Atlanta Motor Speedway - Atlanta Motor Speedway

Few who saw Atlanta Motor Speedway in its infancy would recognize the track today. A majestic structure situated on 870 acres in Hampton, Ga., just 25 miles south of Atlanta, today's Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of the country's top sports, corporate, family and entertainment facilities.

But it's a far cry from the structure planned in 1958 by Walker Jackson, Lloyd Smith, Garland Bagley, Ralph Sceiano and Ike Supporter. 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.

"The track wasn't ready to be used," recalled Furman Bisher, then sports editor of The Atlanta Journal and now The Atlanta Constitution's senior sports columnist. "Some of the lower 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. You talk about Mudville. Casey would have been right at home."