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Middle Georgia Raceway

Racetrack

Middle Georgia Raceway was a half-mile paved track that opened in 1966 for $500,000. During the inaugural race, the Speedy Morelock 200, Richard Petty broke the speed record for half-mile NASCAR tracks. In front of 7,500 spectators, Petty hit a top speed of 82.023 miles per hour. He won the 100-mile event in his 1966 Plymouth. The track held nine NASCAR Grand National races from 1966 to 1971. Richard Petty won four races, Bobby Allison won three, and David Pearson and Bobby Isaac each earned one victory.

Middle Georgia Raceway
Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center via Getty Images

Less than two months before the second race, on September 23, 1967, federal agents discovered a moonshine distillery in an underground bunker next to the track at turn three. The local newspaper described it as an elaborate, sophisticated operation with two fermenting tanks totaling 3,700 gallons. The distillery produced 80 gallons of moonshine per day. A trap door inside a ticket booth led 17 feet underground to a cave where the distillery was kept. The owner at the time, Lamar Brown Jr., was arrested after the discovery. The moonshine distillery had an electric exhaust system, electric lighting, and electronic insect-repellant devices. Federal agents found out about it after a hunter smelled fumes and tipped off the authorities. Agents would typically have blown it up with dynamite but instead used acetylene torches to destroy it so the racetrack would not be damaged.

A race was held the following day. During the trial, the government produced an invoice for 24 pounds of yeast purchased by Brown 10 days before the moonshine still was discovered. Brown said he bought the yeast to make food for the racetrack concession stand. The prosecutor told the jury that 24 pounds of yeast would make enough bread to feed Atlanta for a week. Brown was the only witness for the defense and adamantly denied knowing anything about the still. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding him not guilty.

NASCAR started its 1968 and 1969 seasons at Middle Georgia Raceway. Richard Petty set the track record with a speed of 85.121 mile-per-hour in November 1968. Later that season, Bobby Isaac shattered Petty’s lap record with a 98.148 mile-per-hour lap.

Motor Speedway

Motor Speedway

Motor Speedway

Motor Speedway

Motor Speedway

Racetrack

On the weekend of July 4, 1970, the second annual Atlanta International Pop Festival was held in a soybean field adjacent to the Middle Georgia Raceway. The Allman Brothers Band from Macon, who was relatively unknown before this festival, opened and closed the show. Jimi Hendrix headlined the three-day concert and played a unique rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at midnight on the 4th of July, accompanied by a fireworks display.

Described as the “Woodstock of the South,” bands played throughout the night while over 300,000 concertgoers descended on a town with a population of 1,500. The interstate was backed up for miles in both directions. Forested areas around the festival were transformed into campgrounds. The only thing law enforcement could do about the widespread drug use and nudity was to look the other way. Ticket prices for the weekend event to see the 30 bands were $14.00, a bargain even then. Still, thousands of music lovers were outside the gates demanding the gates be opened and the festival become free, like Woodstock. Promoters and security gave in and opened the gates an hour into the opening act’s first set.

Crowd

Georgia’s Governor at the time, Lester Maddox, tried to repeatedly prevent the festival from taking place. With the help of the state legislature, restrictions were adopted to make it difficult to organize another festival of this size. A third Atlanta Pop Festival never happened. The Georgia Historical Society believes it was the largest American crowd Hendrix ever played in front of and one of his last performances before his untimely death in September 1970.

Motor Speedway

Racetrack

The final NASCAR race at the Middle Georgia Raceway was the 1971 Georgia 500, held on November 7, 1971. Even though NASCAR no longer used the track, many ASA racers of the late 1970s, like Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin raced here in amateur races. The last race of any notability was an ARCA race in 1984 that was won by Davey Allison. Middle Georgia Raceway permanently closed in 1986.

In 2011, the current owner, developer Tim Thornton, leased the track to Dodge, who used it for a Dodge Durango commercial. Dodge purchased a car locally for $2,000 and crashed it to add realism to the scenes filmed over eleven days. In the commercial, a sign stated it was the Brixton Motor Speedway. Thornton has opened the track for occasional events and reunions, but there are no plans to reopen the track. In 2019, he listed the 61-acre property for sale for $1.2 million. It is zoned general commercial and could be an industrial park or even a housing development.

Racetrack

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You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. For more abandoned places from across Georgia, check out my books Abandoned Georgia: Exploring the Peach State and Abandoned Georgia: Traveling the Backroads.

28 comments

  1. I explored this place many years ago! It was surreal to see such a place silenced. In the early 2000s, some local people sought to bring back racing to the track, but surrounding development around the track in the years since the track closed saw that never happened.

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  2. Pingback: Middle Georgia Raceway – Magic City Radar

  3. There was a time that you could wind your own hotrod through the weeds and sneak onto the track for a run, pretty sure it was in the 80s and 90s. I took my Supra out there and an older Porsche…..loved it.

    My father, Bob Moore, and many of his friends cleaned the place up a few years ago for a car show and vintage racing.

    Great hidden gem!

