Enthusiasts prepare tribute day
Tn enthusiasts group is preparing to commemorate the historic Augusta International Raceway with the unveiling of a memorial stone.
A tribute to the 3-mile road course in Georgia, USA, is to be unveiled on September 11 on the site of the racing circuit, now being transformed into a country park.
The Augusta International Raceway Preservation Society will place a six-foot tall granite memorial at the Diamond Lakes Regional Park to remember Augusta's auto racing heritage.
The park uses the old circuit as access roads, and the monument will eventually stand in the courtyard of a library facility, on the spot of the old circuit's pit lane.
The society raised $5,000 for the memorial stone, in a bid to preserve the memory of a circuit that hosted one Nascar race and two United States Road Racing Championship races.
Among those expected to attend the unveiling ceremony on Saturday are Ted Tidwell, an Augusta native, and Rex White, the 1960 NASCAR Grand National champion.
The base of the monument will eventually name all of the racers who once graced the circuit, while the other five tracks that once made up the speedway will also be remembered in separate memorials.
But preservation society founder Henry Jones is determined that any future activities will be strictly-non commercial.
"This thing has not and will not be commercialized," he said. "When you go there (to see the memorial), there are not going to be a bunch of banners hanging around. It's not about anyone making money."
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