The Atlanta Speedway Pt 3: Trouble at the Track

Edward Durant (L) and Asa Candler, Jr. (R)

I’ve published the next chapter in my series about the Atlanta Speedway. This entry covers the dramatic events that immediately followed the Fall 1909 inaugural races. Like the Legend of the Merry Widow, this is another one of my favorite stories that I discovered in my research. My favorite episodes are usually the ones that required significant cross-referencing and compiling from a multitude of sources in order to isolate the true version of events, and this one fulfilled that criteria.

The trouble that followed the 1909 races precipitated the downfall of the Atlanta Speedway, but much of the information about what happened was widely dispersed across auto racing publications, gossip rags, and archives of the defunct Atlanta Georgian newspaper. The Digital Library of Georgia ‘s historic newspaper database proved to be the most valuable source. And given how easily records of this publication could have been lost, I’m immensely grateful to the University System of Georgia for ensuring its preservation.

I hope you enjoy the he-said, he-said drama of two grown men squabbling over auto racing as much as I do.