Proud Daddy

  In several conversations with Sonny Pollard since he and his family repurchased Senoia Raceway and began transforming it into one of dirt racing’s better facilities, he’s asked me: “Do you think my daddy would be proud?”

 And my answer is always: “Yes.”

 Hence Pollard died young and has been gone for years, but his influence on Georgia auto racing remains strong, and that’s a big reason he was recently elected as a member of the Class of 2023 of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. He joins long-time Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark, Hall of Fame founder Gordon Pirkle and short-track asphalt racers Bob Leach and Sandy Goss.

 On a personal note, it was Hence who helped start my career as a motorsports journalist by giving me a season pass when I was just a teenager. I tried to repay him by sending in results from the track to the old Atlanta radio stations WBIE and WPLO and to the Atlanta newspapers, and that eventually led to a career as a full-time writer.

 I still have the same desire to support his race track and the local dirt racing Hence Pollard loved, which is why I write this blog.

 But Hence’s real legacy is what his kids and grandkids have done in the sport. That’s described in his bio on the Hall of Fame ballot.

 Here’s the bio:

 

(Sonny (L) and Hence Pollard (R) sitting on the wall at Senoia Raceway, circa 1970s) 

Sonny Pollard, the current owner and promoter at Senoia, vividly recalls a time when he wasn’t yet 10 years old, riding home with his father Hence Pollard and a family friend from the races at Coweta Raceway.

“We were coming home that night and my daddy said he was going to build a race track,” Pollard said. “I didn’t know what to think.”

 But Hence Pollard, who made his living sawing timber and farming and was a successful drag racer at the old drag strip near Fairburn, pursued his stock-car dream. He and a local grading contractor, David Bishop, went to work and built a 3/8-mile dirt oval on the Pollard farm.

 They opened the track in 1969, and the Pollard family ran the track until Hence Pollard’s death in 1981 at the age of 53.

 Did Hence Pollard, a successful businessman, build Senoia Raceway to make money?”

 Sonny Pollard can answer that: “No, no, no, no,” he said. “Racing was his passion.”

  Unlike many promoters, Pollard left the business of running the pits to the people he hired. He watched the races from a fan’s perspective – from a picnic table overlooking the track.

 Pollard did step in when needed to keep his racers happy. Once, a driver down on his luck told Pollard after yet another crash that he wouldn’t be able to make the next Saturday night’s show. “How much will it cost to fix your car?” Pollard asked. The driver responded that $75 would cover it. Pollard pulled $80 from his wallet, handed it to the driver and told him he’d see him the next week.

 And he did.

 Once Georgia Racing Hall of Fame driver Mike Head missed a race because he couldn’t afford the repair bill on his engine. Pollard found out, summoned Head to his home and gave Head the money he needed to get his engine back.

 Head was loyal to Senoia Raceway for as long as the Pollards owned it.

 In recent years, Hence Pollard’s family has repurchased Senoia Raceway, sold after his death, and turned it into a dirt-track showplace. Sonny Pollard said the work he and his family have done to the facility is a way to honor his father’s memory and be able to share the family patriarch’s passion for racing with a new generation of fans.

 Hence Pollard’s legacy also includes the accomplishments of his grandchildren. Bubba Pollard is among the nation’s most successful – and most popular asphalt short track drivers. His sister Andrea is known for her skills as a tire specialist and spotter. And another grandson, Phillip Bell is an engineer with Legacy Motor Club and the No. 42 Chevrolet driven by Noah Gragson on on NASCAR’s Cup Series.

And then there’s the race track, which the Pollards operate along with several successful businesses.

 “There’s not a lot of money to be made running a race track,” Sonny Pollard said. “It’s something we love to do, just like my daddy did.” 



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