Dawsonville racing museum headed into foreclosure

DAWSONVILLE - When the sparkling new auto racing museum ThunderRoad USA opened in May 2002, civic pride soared in Dawsonville.

ThunderRoad was to be a huge tourist attraction in an area that claims to be the birthplace of stock car racing and is the home of NASCAR driver Bill Elliott known by fans as ``Awesome Bill from Dawsonville.''

A study projected more than a quarter-million fans would visit the museum in its first year.

Instead, 48,000 showed up.

ThunderRoad USA owned by an authority created by the city and Dawson County has revved up a debt of more than $10 million, creating another awesome bill.

The museum which includes Georgia's Racing Hall of Fame, memorials to NASCAR greats, interactive games, a track for remote-controlled cars, racing simulators, a theater, a gift shop and a diner was built for $12.2 million.

ThunderRoad was put up for sale at the end of this summer, but drew no offers.

Dragging more than $10 million in unpaid loans guaranteed by the federal government, the museum is headed into foreclosure.

``That will clear the title and I imagine there will be people waiting on the sidelines, hoping to be able to buy it for about 40 to 50 cents on the dollar,'' said General Manager Tom French.

Like mechanics working over a troublesome engine, everyone seems to have an opinion about what went wrong: It was a bad time to open (eight months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001); the economy was in the dumper; tourism was down; the feasibility study was flawed; the local funding got cut.

``It's a blaming game now,'' said Gordon Pirkle, godfather of Dawson County racing history, owner of the famed Dawsonville Pool Room and chairman of the board that oversees the museum.

``Maybe it was too big of a project for a community this small,'' said Linda Williams, head of the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce.

Funding was clearly one of the difficulties.

The first year, the museum got all of the local hotel-motel tax, about $140,000. But in its second year, the ThunderRoad share of the tax was halved by the Dawson County Development Authority and the authority operating ThunderRoad.

Elliott's brother, Dan, was laid off as marketing director. A staff of 28 is down to nine, and a core of supporters formed a volunteer force to help mind the store.

``There are two types of people in this community,'' said Brian Blackley, publisher of the weekly Dawson News Advertiser. ``Those who don't give a flip and those who support it and want it to survive.''

Observers say the area has changed drastically since the days when moonshine runners who souped up their cars to outrun the police on dirt roads became stock car racing's forefathers.

Now, suburban commuters heading into Atlanta on I-85 and I-985 are more common, they say.

Still, some local residents say they're committed to finding a way to save the museum although few have ideas that have gotten much support from political and business leaders.

``It's been built,'' said Ernie Elliott, Bill Elliot's brother. ``We don't need to be looking back seeing what somebody did wrong. We need to look and see how we can make it work now.''