Road Atlanta work to make circuit one of country's best

Web posted November 23, 1997

Associated Press

BRASELTON, Ga. - Right now it's a muddy mess.

Before the work is completed, however, Road Atlanta will be one of the best - and safest - road racing circuits in the world. With some tough negotiating ahead, it also could become home to CART Indy-car and FIA Formula One races.

But that's the future. Right now, the certainty is that Road Atlanta, which always has been known in American road racing circles as a diamond in the rough, is about to have some of that roughness smoothed away.

The man making it possible is Don Panoz, a wealthy entrepreneur who made a fortune in the pharmaceuticals business and has gone on to numerous other businesses.

His latest project stems from the Chateau Elan resort and winery he began developing on 3,100 acres about 30 miles from Atlanta, in the lush north Georgia foothills.

The resort, which includes two championship golf courses, a spa and a gated community with homes ranging to $1 million, was the catalyst for the modernization and expansion of Road Atlanta, which is about five miles from Chateau Elan.

``I guess you know that the track has had a checkered career over the year,'' Panoz said. ``I'm in business here and I was concerned with the image it was projecting just down the road from what we're doing here at Chateau Elan.

``I wanted to present the right image. The additional business effectively coordinates right in with what we do here, and I felt that it would be an advantage for us and we could be an advantage for the track.''

It also fits in with two other new businesses that Panoz has gotten involved in, thanks to son Danny.

The younger Panoz started Panoz Auto Development, a maker of limited production, high-performance sports cars, and Panoz Motorsports, which builds sports cars to compete in international road racing. The headquarters for both companies are just down the road from the resort and the track.

``I wasn't a motor sports follower when we got into the GT1 thing,'' Don Panoz said. ``It's my son who has gotten us involved in this, and it's an obvious extension of what we were already doing in the car business.''

Road Atlanta, which international racing officials have said was too dangerous and which has never been able to run in the black in its 28-year history, is getting a complete face lift.

``Our goal is to make Road Atlanta the premier road racing facility in North America,'' said Jim Selwa, chief operating officer of Panoz Motorsports and the man in charge of the project.

The renovation includes major changes to the track, including altering the signature tunnel turn on the 2.5-mile circuit.

``By changing the entry to the tunnel, drivers will be able to go straight through it instead of having to turn to get through,'' Selwa said. ``The downhill part of the track after the tunnel has always had a big dip that got a lot of drivers. We're going to keep the dip, but fill it in enough to take some of the danger out of it.

``The other big thing for competition,'' he added, ``is that we're moving the pit lane to the inside of the track. The entrance will be just past the tunnel and it will be out of the racing line. The old pit entrance, on the other side of the track, was practically in the racing line and real dangerous.

``We're also building a concrete wall all the way around the track and leveling off the land and putting gravel traps in all the runoff areas. It's going to be a completely FIA-approved track.''

Selwa estimated the work already planned will cost $30 million, with maybe another $5 million for engineering and additional track work by the time the project is finished in April 1999.

``Up until now, Road Atlanta was perceived as a club racing venue,'' Don Panoz said. ``We think we can make it into a world-class race track.''

Panoz, who doesn't like to do things halfway, has one other racing goal right now.

``We want to be the first American team to win the 24 Hours of LeMans in many years, and I think we can do it this year,'' he said. ``We went last year with three new cars and learned the ropes and showed we can be competitive.

``This time, we're going there to win it.''