08/30/2026
Billie ‘Sunday’ Hester was a true pioneer of Georgia racing and a man whose name became synonymous with Cherokee Garage and the early days of stock car racing.
Named after Billie Sunday, the famous evangelist who was deeply involved in the Prohibition movement, Billie Hester shared some of that same conviction when it came to his garage. He wanted no liquor in his shop. He didn’t mind working on a “trip car,” but it had to be unloaded before it was brought through his doors.
Hester came from humble beginnings, first getting his start as a mechanic in Atlanta at just 10 years old in 1925, relining brakes on Model T automobiles. Through hard work and family connections, he eventually opened the first Cherokee Garage in rural Cherokee County in 1935. From there, his influence on Georgia racing only grew.
If a racer was any good, chances were his car had spent some time inside Cherokee Garage. But perhaps no driver found a greater home there than Gober Sosebee.
In 1949, Hester began building racers for Gober Sosebee and Jerry Wimbish. In 1950 and 1951, Hester and Sosebee captured two Daytona Beach championships, cementing their place in the history of early stock car racing.
From 1952 through 1955, Hester continued building winning cars for some of the sport’s greatest drivers, including Georgia Racing Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Mincey.
Billie Hester wasn’t simply a mechanic. He was a builder, innovator and trusted member of the racing community whose work helped shape the sport in its earliest days. The Cherokee Garage became a gathering place for racers and a proving ground for some of Georgia’s most legendary race cars.
His contributions helped lay the foundation for the racing legacy Georgia is known for today.
