How big is atlanta motor speedway

Few who saw Atlanta Motor Speedway in its infancy would recognize the track today. Located just south of Atlanta on 850 majestic acres in Hampton, Ga., today's Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of the country's premier sports and entertainment facilities.

But it's a far cry from the structure planned in 1958.

Before construction of the proposed superspeedway had been completed, insufficient funds forced four of the five original founders to abandon ship. Dr. Warren Gremmel, Bill Boyd, Jack Black, and Art Lester joined the remaining founder, Garland Bagley, in the venture and spent $1.8 million to get the facility ready.

But ready, in this case, was a relative term.

"The track wasn't ready to be used," recalled Furman Bisher, then sports editor of The Atlanta Journal.

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"Some of the lower seats were so low fans couldn't see over the retaining wall. The only bathroom facility in the infield was a three-hole outhouse. There was mud all over. You talk about Mudville. Casey would have been right at home."

When the 1.5-mile track, then called Atlanta International Raceway,

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