Drag racing legend Hubert Platt, the ‘Georgia Shaker,’ dies at 83
Posted: 3:32 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015

By Rick Minter - For the Atlanta Journal Constitution

In the golden era of drag racing, when top drivers from across the nation ran head-to-head in well-publicized match races, few had the star power of Hubert Platt.

Racing his “Georgia Shaker” dragsters prepared in his shop in Chamblee, Platt raced on a circuit that included his brother Huston Platt, Don Nicholson, Arnie Bestwick, Phil Bonner and others.

Platt, who died Saturday of cancer at age 83, not only was a tough competitor on the track but was one of the sport’s most charismatic stars. He also was a big winner on the NHRA circuit, winning the Winternationals in 1967 and races on the drag racing circuit once sanctioned by NASCAR.

One of his most popular victories came in 1965, when he beat Richard Petty, who was drag racing during a time when NASCAR banned the Hemi engine he’d been running in his Plymouths on the NASCAR circuit, in a race at Lassiter Mountain Drag Strip near Birmingham.

Platt was born in Conway, S.C., and grew up in Myrtle Beach. Like many racing pioneers, he did his first fast driving hauling moonshine. After a stint in the U.S. Army, he moved to Atlanta in 1958 when he and his late brother Huston soon began to compete on local drag strips.

Rocky Platt, Huston’s son, said that while his father and his uncle were equally fast on the strip, they were different once the races were over.

“Uncle Hubert was the flamboyant one,” Platt said. “When the races were over, Dad would go home and Uncle Hubert would go out.  “He was always the one who was shaking hands and kissing babies.”

Platt, known for his wheel-standing starts, did most of his racing in Fords and drove for a time for a team fielded by Holman-Moody, the same organization that led the Ford effort in NASCAR during the 1960s. In 1968, Platt hooked up with Rome’s Randy Payne and formed the Eastern Ford Drag Team, with Platt campaigning a Mustang and Payne and Torino.

With Platt as the captain of the team, the duo won races all over the country. In the 1969 Winternationals, Platt beat Payne to win the Super Stock Eliminator class.

Platt, a long-time resident of Cumming, retired from racing in 1977 and worked as a welding foreman for J.A. Jones Construction Co. He later owned and operated the Sugar Hill Drive-In.

He has received numerous honors including induction into the NHRA Hall of Fame and the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. He was a recipient of the NHRA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Platt is survived by his wife, Linda, and his children, Hubert Jr., Allen and Lynette.