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22-672: The Classic Motorsports Mitty is a classic automobile race and event held annually at the Road Atlanta race track in Braselton, Georgia . Since the inaugural event in 1977 it has grown to become one of the largest classic automobile events on the East Coast of the United States. The Mitty began in 1977 with a handful of Atlanta-area road racing enthusiasts who were looking for a safe place to exercise their cars at speed. Road Atlanta offered just

44-414: A Can-Am race had to be canceled due to flood damage, the series organizers chose Road Atlanta to replace it. The track then began to take form quickly, taking only six months to excavate, grade, and pave the road course. The first race was held on September 13, 1970. Vic Elford , in a Chaparral 2J, won pole and Tony Dean , in a Porsche 908/02 , won the 300 km Can-Am event, with Stirling Moss as

66-481: A later date) in 2006. On 14 November 2008, the directors of the Tour de Georgia announced that the 2009 race would be canceled, but that the race planned to return in 2010. The reason given was a lack of sponsorship, which had caused the Tour to seek some reductions in 2008 bills. The 2010 event was also cancelled for financial reasons, although the race's backers were aiming for the race to return in 2011. As of July 2012,

88-413: A steep climb from Turn 12 to Turn 11, and a much safer route for cycling. The October 2008 Petit Le Mans had a four-day crowd of 113,000 people with an average weekend crowd of nearly 80,000 fans. The race entry list includes a number of new and returning cars. In September 2012, the track was purchased by IMSA Holdings as part of its acquisition of Panoz Motor Sports Group. The intention was to combine

110-476: Is a gray and Aqua-blue Jersey is worn by the rider that receives the most bonus points awarded through his placing in intermediate sprints and finishing in the top 15 places at the end of the stage. The King of the Mountains Jersey is worn by current leader and overall winner by points awarded by his placing in mountain climbs. The leader wears a Georgia-inspired Peaches Theme Jersey (in substitution of

132-426: Is currently presented by Hagerty and sanctioned by Historic Sportscar Racing , an East Coast-based racing series that developed from the first Mitty and now sanctions six to 10 events each year. Road Atlanta In 1969, David Sloyer, Earl Walker, and Arthur Montgomery purchased a 750 acres (300 ha) plot of farmland in Braselton, Georgia , with the intent to build a world-class road racing facility. When

154-596: The Grand Marshal . Throughout the 1970s, more top-level series came to Road Atlanta, including Can-Am, Formula 5000 , IMSA Camel GT , and Trans-Am . The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) held their annual national championship, the SCCA Runoffs , at Road Atlanta from 1970 to 1993. The first road race in NASCAR Busch Grand National Series history took place at Road Atlanta in 1986. The track

176-519: The PlayStation game Gran Turismo 7 . The track was added to the game as part of update 1.26, which was released to mark the series' 25th anniversary. The outright unofficial all-time track record is 1:01.200, set by Marc Gené in a Ferrari F2003-GA , during a 2018 Ferrari Corsa Clienti event. As of October 2024, the fastest official race lap records at Road Atlanta for different classes are listed as: Tour de Georgia The Tour de Georgia

198-702: The Grand AM and American Le Mans Series. NASCAR K&N series has announced a return to the track in October 2013 as part of the NASCAR K&;N Pro Series East . In December 2017, the track hosted its first 24 Hours of LeMons event, the Kim Harmon Scrotium 500. The series is also scheduled to return in 2018. In 2019, the track became Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta after Michelin and IMSA Holdings announced

220-401: The United States. The stage was run using standard racing bikes instead of the more aerodynamic time trial bikes. Slipstream Chipotle won the stage with a time of 19:38.86, while Astana and Team High Road finished second and third respectively. Used in local cycling events, the circuit is run counterclockwise (in reverse), owing to safety issues from the downhill Turn 11 to Turn 12, creating

242-511: The first race of the American Le Mans Series and included a spectacular accident where a Porsche 911 GT1 backflipped and flew into the side barriers. Petit has continued to be an annual event at Road Atlanta, and a marquee event in the ALMS. Prior to the 2007 Petit Le Mans, the entire track surface was repaved. The works also included moving the walls in the esses away from the track, with

