Jack Jackson was always a driver to beat at the Peach Bowl. Here he is beside his most well-known racer in 1954 – Photo courtesy GARHOFA
by Derek Jackson
The Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association held their 36th Annual Peach Bowl Speedway Reunion at the American Legion Post 216 in Austell, Georgia. For the 36th straight year, former drivers, officials, fans and racing aficionados gathered together to remember and reminisce about one of the most important and historic tracks in Georgia racing history. The annual Peach Bowl Reunion was held at the American Legion Post 216 in Austell Georgia, some 50+ years after the final race at the legendary quarter-mile track was run.
While the racetrack has been closed for over 50 years, it lives on within the memory of those who raced there and the fans who attended the races at night. Today, it would be rare to not have lights at any sporting complex, but in post war America the number of racetracks that could operate at night was extremely few and far between.
Unlike other stock car tracks of the era like the one-mile Lakewood Speedway south of town, the Peach Bowl was a bullring right in the heart of the city that hosted races every week. Many tracks of the time would host only special big races every so often, or even once a month. The Peach Bowl at one time, ran as many as three nights a week. It was a place where numerous future hall of famers cut their teeth into the sport of stock car racing.
The track was constructed right in the heart of Atlanta on the corner of Brady Avenue & Howell Mill, not far from the downtown area. It was built by Roy Shoemaker, who would own the speedway through the next 21 years. After an initial year of running only Midget Cars, NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. leased the track for the next two years bringing stock cars to the track for the first time. NASCAR’s sportsman division ran there, and France was instrumental in the track being converted from dirt to asphalt.
In 1952, Shoemaker took back over as promoter, a position he would hold until 1970. Over the next 18 years, the Peach Bowl played host to virtually every kind of auto racing, with the exception of sprint and Indy cars. Stock cars, modifieds, Grand National Sportsman, jalopies and NASCAR convertibles were among the types of cars to compete at the track.
Hall of Famer Bob Flock would claim victory in the first stock car race at the track in April 1950. What transpired almost immediately, was an influx of cars built with the Peach Bowl in mind. Those seasoned racers who preferred the ’39 Fords on the ½ mile and mile tracks, now were building smaller, lighter coupes of 1928-1934 vintage just for the Peach Bowl.
Jack Jackson, a pioneer stock car racer of Atlanta and former track champion, raced with the best of them across three decades. He undoubtedly was one of the last ones that could say they raced against those legends such as Gober Sosebee, Charlie Mincey, the Flock Brothers, Jerry Wimbish, Roscoe Thompson, Jack Smith, Billy Carden, Charlie Bagwell, Ed Samples and Jack Smith among others. All now members of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.
In 1988, while attending a funeral for a friend and former racer, there were numerous old racers that stood in the parking lot of the funeral home afterwards to swap old racing tales. This led Jack to think that he only saw his old racing comrades at funerals. He decided to plan a more pleasant meeting and in January of 1990, he brought together just under 50 former racers of the Peach Bowl Speedway at a local BBQ restaurant.
The next year invitations were sent out to crewmen, mechanics, officials, owners, racers and their families and would meet at a rented-out sports bar. The Peach Bowl Reunion quickly grew to a must attend event if you were a Georgia Racing History fan. The reunion was held at its original locale until 2010 when it moved to its current location at the American Legion Post 216 in Austell, Ga.
Jack Jackson was the sole planner and organizer of the reunion for 35 years, minus a year for Covid. The track was only in existence for 22 years. At its peak, over 200 people attended his Peach Bowl Reunion. Comprised of those who competed there every week and those born years after the track closed. Even at 96 years old, he could tell you who he outran on track 70 years prior. He was inducted into the 2008 class to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame amongst many of his fellow foes, friends and competitors. Even today, you can visit the Hall of Fame in Dawsonville Ga and see a few of Jack’s racing accomplishments on display, including his 1953 Peach Bowl Championship trophy.
Jack Jackson wrote a guest column for Motorsport America in 2018, saying: “I cannot stress the importance of this tiny track in downtown Atlanta. In the lobby of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville there is a 5×9 foot wall plaque with 360 names on it dedicated to the drivers of the Peach Bowl Speedway. These names were taken from the Atlanta newspapers and represents only a partial list of those that actually raced there. All the drivers I listed as my heroes have been inducted into the Georgia Hall of Fame. Of the first 40 inductees, 25 had a connection to the Peach Bowl Speedway”.
But each year, those that remember the Peach Bowl get together to remember the speedway, the people and the great times they had at the corner of Brady & Howell Mill. In 1990, former track champion Jack Jackson, organized a get together of old friends to swap stories and memories. The reunion has been going on longer than the track was in existence for. Jack Jackson has been kept the memory of the old Peach Bowl Speedway alive, and the Peach Bowl Reunion today lives on in his honor. It’s in large part to Jack, that racing reunions in general are a thing today.
Here’s a look at some of the sights from this year’s Peach Bowl reunion:
The Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame Association holds its annual reunion the last Sunday in January at the America Legion Post 216 in Austell, Georgia.
Motorsport America would like to thank Cody Dinsmore of Peach State Speed.com, the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame and Georgia Racing History.com for their contributions to this article.
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