Trackside with Rick Minter

   For a lot of us, race tracks big and small are much more than just pieces of real estate. They’re special places in our hearts, and just thinking about them evokes fond memories.  Some of my favorite tracks are gone or have uncertain futures.  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the old West Atlanta Raceway in Douglasville, especially after one of its best promoters, the late Ed Massey, was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame last week.  West Atlanta was one of my favorites. It was on the ropes for a time after Massey’s tenure there before former Senoia Raceway owner Charlie Edwards bought it and gave it new life as Seven Flags Speedway. But that didn’t last. With residential growth closing in, complaints from neighbors and rising real estate values, it was eventually sold for development and bulldozed beyond recognition.  On the NASCAR circuit, North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham was one of my favorites. For a time it hosted the second Cup race of the year. My buddy M

   Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are one of my favorite parts of sports, especially racing. Those ceremonies are a way to cement the legacy of those who have once heard the cheers of adoring fans from Saturday night short tracks to superspeedways across America.  On Saturday, the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville will induct its 2022 class. After holding inductions since 2002, one might think the Hall might be running out of deserving candidates.  Instead the opposite seems true. Every year, more qualified candidates are added to the ballot.  Some of the inductees have been on the ballot for a long time but have been overlooked by voters while others were a long time getting nominated, for one reason or another.  I was particularly happy to see Dale Singleton finally voted in. For those who don’t know, he was one of the most successful independent motorcycle racers ever.  The Dalton native twice won the prestigious Daytona 200, outrunning the factory-backed teams

   Charlie Loudermilk, best known for his founding of the Aaron’s Rents company and his philanthropy, died this week at the age of 95.  You may be wondering at this point why you’re reading about Mr. Loudermilk in a racing blog. Well here’s why.  I got to know Mr. Loudermilk through Tom Beard, one of the co-owners of the old MB2 race team that once fielded cars in the Cup Series. Mr. Loudermilk’s company was a big NASCAR sponsor at that time, but the company president, Ken Butler, was the face of the sponsorship for most fans and those in the industry.  Tom kept insisting that I needed to get to know Mr. Loudermilk so I drove up to Atlanta and went to lunch with them.  The first thing I found out was that Mr. Loudermilk was way smarter about modern-day racing than I ever imagined.  He seemed to have a pretty good eye for driving talent or lack of it, even though he didn’t get involved in the day-to-day decision making at the teams his company sponsored. I learned he wasn’t