Built in 1969, Road Atlanta epitomizes the saying, “They don’t make ’em like they used to.” While modern-day track designers try to jam as many corners into their land allotment as possible, Road Atlanta was built back in the era when it was okay for racecars to go fast. In the original layout, there was only one tight corner – Turn 7 – and 11 medium-to very-high-speed corners, with one long straightaway along the way. The most treacherous section of the track was a very fast corner known as “The Dip.”
As a kid watching the SCCA Runoffs back in the ’80s, I saw “The Dip” in person but was a little too young to appreciate it. Several years later I got another chance to check out this legendary piece of asphalt when I went to watch my dad race a GTP car there in 1990, but his co-driver totaled the car in the first practice session and I never ventured past the paddock before we were on the road home. When I started my racing career as a student at Skip Barber, I was eager to drive Road Atlanta. But before I got the chance, “The Dip” was replaced by Turn 10a/10b. While I will always wonder what Road Atlanta was like for the drivers I watched growing up, I realize that we now have a safer place to race and the current layout offers us racers a new set of challenges.
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