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Severe weather that swept through the South in the overnight and early morning hours has left the famed South Georgia Motorsports Park in the small town of Adel, Georgia with significant damage — damage to which the extent has not yet been determined fully by the track staff.
A photo that’s begun to circulate from outside the gates, however, gives you some sense of the destruction, as the entire row of hospitality and media suites atop the grandstands have been wiped away.
Said the SGMP staff:
“To update everyone, yes we did sustain some damage at SGMP from the tornado that came through around 4:30 this morning. There is heavy damage to the suites and some fencing, but we can’t actually get to the track right now as the roads are closed.
We ask that you please pray for the families of those lost and injured by the storm this morning.
We can repair race tracks, our thoughts and prayers are with the ones that lost so much more.”
Donald Long echoed that sentiment, sharing the following remarks:
“I want to thank everybody who has sent me messages offering to volunteer their time to help at the racetrack to help clean up. It is messages like this that make us want to keep going in this bad time. This is one of those times I could just throw up my hands and stop promoting but when you guys send messages like this it makes me realize how many great people there are out there. I’m not personally up there yet and we are just going to be able to start getting going on this tomorrow probably due to weather. So thank you guys for all of your support and I will definitely let you guys know if there’s anything we need done and we would love to have your help. Hopefully all the bad stuff is gone and I’m very sorry for everyone else in south Georgia that has lost family and friends. We will have everything ready to go for Lights Out 8, I just want to thank everyone. Please pray for the families in the south Georgia area that were killed by the tornado.”
Long posted a Facebook Live video on Monday showing that the cleanup efforts had begun at the track already. In the video, Long also mentioned that the timing equipment, boards, and track itself all seemed to be in good shape. As of now, it appears that Lights Out 8 is still a go for February.
