Few who saw Atlanta Motor Speedway in its infancy would recognize the track today.
Situated on 870 acres in Hampton, Ga., just 25 miles south of Atlanta, today's Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of NASCAR's most sought-after destinations.
But it's far from what Walker Jackson, Lloyd Smith, Garland Bagley, Ralph Sceiano and Ike Supporter envisioned when they planned the speedway in 1958. Before construction of the proposed superspeedway had been completed, insufficient funds forced four of the founders to abandon ship. Dr. Warren Gremmel, Bill Boyd, Jack Black and Art Lester joined Bagley in the venture and spent $1.8 million to get the facility ready.
Ready, in this case, was a relative term. Some of the seats were so low fans couldn't see over the retaining wall. The only bathroom facility in the infield was a three-hole outhouse. There was mud all over.
When the 1.5-mile track, then called Atlanta International Raceway, finally made its debut on July 31, 1960, it became the seventh superspeedway -- a paved facility of 1 mile or more -- to host a Cup race.
The track's future was hazy in the 1960s and '70s, when it suffered several financial setbacks. The track was recognized under Chapter 10 bankruptcy proceedings in the 1970s and went through several general managers before settling down with Walt Nix, who served as general manager for much of the next two decades except for a brief period when current NASCAR president Mike Helton was in charge.
Despite the great racing and national attention, Atlanta International Raceway was still a meager facility struggling to get by.
Bruton Smith changed all that when he purchased Atlanta International Raceway on Oct. 23, 1990, and renamed the facility Atlanta Motor Speedway. A year later, the addition of the East Turn Grandstand expanded the seating capacity by 25,000, and the 30 suites that rimmed the top gave the track a high-class look.
Under Smith's stewardship, Atlanta Motor Speedway has undergone massive expansion.
In 1994, Tara Place, the nine-story building that houses 46 luxury condominiums, Tara Ballroom, the speedway office complex and more luxury suites opened, as did the adjacent Tara Clubhouse. A year later, the North Turn Grandstand opened, and in 1997, the Champions Grandstand was added, and the total of luxury suites was increased to 137.
When the Champions Grandstand was built, the start/finish line was moved from the west to the east side of the track, and two doglegs were added to the frontstretch to form a 1.54-mile quad-oval, which replaced the original oval. The only reminders of the track that used to be are the suite tower and the Weaver Grandstand, which are now situated on the backstretch.
In 2005, an F2 tornado blazed through the track, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage less than four months before that year's fall race. Miraculously, the track was more than ready for that October race, and it went off without a hitch.
In 2006, more than 13,000 seats were added with the building of Winners Grandstand in Turn 1, as well as new luxury seating called Club One and the East Turn grandstand was renamed the Elliott grandstand. Additionally, more than 90 motorcoach parking spaces were added along the backstretch, strengthening the fan-centric atmosphere of AMS.
