Larry Fleming: NGS going back to its racing roots

They’re about to crank up their engines in Chatsworth. Venerable North Georgia Speedway, a dirt-track racer favorite for decades, is under new management and partners Timmy Millwood and Tom Peters, both with racing experience, are promising more races and a more fan-friendly environment.

Anything would be better than the Monty Morrow-directed operation over the past couple of years. Morrow, who also promotes the Cleveland (Tenn.) Speedway, almost destroyed the Chatsworth operation. Morrow had only five or six races at North Georgia last spring and summer. Fans and drivers are sure to welcome Millwood and Peters with open arms.

In a phone conversation on Saturday, Peters said a 26-race schedule is in place and will get under way on March 27. Gates will open at 5 p.m. and racing begins at 7:30 p.m.

“We’re giving a commitment of our time and money to make sure guys have a full schedule and we’ll run every Saturday night,” Peters said.

To give drivers a chance to get a few laps in, Peters said a full practice event will be held on Saturday, with the gates opening at 5 p.m. and practice starting at 6 p.m. That day will also provide fans the chance to see upgrades that have already been made at the one-third mile oval track located a few miles south of Chatsworth on Highway 225.

In addition to the weekly racing cards, Peters said the Southern Regional Racing Series will make at least three stops at NGS, the first scheduled for April 3. The Southern All-Stars will be in Chatsworth for a $5,000 Late Model event on May 8 and the Volunteer Racing Series has two $3,000 races slated for May 29 and Sept. 4.

Millwood and Peters have been racing partners for about 10 years. Peters owned a race team and Millwood drove for him, and they frequently raced at North Georgia, Dixie and Rome speedways over the years.

Peters was a Hobby Division points champion in 2008 at NGS and Millwood has been track champion at the Dixie and Rome tracks.

But they gladly gave up racing to run NGS and have a four-year contract, with a four-year option.

“We won’t be racing for a while,” Peters said.

The partners, Peters said, are confident of turning the track operation around after Morrow made it a stepchild to his operation in Cleveland. Morrow kept Cleveland on a preferred Saturday night schedule and moved NGS to Friday, and eventually practically shut down the track last summer.

Now, NGS will be in direct competition with Morrow’s Cleveland operation and drivers miffed at Morrow are likely to flock to Chatsworth and away from Cleveland.

Peters said new lighting has been installed, the facility has a new coat of paint and they’re even going to schedule a few bicycle races during the summer for youngsters.

They’ve dropped ticket prices a bit as well. Grandstand seating is $10, down from $12 and pit tickets were dropped from $22 to $20.

“We’re encouraging race fans to come out and give us a try,” said Peters, a commercial real estate developer. “We’re optimistic about what we’re doing and we have financial backing behind us. We’ll put on a good show for everybody.”

Millwood is a race car fabricator by trade.

• Dalton native Lindsey Martin, a 2007 graduate of Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, has become the first swimmer at Davidson College to compete in the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18-20. A junior, Martin will compete in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events at Purdue University’s Boilermaker Aquatic Center.

At the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association Championships in February, Martin won her three specialty events — she has the school record in all three distances — and anchored the winning 200 and 400 relay teams. Her winning time of 22.57 seconds in the 50 free set a league record. She earned the meet’s Women’s Most Outstanding Swimmer award.

Martin was captain of the GPS swim team and a National Merit semifinalist.

Larry Fleming is sports editor of The Daily Citizen. You can write him at larryfleming@daltoncitizen.com

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