Gerald Voyles – Carnesville, GA – The racing world wouldn’t survive without people like Gerald Voyles who put far more into the sport than they would ever hope to receive.
For decades, Voyles has furnished cars for drivers from across the South and has entered them at tracks as small as Toccoa Speedway near his hometown of Carnesville to the biggest of NASCAR tracks.
It all started on a whim. In 1981, he and his wife Janice were out delivering parts for his salvage yard business and came across a 1978 Camaro race car for sale on the side of the road.
Voyles bought the car, which carried a powerplant built by Georgia Racing Hall of Famer James Lyle. He intended to drive it himself, but after a few practice runs decided driving wasn’t for him, so he put Dale Sellers behind the wheel.
That venture wasn’t all that successful, but it was the start of a long career as a car owner. Steve Chastain was the next to take the wheel, and Voyles got the first of the more than 350 victories at tracks across the Southeast.
As time went on, Voyles fielded cars for Randy Cantrell, then had Mike Ashley and Aaron Gailey drive his cars as part of a two-car team, with the two drivers often racing each other for the win.
Then came Voyles’ most successful pairing, with the legendary C.L. Pritchett doing the driving.
After a two-and-a-half-year run that saw the team win 66 races, tragedy struck as Voyles’ daughter Donna died in an automobile accident.
As they grieved, Voyles sat out racing for a time, and Pritchett soon ended his driving career.
But Voyles eventually returned to the tracks, fielding cars for Chris Madden, Buck Simmons Kenneth Alewine, and in one event, at Anderson, S.C., had NASCAR driver Tim Richmond drive his car to a second-place finish.
When the legendary Simmons was nearing the end of his career and just shy of reaching the 1,000-win mark, Voyles bought a top-of-the-line dirt Late Model car, hired a crew and made it possible for Simmons to reach the milestone 1,000 wins and add a few more before retiring.
Along the way, Voyles also backed several NASCAR drivers including Billy Standridge, who made the Daytona 500 with a car furnished by Voyles. For seven seasons, Voyles backed Jimmy Means on NASCAR’s Cup circuit, and he backed Brad Teague in the truck series for a limited run.
In the twilight of Morgan Shepherd’s career, Voyles backed Shepherd’s No. 89 cars, largely because they carried large “Racing for Jesus” logos.
Voyles also was the car owner for the late Casey Elliott, helping the son of Ernie Elliott establish himself as a winning asphalt Late Model driver.
Voyles, who also owned Hartwell Speedway for a time, was the car owner for his grandsons Adam and Austin Smith.
Austin won with ease in a brief run in mini-stocks but decided racing wasn’t for him. Adam, who started racing go karts at age eight and moved to stock cars at 12, won races on a regular basis until last season when he put his racing on the back burner to focus on his tire store in Lavonia.