Big A Dragway (Abbeville)

Big A Dragway was on the Old Fort Gaines Highway northeast of Abbeville, four miles out by one account and about five by another. Marvin Turner built it on his own land in the 1960s, and the first race was held on June 7, 1964. That year Steve Honnell brought his 1964 Ford Thunderbolt, “War Eagle,” out for its first race there and beat Jack Cooley’s 1963 Chevy Z-11 in a best-of-three match race.

Bill Connell ran the strip in 1966. Local racer Joe Fred Creel ran it several different times, and Ellis Milner, Charlie Pepper, Rickey Smith and Monty Todd also ran there at times. A man named Ken said his father owned the Big A two or three separate times and was briefly part owner of the Albany, Georgia, strip with “Big Daddy” Ellis Milner. Ken spent nearly every weekend there from birth to about age 10, until his parents split and his father let the track go in the divorce. Robert Simpson announced there in the late 1970s. On September 2, 1979, a car driven by Buster Milner veered into the crowd and injured twelve spectators.

When Ken drove by a few years back, the place was overgrown. The paved part of the strip is now the driveway to a house.