As a result of petitioning from Pickens County officials, legislation that would allow for vehicle racing on Georgia’s public roads during special events has recently been introduced to the General Assembly.
If the bill is signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue, Pickens will see the return of a historic road-racing event as early as spring of 2011.
According to local officials, the proposed racing event has big potential to attract tourism and all the economic benefits that come along with it at a time when economic opportunities are few and far between.
“What we want to do, if the legislation passes, is build events around it that weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” said Pickens County Economic Developer Gerry Nechvatal. “This has the potential to be one of the largest draws in the area.”
Members of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) who were interested in bringing the 50’s-era Burnt Mountain Hill Climb back to the Pickens community approached local officials in 2009.
SCCA’s Central Carolinas Region Southwest Chapter Chairman Ted Theodore zeroed in on Pickens while conducting research for his book on hill climbing in the southeastern United States. He discovered an old newspaper article with a photo of the 1952 Burnt Mountain Hill Climb winner Harvey Harbour, pictured with his Porsche at the site of the old Archer Motor Court that was demolished to make room for Walgreens Drugstore in Jasper.
“I have been researching hill climbs in the southeastern U.S.,” Theodore said during a September meeting in Pickens. “I guess we saw what they were doing overseas, and we wanted to get in on the fun. But I came across that article and thought it would be neat to bring this event back to Pickens.”
Hill climbs pit drivers against the clock, one at a time, in a short uphill race.
Members of the Sport’s Car Club of America conducted trial runs at the proposed Pickens race site last year.
At the time, county officials including Commissioner Rob Jones and Sheriff Donnie Craig were uncertain about how the current state law, which forbids racing on public roads, could be sidestepped to allow for the event.
During the September meeting between local officials and members of the SCCA, it was suggested that an act be passed at the state level that would temporarily allow for racing on public roads.
Pickens County officials then approached Sen. Chip Pearson, who represents Pickens County in Senate District 51. Pearson got behind the bill and rallied support from other Georgia lawmakers.
“Sen. Jim Butterworth actually introduced the legislation, because Sen. Pearson had such a heavy legislative load,” Nechvatal said. “But [Butterworth] saw the value of the events and wanted to get involved as well.”
Along with Sen. Butterworth and Pearson, Georgia senators Bill Heath, Dan Moody, Preston Smith and Jeff Mullis have also sponsored the bill.
According to Nechvatal, there were concerns among some state lawmakers that racing on public roads would create an issue of public safety.
Nechvatal, accompanied by Pickens County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ernie McArthur, recently addressed the Senate Public Safety Committee at the state capitol.
“The Sheriff’s Office supports this,” McArthur told the Progress last Monday. “We saw the economic vehicle that it could be, but I think there is just some misunderstanding about what this bill is. This isn’t going to let Bubba Bob and Cletus zip up and down Main Street.
“The only way the Sherriff’s Office would condone this is with the organization by sanctioning bodies. [The SCCA] does events like this all the time. They set up the courses and have professional drivers…you can’t just pay 20 bucks to participate.”
McArthur also said the Sheriff’s Office is committed and more than capable of providing law enforcement the weekend of the event.
According to Nechvatal, the SCCA also holds insurance to cover events they host.
As of March 22, SB 345 had been passed and adopted by the state senate and was making its way through the house.
The version of the bill as passed by the senate temporarily allows racing when the race is “held on a county or municipal road when the race is sanctioned by the county or municipality and the road is closed to other traffic during the race.”
The most recent version of SB 345 also specifies that notification of the race should be published in the county’s legal organ at least one month beforehand and also that emergency personnel must have access to the road at all times. |
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