THOMASVILLE — Jane Benton took a drive into the past when recalling Patten Speedway. Though Benton never drove a race car, she exhibited passion and excitement when describing the once popular Thomas County attraction that existed more than 30 years ago.

“For several years, it was really popular,” said Benton, who met her future husband, Larry, at the track in the early ’60s. Larry was one of the top competitors every weekend.

“It drew cars from all over south Georgia and north Florida. When track was running, people would drive three hours, or whatever, to get there.”

The track had its own personality: 3/8 of a mile, oval dirt with winnings every race ranging from $400-500 on a regular Saturday night to $1,000-$1,500 on special nights when laps would be doubled or sometimes tripled. On one side of the track stood a grandstand where fans could sit. If the fans preferred a more comfortable setting, they could drive the cars to the back side where a high hump of dirt stood. Cars could be parked on top of the mound and fans could watch, what was on average 25-to-30 cars race. With so many cars packed together in a small confined area, it often resulted in collisions on the track and occasionally in the grandstand.

“Back then, if somebody wrecked you, and you didn’t wreck them back, you wasn’t no race driver,” said Randy Bannister, son of one of the track owners, the late Hugh Bannister. “If somebody put the bumper to me, I might be leading the featured race and had it won, but I’d rather wreck him than win.”

“The stands were built real close to it,” said Jane Benton, who worked in the ticket office, sometimes kept score and worked on the programs once a year. “Today they back them off more. You’ve got more retaining walls and things like that. There’s been tires at Patten that have come off the car, jump the fence and come through the grandstand. I think that happened more than one time.”

It happened to former driver Tom Jones.

“I had one that went over the stands and hit (the late) Bill Singletary’s car out in the parking lot,” said Jones. Jones said laps were normally completed in about 25 seconds. “We thought we were flying — which we were at that time. Now we’re turning a half-mile track in 17 seconds. There’s a good bit of difference in the equipment we’ve got to run now than what we had back then.”