Mike Swims of Woodstock was born, raised and educated in the sport of dirt track racing.

He grew from a kid, who idolized drivers like Bill Elliott, to become a businessman admired for his management of the family-owned Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, one of the South's most popular dirt tracks.

Swims, 42, died Friday after a seven-year battle with cancer.

Services will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at First Baptist Woodstock. The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Roswell Funeral Home.

He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Debra; children, Chase, 18, and Breanna, 16; his parents, Mickey and Martha Swims; sister and brother-in-law, Mia and Marshall Green; and nieces, Macy and Marla Green.

Swims, as vice president and general manager, worked with his father, Mickey, to run Rome Speedway in Rome and Dixie Speedway on Highway 92 one mile west of Interstate 575.

Dixie Speedway is a 3/8-mile banked clay oval that hosts stock car racing from Bombers, Sportsman and Cruiser cars to the super-fast Late Models that headline racing events weekly. For nearly 40 years the Swims family has provided quality entertainment to racing fans, much to Mike's credit.

"He was definitely the premier racetrack promoter in the country," said Late Model driver Phil Coltrane, winner of the 2006 track championship at Dixie Speedway and a friend of Mike's since their days playing T-ball together at age 6.

Mickey Swims, a former drag strip driver, purchased the Rome racetrack in 1967 and the one in Woodstock in 1969. In a recent Tribune interview, Mike said he was an early fan of stock car racing and decided when he was young to become a promoter as opposed to a driver, with more than a little prodding by his father.

"When I was 10 years old, that was what I wanted to do, of course every kid wants to be in racing," Mike said.

"I didn't ever aspire to drive all that much because dad talked against it. He said if you're going to be involved in racing, you need to be involved in the business side of and utilize your talents there. So I decided that if I was going to be involved in racing, I either had to make a choice to be a participant or a promoter."

Andy Jenkins, whose family has been involved in racing at Dixie Speedway for many years, said Mike was the right guy at the right time for dirt racing when the sport was going through hard times decades ago. Mike took over management operations at the racetracks around the late 1980s, Jenkins said, and helped bring about uniformed racing rules in the South.

"Mike was probably the best promoter I've ever seen," Jenkins said. "He was a real good guy."

Mike was instrumental in the formation of the Hav-A-Tampa racing series in 1990. When Hav-A-Tampa Cigars discontinued racing the series, it became known as the United Dirt Track Racing Association or UDTRA, which Mike ran until the series was sold. He later became a consultant to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.

Mike was honored for his achievements in August, when he, along with his father, was inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in Florence, Ky.

"He always seemed like he dedicated his business life to making sure that the racetrack was a success," Super Bomber driver Chris Sizemore said. "He was a one-of-a-kind person who made dirt racing bigger than what it was."

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