It was a place where NASCAR legends such as Richard Petty, Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherby and Buddy Baker raced, and for many years, an organization has been committed to preserving its legacy.
But with an aging membership, the Augusta International Raceway Preservation Society is looking at possibly the last of its annual Hall of Fame banquets later this month.
“I wish it had worked out because I love the place,” said Harvey Tollison, who now runs the Augusta International Raceway Preservation Society. “This track meant a lot to me because the only thing I didn’t do at that racetrack was basically to own it. I think it has been an integral part of the community for so long. A lot of people that made it big came through here. It just has a lot of history.”
The Augusta International Raceway was opened in 1960 and hosted one of the fastest road courses in the world and a half-mile dirt track, he said. It was located off Windsor Spring Road in south Augusta where the Diamond Lakes complex is now.
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The 3-mile road course hosted only one NASCAR premier series race, which was won by Fireball Roberts in 1963. According to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, six of the seven finishers in that race died in the next two years due to crashes on the track or on public road. Augusta International Raceway was closed in 1970.
Tollison worked at the track from 1964 to 1970.
Henry Jones and several racing enthusiasts started the society in the early 1990s in hope of preserving Augusta’s racing history.
Six people will be honored at this year’s Hall of Fame Banquet Oct. 21. Andy Stewart, Tommy Chapman, “the other” Junior Johnson, Walter Newman, Jack Pennington and Paul Purvis will all be inducted.
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Stewart is a local racer in the Augusta area who began racing at Gordon Park and is still racing. Tollison says Stewart has won multiple State and National Championships in dirt track racing.
Chapman is currently still involved in the racing fuel business and has been involved with stock cars and drag cars forever. according to Tollison.
Pennington is originally from Augusta and was a dirt late model driver. He was second in the Rookie of the Year Award in 1990 and was also inducted into the NASCAR Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2006.
Pervis will be receiving the Fred Harper Lifetime Achievement Award. According to Tollison, this award is given to somebody who has had a longtime commitment to the improvement of motor racing.
Tollison says while he would love to continue doing this banquet each year, he is just not in the best health and needs help.
“It would need some younger people to step forward, especially from the Gordon Park Speedway era that can carry it on, not those of us in our 70s and 80s,” he said. “We’re just not able to do it anymore. So far, it is not working. This is not the first year we inducted someone from Gordon Park Speedway.”
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What could be the final banquet will be hosted at the Doubletree by Hilton. Doors will open at 5 p.m. Awards will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. The cost for the event is $20 per person.
Tollison continues to ask support from the Augusta racing community to be able to have the event for the last time.
“Your support is needed to make this happen, one last time,” Tollison said.
Chris Rickerson is a staff reporter covering Columbia County government and general assignment topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at chris@theaugustapress.com.
