Atlanta Motor Speedway (currently known as EchoPark Speedway for sponsorship reasons; formerly the Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a quad-oval intermediate speedway in Hampton, Georgia, United States. The track has hosted a variety of sanctioning bodies since its inaugural season of racing in 1960, including NASCAR and IndyCar. The venue has a capacity of 71,000 as of 2015 and includes various track layouts, including a oval on the track's frontstretch, and a roval road course layout. Atlanta Motor Speedway is currently owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI) and is led by track general manager Brandon Hutchison.
In the late 1950s, plans were made by the First Georgia Securities Corporation to build a facility that rivaled the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After a months-long delay, the first races were held in 1960. Shortly after, the track faced heavy financial troubles, having to enter Chapter 10 bankruptcy in 1971. After periods of stability directed by Stacey Cotton and Walt Nix, the facility was bought out by motorsports mogul Bruton Smith in 1990, with Smith and his company, SMI, directing the facility's expansion and renovation under longtime general manager Ed Clark. The track has since gone through two major reconfigurations since Smith's purchase: one in 1997 that changed the layout of the track, and one in 2021 that changed the style of racing to produce pack racing seen at superspeedways.
Description
Configurations The track in its current form is measured at , with 28 degrees of banking in the turns and five degrees of banking in the straightaways. The racing surface width varies, with a recorded 52 feet on the frontstretch, 42 feet on the backstretch, and 40 feet in the turns. From 1997 to 2021, the racing surface was at a recorded 55 feet with 24 degrees of banking in the turns. When the track first opened as a true oval, it was advertised to be banked at 24 degrees in the turns, with the straightaways being "banked slightly".
In 1992, developers added a road course layout that combined the main oval with a specialized infield portion to create a "roval". As part of the 1997 reconfiguration, developers added a oval on the track's frontstretch to accommodate legends car racing.
Amenities
Atlanta Motor Speedway is next to the concurrent U.S. Route 41 and U.S. Route 19, along with Georgia State Route 20. As of 2015, the track had a reported capacity of 71,000, with recent estimates being unknown due to the track's parent company, SMI, refusing to release capacity statistics as late as 2021. At its peak, the facility held a maximum of 124,000 according to a 2010 report by the Atlanta Magazine. The track complex also features a nine-story condominium complex called Tara Place. It was completed in 1994 and features 46 units along with a ballroom. In total, the facility covers around 850 acres of land.
Track history
Planning and construction On April 8, 1958, The Atlanta Constitution reported that the First Georgia Securities Corporation, led by president Richard W. King, announced plans to build a $1 million (adjusted for inflation$, ), 50,000-seat, 400-acre racing facility south of Atlanta along a location near U.S. Route 41. Atlanta International Raceway, Inc. (AIR) was formed to head the project. Two months later, King and racing promoter of the nearby Lakewood Speedway, Carl Queen, opened a stock sale to the general public, with 479,550 shares being offered at $4 each; along with the announcement, the duo stated hopes of hosting NASCAR and United States Auto Club (USAC)-sanctioned races. King later stated hopes of expanding the facility's uses to include "almost any conceivable outdoor show", with developers hoping to host four major races annually. With the announcements, it was slated to become the second-biggest racing facility in the United States at the time, only behind the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The stock sale stagnated, with only $40,000 worth of shares being sold by the end of July. In August, drivers Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly were announced by King as racing directors within the track's leadership, replacing Queen and Ernie Troutman, whose stock in the company was bought by track directors. With Queen sacked, he and King entered into a dispute over future race dates between Lakewood Speedway and Atlanta International Raceway, with both stating that they weren't willing to give up dates if they happened to run races on the same day. Groundbreaking occurred on September 17 at 1 PM EST, with King stating plans to host the first races at the facility "sometime in 1959"; actual work on the facility, however, did not start until late November.
Delays and postponements By February 1959, Turner and Weatherly both threatened to resign from their positions and file lawsuits against the company, with Weatherly stating that they did not pay them enough for stock sold at meetings, a claim which King refuted. In addition, Weatherly claimed that he only hired to promote and did not want to be involved with selling stock, but was later forced to; he also implied that the financial situation and opening date of the track was unstable, stating, "They painted us a pretty picture... that picture isn't so pretty anymore". Four months later, although stock sales saw further stagnation, the project was able to secure a $400,000 loan, with King claiming that construction progressed enough that construction crews started building the grandstands. The number of flagship races for the track later decreased to three.
