That 1992 race also stands out as the last race ever for The King, Richard Petty, as well as the first race for the skinny kid from Indiana, Jeff Gordon, who would go on to be known as Wonder Boy—and who would also go on to win 81 races (and counting) and four Winston Cup championships.
Atlanta has seen the best of the best race like no other place. Today, we hear so much grumbling about cookie-cutter tracks and how racing is boring and uncompetitive. But how often does someone make those kinds of disparaging remarks about AMS? Rarely, because this place was built for good racing and is known for good racing. It would be a travesty to see all that good racing and so many good memories go by the wayside—or be shuffled off to Kentucky or Sin City.
It’s a shame that the city of Atlanta hasn’t gotten behind saving AMS. Sure, the track sits in Hampton, Ga., about 20 miles from the Atlanta city limits, but this is as much a tradition and attraction as Olympic Park in downtown is.
Atlanta Motor Speedway IS Atlanta. It MEANS Atlanta and it means great racing. It has a spirit that is unflagging. I mean, remember what happened a couple of years ago? A tornado came through Hampton and did millions of dollars of damage to the race track, all but wiping out its condo building of suites. Less than three months later, all the damage was repaired and the place never looked better.
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It’s that kind of can-do spirit that has marked AMS over the years. It might take a punch and fall, but it always picks itself up.
But this time, it’s in the fight of its life. Sure, even if the spring race is taken away, there’ll still be the fall race, right? Well, not exactly.
NASCAR shifted the race, traditionally in late October, to Labor Day weekend this year to see if it can help fix that race date’s attendance issues as well. We’ll have a race under the lights on a holiday weekend. If that doesn’t draw fans back, nothing will.
And if the spring race does leave here and the fall-turned-late summer race continues to have problems putting fans in the stands, AMS runs a true risk of going the same route as North Wilkesboro and Rockingham—right off the NASCAR schedule for good.
No more two races, not even one race. No races. Think about it: How could that happen to what once was one of the crown-jewel facilities of stock car racing?
That’s why I encourage all of you on Sunday to show NASCAR that AMS needs to keep both races, but especially the spring event (yes, I know, it’s actually still late winter).
On Saturday night, we turn our clocks ahead one hour to take advantage of Daylight Savings Time. The last thing I want to see is that, come Sunday, we turn our attention off of Atlanta Motor Speedway for the last time.
So don’t come running to me five years from now, lamenting about what used to be at AMS. For if we fail to support Sunday’s race and the late summer race, NASCAR might have no choice but to take one or even both dates away and give them to places that are starved for more racing.
If that happens, we’ll have no one else to blame but ourselves—and don’t say I didn’t tell you so.
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