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264-466: The intention of improved driver safety and better sight lines for spectators. In the late winter of 2007–2008, the circuit was again modified with the reconfiguration of turns 4 and 12, for the ostensible safety benefit of motorcycle racers (the racing line for cars remained essentially unchanged). In April 2008, Road Atlanta hosted the 4th stage of the Tour de Georgia , one of the largest cycling stage races in

286-622: The naming rights agreement. In 2020, Michelin Raceway hosted the PNC Atlanta 10 Miler: Extreme Hill Edition and 4k Races because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The track was first included in the 1985 Commodore 64 game Racing Destruction Set . Road Atlanta is featured in the 1999 PC racing simulator Sports Car GT and the Xbox video game Forza Motorsport and all its subsequent entries. The track

308-519: The race has not been revived. This six stage event extends riders over 600 miles in six days. One ends in a steep ascent to the top of Brasstown Bald , the highest point in Georgia. As in the Tour de France , the overall leader wears a yellow jersey. The current leader and overall winner by time after each stage and at the conclusion of the race is awarded the Yellow Jersey . The Sprint Leader Jersey

330-566: The race to be held again in 2011, it has not been held since. Conceived by then-commissioner R. K. Sehgal in 2002, the race was developed by the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism (now known as the Georgia Department of Economic Development) for the benefit of the Georgia Cancer Coalition . Beginning with the 2008 race, The Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta will be

352-545: The race's official beneficiary organization. The Tour de Georgia has boosted tourism in Georgia providing 2.3 million visitors and a $ 26 million economic impact between 2003 and 2006. The race quickly generated international attention when the U.S. Postal Service cycling team began using it as part of Lance Armstrong 's preparation for the Tour de France . Armstrong rode in the race before his Tour campaigns in 2004 and 2005, and Floyd Landis won it before his Tour victory (later disallowed, along with all of Armstrongs wins at

374-510: The track was widened and resurfaced and the grounds were landscaped. In November 1996, Don Panoz purchased the track and made Braselton the base of operations for his motorsports-related ventures. Panoz introduced the first major changes to the track, removing the Dip and creating a chicane at the end of the long back straight. These changes brought the track up to FIA standards, so that international events could be held. A new pit and paddock area

396-580: The venue. The formula was an immediate success. After observing the enthusiasm for that first event, Martha Turner, then editor of the Jaguar Marque, dubbed the proceedings the great Walter Mitty Challenge after the James Thurber short story. Through the years, The Mitty has become a spring tradition in Atlanta. In 2004 Classic Motorsports magazine became the title sponsor and event co-promoter. The event

418-547: Was a U.S. professional road cycling stage race across the state of Georgia . The race began in 2003 and was contested six times until 2008. It was one of the three events in North America ranked as Hors Classe ( 2.HC ) stage race events by the UCI , which is cycling's international governing body, along with the Tour of Missouri and the Tour of California . The event was cancelled in 2009 and 2010, and despite its backers aiming for

440-507: Was also constructed on the infield side of the track, allowing for larger events, and a 10,000-seat terrace area was constructed around the new Turn 10 complex. In 1998, major racing resumed at Road Atlanta with the first edition of the Petit Le Mans endurance race . The race attracted worldwide attention, and included entries from the Le Mans -winning Porsche factory team. The race would be

462-405: Was also digitally created for Electronic Arts ' F1 series ( '01 – '02 ), then modded to be compatible with multiple PC games. Scratch-made versions of the track have also been created for rFactor , Papyrus' NASCAR Racing 2003 Season , and BeamNG.drive . It also appears in the PlayStation 2 game Le Mans 24 Hours and on iRacing.com . In November 2022, the track was added to

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484-477: Was sold in 1978, and was passed from one owner to the next—culminating in bankruptcy in 1993 under the Whittington Brothers ( Don & Bill ). Business executives Frank Drendel, Jim Kanely, Eddie Edwards, George Nuse, and Bill Waddell formed a partnership to purchase the track. They spent the next three years making gradual improvements to the facility. New buildings were constructed, others were renovated,

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