NASCAR team owner Billy Ballew was arrested for driving drunk at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Wednesday night. Ballew confirmed the arrest during a telephone interview Thursday. “There’s a lot of circumstances I don’t want to go into right now,” Ballew said. “I am 100 percent sure that it will be dropped.” Henry County police said a county sheriff’s department sergeant arrested Ballew at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday night. Ballew was booked into the county jail on a DUI charge and later released. Ballew said he was driving a sponsor from his condominium to the passenger’s motor home when “an irate cop” wearing a cap marked “security” stopped him. The condo and the mobile home, said Ballew, are both on racetrack property. Ballew said he refused to take a breathalyzer test, but acknowledged that he was carrying a mixed drink in the car when he was pulled over. “It was only one drink. I was not drunk,” Ballew said. “I was on Atlanta Motor Speedway property. I was not on the highway.” The NASCAR [Camping World] Truck Series team owner has enlisted an all-star lineup of drivers over the years. The list includes Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Geoffrey Bodine, John Andretti and Kyle Busch.(Atlanta Journal Constitution)(3-5-2009)
UPDATE: Henry County, Georgia has administratively dismissed DUI charges after independent investigation against NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team owner Billy Ballew. The charge relates to an incident that occurred March 4, 2009 on the grounds of Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Ballew is a native of Blairsville, Georgia and has owned a condo at Atlanta Motor Speedway since 1996. Billy Ballew Motorsports has made 263 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts since the team’s inception in1996, posting 12 wins, 36 top-five and 66 top-10 finishes.(Billy Ballew Motorsports PR)(4-1-2009)
