FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: My first taste of Road Atlanta came by attending their very first AMA National held in April 1971 on a very new road course. All the great racers of the era were there — Kel Carruthers (who won the main event), Jody Nicholas, Cal Rayborn, Gary Nixon, Dick Mann, Yvon Duhamel. The few photos I took are fuzzy, but my memory of the event stands out as vivid, because I was for the first time seeing my heroes in person and at my first-ever road racing event. One of my favorite memories of Road Atlanta was attending the 1994 AMA Superbike Championship finale. The season had come down to 3 points separating the two front-runners, Jamie James and a then, relatively unknown Troy Corser. Scott Russell, the World Superbike Champ from the previous season had persuaded Rob Muzzy to allow him to do a one-off race at his home track, and he was there. So too, was James’ young teammate, a fresh-faced, but already very talented Colin Edwards (he took pole position). Ben Bostrom was aboard a Harley in a support race, and other greats were there, namely Miguel Duhamel, Pascal Picotte and ‘Flying’ Fred Merkel, in one of his last seasons racing. The race began, and Russell got the holeshot and left the pack, never looking back, on a mission all his own. Troy and Jamie were left to fight it out for second place and near the end, James’ Yamaha experienced a terminal mechanical failure. Corser moved forward, finished the race in second and won the season championship by one point! After the ceremonies and as most fans were heading for the gates, I was wandering the pits as teams were closing up shop and came across the winning Fast By Ferracci camp. A female crew member with FBF saw me with my camera and said that if I hung around, I’d have something to take a picture of soon. Another crew member began to prep the fairing of Troy’s winning Ducati 955 to receive the new No. 1 vinyl sticker. I took a few sequence shots as Troy was finishing a bologna sandwich off to the side. He obliged me for a picture request and hopped on his winning steed. I came away with another great keepsake from Road Atlanta and Troy went on to worldwide fame in World Superbike. Walt Floyd Cartersville, Georgia