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    2. Hey Michael your dad was one of greatest friends ever my uncle was Doc Taylor your dad was actually one of the most important people in my life an one of the greatest racecar drivers ever how is your mom doing she one amazing person me an wife used to stop an eat an set several hours with them when they lived in Lexington place some the times

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  4. What an awesome place. We too went through the brush to get pictures on motorcycles and take a few laps. Such fun was had. With the recent release of the dvd ,ELECTRIC CHURCH, the live performance by Jimi Hendrix at the Atlanta Pop Festival a renewed interest in that concert is occurring.
    During the video the guy that recorded the video made the statement that they had footage other than just the Hendrix part. Do you think it would be possible to get him to mix up a couple of hours of that concert and bring in a big video screen and do a 50th anniversary screening there. I think it would be fun and historical.

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  5. It would be a GREAT place to get the new generation of kids off the computers and cell phones
    and let them enjoy the smell of racing gas and sounds of racing engines.They might see there in more in life than sitting on the couch.

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  6. This brings back memories for me. Back in the early eighties (before the referenced ARCA race), I accompanied a good friend and his ARCA car to Unadilla to display the car in promotion of the upcoming ARCA race. On the way back to Atlanta, we stopped at this race track for him to get some practice laps. He made the unwise decision to run tires from his previous race at Talladega, which were a harder compound, AND, the track had lots of sand on it. Unfortunately, after just a few laps, he lost control coming off turn four, and then over-corrected and went head-on into the outside wall. It bent the front frame rails, and since the car was a previous generation long wheelbase car, I don’t think it was ever rebuilt.

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  9. I really believe that this facility has lots potential. Yes there would need to be a lot of improvements but some small scale promotions could create some monies and more importantly, interest.
    I would like to see the name changed as the word “middle” is like middle of the road.
    I vote for “Byrons Grand National Speedway” This ties into its history of being having held 9 NASCAR Grand National events.
    I recently have a phone conversation with current owner Tim Thornton and he seems to be very interested in seeing the track come back to life.
    That would be GRAND !
    Reading up in its history , Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison and Bobby Issacs all won there. All the top drivers from 66 to I guess 1970 all competed there.
    I read the ASA ran some events there and that Davey Allison won an ARCA event there.
    There’s just too much energy there to see the track just sit.
    Did the old TV series “Car and Driver” tape races there ?

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      1. I must disagree about the tracks condition, it would take a lot to get it back in shape. Even it all the trees and over growth were gone, the track looks like it needs wooden bleachers built over the concrete, I am sure it needs modern restrooms, concession stands, a catch fence, guard rail around the track, surface repaved, the pit area fenced in, with restrooms, concession stand, pit office, then it needs a sound system to both the pit area and grand stand as well as a timing and scoring board. It needs a Pressbox/VIP lounge, and lighting added throughout the facility. It may need General admission booths, and fencing to the grandstands. I do not know about the parking lot, it may need to have paved access roads and gravel.
        All in all I say that maybe 3 million would be needed. But that would be a small amount compared to what you would have when that all was done, a facility worth at least 15 million if not more. Try to find a half mile track on 100 acres with such a great location and a awesome history.
        Talk about a diamond in the rough, this is it.
        Anyone interested in this project should e-mail me, danny1754@att.net.
        note: i do not own the property nor work for the owner. I am not asking for any money, just peoples interest. Thats where it has to start, people being interested.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Hey my name eddie taylor I live in Byron ga an my family has been in racing our whole life my uncle Doc ran on the dirt tracks an at middle ga raceway it was an awesome place an it really needs to be brought back to life we need to try an get people talk about it

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  10. I heard a rumor some time back that David Ragan and some of his friends had wanted to try to refurbish the track to run “legends” cars on the small track that is part of the infield and main track. Maybe something like that could be looked at also.

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  11. It wasn’t just the NASCAR Grand National series as it was known then that made the track special. There use to be weekly NASCAR Sortmen races that drew racers from Asheville, NC (Jack Ingram, Bosco Lowe, etc,), Tennessee (Friday Hasler, Bob Burcham, etc), Alabama (Bobby And Donnie Alison, etc), Florida (Paul Conners) and another that I don’t recall where he was from (Bob Leach). All the racers named were the top finishers in the weekly races. In addition to NASCAR races there were sprint car races and outlaw. I remember well as I went as a kid almost every week and especially the special races. I continued to follow the named drivers long after the track closed and one of my favorite drivers was Friday Hasler who was killed in a Daytona 500 qualifying race in 1972. The track was truly special as I grew up and remains the site of some the most enjoyable times of my youth.

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  14. Awesome shots, would love to check this track out someday and shoot some video of it. I’ve been going around shooting abandoned tracks the past few weeks and shot North Wilksboro and Rockingham last week. I’ll definitely have to add this one to the list!

    Thanks for the great content Abandoned Southeast!

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  19. Dale Jr. Is looking for old and abandoned race tracks. I wish he would bring this MIDDLE GEORGIA RACEWAY back to LIFE 🏁🏁❤️ COME ON DALE. HELP US OUT

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