Newton County Drag Strip/Atlanta Speed Shop Dragway (Covington)

Some called this strip the Hub, since it sat two miles southeast of Hub Junction on Highway 229, eight miles southeast of Covington. Incorporation papers for Newton County Drag Strip were filed on September 3, 1959, and it opened under NHRA sanction with its first race on November 26, 1959. Hoyt Grimes won top eliminator in his blown Chrysler dragster with a 9.83 at 153 mph. Races ran on the fourth Sunday of each month. Bennell Myers booked Don Garlits for April 2, 1961, and late in 1962 Sneaky Pete Robinson defended his number one Drag News ranking there against Jack Chrisman. The track took the name Atlanta Speed Shop Dragway in 1964, and from 1964 to 1972 it hosted one of the richest drag races in the country, with a $10,000 purse.

The old strip is now Ewing Road, the main street through a housing subdivision in today’s Mansfield or Social Circle area. To find it, take 278 east out of Covington, turn right on Old Hwy 229, and Ewing Road is on the left after a mile or two. The overgrown old entrance is just before the turn. Terry Ozburn, who grew up on the farm across the street, remembered Trent Costley, Hulon Hodges running the concession stands, and the time the small spectator bleachers collapsed and hurt some people. He said some of the best drivers in NHRA history raced there.