GEORGIA (USA)
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1959 - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY COMPLEX
Planning and construction of the eight track venue commenced in 1959.
Henry T Jones feature
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1959 - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY ORIGINAL PLANS
However over the initial years the plans were changed as the venue was built.
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1960 - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY OPENS
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Covering 1,100 acres, Billed as the largest motor sports venue in the world at the time, The venue was opened to the public on the 1st of May 1960.
The developers of the venue consisted of three men, One of these being Glenn "Fireball" Roberts who was a well respected NASCAR driver, Roberts received his nickname "Fireball" not from speedway but from his earlier days playing Baseball.
The first tracks built were the sealed quarter mile Drag Strip, with state of the art timing and a full sealed return road.
A 1/5 mile Go Kart track.
A 1/8 mile track built especially for Micro Midgets.
The Motorcycle Scramble track was also ready, All the other projects were either under construction or still in the planning stages.
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1963 - Harold Peden with Marshall Spray and NASCAR champ Glenn " fireball " Roberts.
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1960's - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY 1/2 MILE DIRT OVAL
The 1/2th mile dirt oval speedway track started life as a dirt circuit. The first meeting held on the track was a motorcycle meeting.
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1962 - NED JARRETT
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1962 - Track Official Marshall Spray chats with NASCAR driver Ned Jarrett.
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1963 - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY 3 MILE CIRCUIT
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1962 - Prior to the building of the 3 mile road race circuit is Marshall Spray with the Pontiac pace car.
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1963 - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY AUGUSTA 510
The NASCAR "Augusta 510" was run for the first time on the three mile road race circuit in November of 1963, Six of the top seven finishers would not survive to start the next NASCAR season, The sole survivor was Ned Jarrett.
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Glenn " Fireball " Roberts wins the 1963 Augusta 510 only to loose his life in a crash in 1964.
Joe Weatherly's Mercury after rolling over in the 1963 event, Joe would die in a crash a few months later at riverside.
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1964 - GLENN " FIREBALL " ROBERTS DIES
Developer and partner of the Augusta International Speedway Glenn "Fireball" Roberts was involved in a firey crash at the Charlotte Speedway in 1964, Roberts car spun backwards in the track fence at high speedway when he was trying to avoid a group of cars in a crash.
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Wittneses reported that Roberts screamed for help to his good mate and fellow driver Ned Jarret while trapped inside the firey wreck, Fire crews managed to put out the fire and remove Roberts from the car, He was taken to hospital with burns to eighty present of his body, Initial feelings were he was going to make a recovery, But complications set in when the fire retardend used effected his lungs.
Glenn "Fireball" Roberts died five days later in hospital.
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1964 - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
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1965 - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY - AUGUSTA 200
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1966 - AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY - AUGUSTA 200
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AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL DRAGSTRIP
Part of the venue was a 1/4 mile drag strip that was built next to the 1/2 mile oval speedway circuit, The strip also served as an airstrip.
Art Afron's jet powered Green monster at the Augusta International dragstrip.
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AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY MICRO MIDGET TRACK
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AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY KART CIRCUIT
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AUGUSTA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY MOTORCYCLE TRACK
A motorcycle track was added to the venue between the Kart track and the 1/2 mile speedway.
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Six of the eight proposed tracks were completed, The Hydro Plane racing on the lake and the two mile tri oval were not completed, Other activities such as football and horse racing never came to fruition as the complex closed in 1970 after ten years of operation.
The golf course was started but never finished, Some of future plans were scraped after the death of Glenn "Fireball" Roberts.