Atlanta Motor Speedway turns 50

There’s a spot just beyond the Atlanta Motor Speedway where an old church cemetery slumbers in a grassy field, its tombstones a somber counterpoint to the brightly colored sponsor billboards lining the outside of the track. Anyone who has ever attended a race at the speedway and heard the caterwauling chorus of juiced-up Fords and Chevys must wonder: How can anything rest in peace through such a barrage?
>> Read Jim Auchmutey's oral history of the speedway

Automatic for the diners
>> Read Christiane Lauterbach's tour of the Athens eateries

Kathryn Stockett hides in hotels
The film version of The Help began production in July—in and around Greenwood, Mississippi—as the book itself passed an extraordinary milestone: one solid year on the New York Times bestseller list. It was one of the biggest success stories of 2009 and well into 2010, with more than 2 million books in print. Kathryn Stockett, who lives in Midtown Atlanta with her husband and daughter, famously received at least sixty rejection letters before landing a publisher for her first novel.
>> Read Teresa Weaver's Q&A with Kathryn Stockett