A NASCAR-sanctioned race for November 22, 1959, was set in late August, with NASCAR executive director Pat Purcell stating that he thought that the facility would be completed within the next 60 days. In its USAC ventures, however, Indianapolis Motor Speedway superintendent Clarence Cagle recommended changes to the track to increase safety for it to have a better chance at receiving a USAC date. Construction hit its first snag when road building was delayed due to fears of explosive hazards in August. In October, 20 days of rain plagued the track's construction, with construction being left half complete. As a result, track leaders decided to postpone the race, hoping to reschedule it in December or January 1960. The race was eventually postponed to March 27, the same day as a major race for Lakewood Speedway; however, with the track still being constructed by February, leaders opted to postpone the race indefinitely.
Four months later, Art Lester replaced King as president of the facility after he obtained over $1 million in financial aid. In addition, the track was able to reschedule the NASCAR race for a July 31 date along with the addition of another unscheduled NASCAR race within the year, signing a $636,000 contract with the E. Jack Smith Construction Company to build the remainder of the track. USAC, despite encouraging words from USAC director of competition Henry Banks, reportedly refused to race at the facility unless "changes are made in the banking of the track", with USAC claiming they found "one dip especially awkward". By the end of June, while NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. was confident that the track would be ready for racing by July 31, he stated that developers had "a heck of a lot of work to do". On July 3, Furman Bisher, a writer for The Atlanta Journal, remarked that while he was able to confirm that the facility would open on time, he wrote that the facility had only built "necessary conveniences", had cost $1.8 million, and that most of its original leadership abandoned the project by its completion.
First years The first tests on the facility were run by Jack Smith on July 10, with Smith being told to sandbag the session. The facility officially opened to teams on July 25 for pre-race activities for the 1960 Dixie 300; however, the track saw immediate problems. Purcell ordered the fixing of a seven-foot flaw "between the straightaway and the pits" the same day, where no protective guardrails were installed. Rain plagued the track on the 28th, with "a bad bump in the middle groove of the first turn" being reported by drivers. To run the race, track executive Alf Lester hired 17 high school football players for a week. The race itself did not produce any major problems in the track, with a crowd of 25,000 witnessing Edwin "Fireball" Roberts winning the inaugural race. The victory was disputed by numerous drivers, most notably runner-up Cotton Owens who accused NASCAR officials of a scoring error. Bisher later criticized the facility, stating that "[nothing] was ready, there was dirt everywhere. It was like a county fair in the boondocks". Two weeks later, another annual NASCAR-sanctioned race, the Atlanta 500, was confirmed to be run in late October.
On the same day, an attempt to overthrow Lester by an opposing stockholder group led by T. Walker Jackson and A. E. Deermont was formed because they felt that "Lester is not doing a good job". Lester, who was facing his second attempt to overthrow him during his tenure, angrily stated that if he was overthrown, leadership would have to pay off an insurmountable $562,000 mortgage payment. A vote was scheduled for September 10, with Jackson claiming that their group had enough votes to sack Lester, unlike the first attempt. A lawsuit was filed on September 1 by 15 stockholders who supported Lester against five opposing stockholders who claimed that they wanted to hold a special stockholders' meeting to oust the current leadership, leading to the "endanger[ment of] the corporation's financial structure". A second lawsuit, filed by director I. C. Mitchell for libel, was made nine days later against Deermont and four other stockholders that claimed his reputation was damaged in a letter sent to 800 stockholders, which allegedly stated that Mitchell stole $100,000 in gate revenue. Although Lester was able to garner enough support by election day to retain the current administration, he decided to resign from his position, handing it to Nelson Weaver.
Renovations were steadily made during the first years. A guardrail was eventually installed by late October in time for the 1960 Atlanta 500, but parts of the track still remained unpaved. A new scoreboard, touted as the "world's most modern" by The Atlanta Journal, was installed nearly two years later. By mid-1963, after further renovations, Weaver announced that the facility was able to make $179,046 (adjusted for inflation$, ) in profit for the year, displaying financial success. In 1965, Weaver announced preliminary plans to build a $500,000 dragstrip. In 1967, rumors about the potential sale of AIR to various prospective buyers were reported, including driver and businessman Curtis Turner and then-Atlanta Braves owner William Bartholomay. Weaver later died on February 16, 1968. The day before his death, Weaver appointed Jack Black to replace his position as president of AIR.
American Raceways merger, financial troubles