In 1916, the city of Atlanta chose the 375-acre
Lakewood Park as the site for an agricultural fair. As a part of
the Southeastern Fairgrounds, the organizers constructed a
one-mile dirt horse track on the perimeter of the fairground’s
lake. For the 4th of July 1917 the fairgrounds hosted its first
horse race and then its first motorcycle race. Attendance was
reported to have exceeded 23,000. The following week the track
hosted its first automobile race drawing a crowd in excess of
15,000. Thru the 1920s and 1930s, the American Automobile
Association held automobile races at Lakewood on the Fourth of
July, and the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA)
held automobile races during the fair scheduled dates.
In
1938, Lakewood hosted Indy cars, modifieds, stock cars, midgets,
motorcycles, horses, and even boats in the infield lake.
Lakewood became known as the Indianapolis of the South and
boasted being the largest track in the south. Crowds reached the
30,000 mark. Races were sanctioned by the Central States Auto
Racing Association, the International Stock Car Racing
Association, the Motor Internationale Association, the Atlantic
States Racing Association, and the Gulf States Automobile
Association. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the
National Office of Defense Transportation banned motorized
sporting events due to a shortage of material. Lakewood Speedway
would remain quiet for 4 years before racing would return.
Lakewood hosted its first NASCAR Grand National event on
November 11, 1951. Tim Flock scored the win in the first NASCAR
Grand National Division Lakewood 100 driving a Hudson.
Lakewood’s final NASCAR Grand National event was held on June
14, 1959 with Lee Petty winning the Lakewood 150 driving a
Plymouth. The Atlanta International Speedway, a 1.5-mile asphalt
oval was opened in Hampton, Georgia in 1960, and the new venue
began to drain on Lakewood’s appeal. Lakewood Speedway saw
significant improvements and resurfacing in 1967. The track
officially closed on September 3, 1979.
Lakewood Amphitheater now sits on the old fairground site.
Many of the fairgrounds original buildings now house flea market
vendors. The concrete grandstands on the front straightaway
still remain albeit covered in grass and hedges. The
Amphitheater parking lot covers what once was the third and
fourth turns. A roadway to the Amphitheater crosses what was
Turn Two. The front straightaway is now paved and is used as a
part of the road leading out to Lakewood Avenue. Most of the
Fairground’s lake has been filled in, and only a small pond in
the old Turn One area remains to hint of the original lake.
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