheatre parking lot now covers a large portion of the former speedway, although a section of the concrete grandstands remain.

Other tracks which have hosted NASCAR races

• Augusta International Raceway, Augusta: Fireball Roberts won the 1964 race, the only one on this 3-mile road course

• Augusta International Speedway, Augusta: Bobby Isaac won two races and three poles on the dirt half-mile

• Central City Speedway, Macon: Herb Thomas found Victory Lane twice on the dirt half-mile

• Columbus Speedway, Columbus: Tim Flock took home $1,000 for winning the 1951 race Hayloft Speedway, Augusta: Gober Sosebee beat Tommy Moon by 22 seconds in 1952

• Jeffco Speedway, Jefferson: Cale Yarborough and Bobby Isaac captured wins at track now known as Peach State Speedway

• Middle Georgia Raceway, Macon: Richard Petty won four of the nine races at this paved half-mile

• Oglethorpe Speedway, Pooler: Al Keller and Lee Petty won on the clay half-mile, which is still in operation

• Savannah Speedway, Savannah: All three of Richard Petty's margins of victory here were by at least one lap

• Valdosta 75 Speedway, Valdosta: Ned Jarrett, Buck Baker and Cale Yarborough tamed the dirt half-mile

A word from our sponsor

• Home Depot, Atlanta

Founded in 1978 and catering to both the do-it-yourself and professional market, Home Depot has since become the world's largest home improvement retailer, operating more than 1,900 stores across North America.

Other official NASCAR sponsors call Georgia home, including Coca-Cola (Atlanta), Exide Technologies (Alpharetta), SunTrust (Atlanta) and UPS (Atlanta).