Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Whether it's an old tractor, a piece of farm equipment, or the story of a forgotten stock car driver, Rick Minter has always been drawn to the people, places, and moments that shaped Georgia's past. Ray D'Alessio sits down with the man behind Inman Farm Heritage Days to uncover a side of Rick's story that many don't know — one that's about to earn him a permanent place in Georgia history.
This August, Rick Minter will be inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, honoring decades spent as a journalist, historian, and storyteller chronicling the drivers, promoters, and personalities who built Georgia motorsports. His passion traces back to a single day at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the late 1960s, when his father — sports editor Jim Minter — brought him into the press box and a young Rick found himself seated beside Richard Petty for a post-race winner's interview. He was hooked for life.
That early spark carried Rick into a career covering racing for outlets including the Clayton News Daily and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But along the way, Rick realized he wasn't just reporting the news — he was preserving it, capturing firsthand accounts from the true pioneers of 1940s and 1950s stock car racing before those stories were lost forever.
Rick sees striking parallels between his two great passions, racing and farming. Both demand relentless preparation, offer no guarantees, and require a kind of passion that goes beyond financial reward. As he puts it, nobody gets into farming to get rich — it's something in your blood. The same, he says, is true of racing.
But Rick is quick to point out he didn't get here alone. None of his decades chronicling Georgia motorsports history would have been possible without his wife Joanne, who kept the farm running every time he left for the track — ensuring there was still a farm, and still a career, to come home to.
Whether it's an old tractor, a piece of farm equipment, or the story of a forgotten stock car driver, Rick Minter has always been drawn to the people, places, and moments that shaped Georgia's past. Ray D'Alessio sits down with the man behind Inman Farm Heritage Days to uncover a side of Rick's story that many don't know — one that's about to earn him a permanent place in Georgia history.
This August, Rick Minter will be inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, honoring decades spent as a journalist, historian, and storyteller chronicling the drivers, promoters, and personalities who built Georgia motorsports. His passion traces back to a single day at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the late 1960s, when his father — sports editor Jim Minter — brought him into the press box and a young Rick found himself seated beside Richard Petty for a post-race winner's interview. He was hooked for life.
That early spark carried Rick into a career covering racing for outlets including the Clayton News Daily and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But along the way, Rick realized he wasn't just reporting the news — he was preserving it, capturing firsthand accounts from the true pioneers of 1940s and 1950s stock car racing before those stories were lost forever.
Rick sees striking parallels between his two great passions, racing and farming. Both demand relentless preparation, offer no guarantees, and require a kind of passion that goes beyond financial reward. As he puts it, nobody gets into farming to get rich — it's something in your blood. The same, he says, is true of racing.
But Rick is quick to point out he didn't get here alone. None of his decades chronicling Georgia motorsports history would have been possible without his wife Joanne, who kept the farm running every time he left for the track — ensuring there was still a farm, and still a career, to come home to.
