Our Story
Made famous by owner Gordon Pirkle, the pool room offers a family atmosphere and is filled with an interesting collection of history and memorabilia on Bill Elliott's NASCAR career and early moonshine runners. The menu includes the famous made-from-scratch Bully Burgers and fresh cut fries and they are open daily for lunch and dinner. The Dawsonville Pool room is legendary for its auto racing theme, memorabilia, and burgers. It has long been the unofficial auto racing headquarters. The Pool Room is covered with racing memorabilia from Bill Elliott’s illustrious NASCAR career, and also features artifacts from the early days of auto racing, which originated with the North Georgia moonshine runners.
The Pool Room has operated for many years on the town square in Dawsonville. It was made famous by Bill Elliott and owner Gordon Pirkle, a walking encyclopedia of unofficial racing and NASCAR history Dawsonville is recognized as the unofficial birthplace of NASCAR, and the Dawsonville Pool Room is “ground zero” for auto racing. It is a must-see for racing fans and history buffs. The casual, fun atmosphere is very comfortable, and the “Bully Burgers”, sweet tea, and hand-cut fries are legendary. More recent, The Pool Room is known for sounding the "SI-REEN" for every Elliott victory since 1983.
"While on vacation in the Georgia mountains, we took a side trip to the Dawsonville and to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame (Excellent!) and then to the famous "Dawsonville Pool Room". We had the great pleasure to meet Mr. Gordon Pirkle, the colorful propritor. But the real highlight of the visit was the hamburger, The Bully Burger. Simple, balanced, an old fashioned work of art. Well worth the trip just for the burger. This is definately one of the best burgers I have ever had!! Don't miss the Pool Room for it's racing history and one great burger."
- Chef Dave Del Rio
Bully Burger Story
The world famous “Bully Burger” is named for Bully Thurmond, now deceased, who was a long- time employee of the Pool Room. Years ago, Bully was the only worker at the Pool Room during lunch time. Customers came in and gave Bully their orders. But Bully never wrote anything down. He kept the orders in his head, which was fine, as long as he didn’t have many orders to remember. If there was a rush, Bully would forget the orders and would fix them his way: slaw, onion, mustard, ketchup, and pickles.
So when the customers would see that Bully was busy, they would say, “Give me a ‘Bully Burger.’ We’re going to get it your way anyway.” The Bully Burger was born. Although Bully has been gone a long time, there will always be a Bully Burger served at the Pool Room.
Dawsonville Racing Heritage
The Daytona Room is named for the drivers and car owners from Dawsonville who won at Daytona Beach. The drivers are Bernard Long, Roy Hall, Lloyd Seay, Gober Sosebee, and Bill Elliott, who have won a total of twelve times at Daytona. Raymond Parks, as a car owner, has won 11 times at Daytona. His car won the first NASCAR Race and the first championship in 1949. Mr. Parks is now in the National Motor Sports Hall of Fame. Portraits of these men hang on the walls of the Daytona Room.
Dawsonville, the birthplace of stock car racing, is rich in history. The country has produced the best drivers in stock car history. The first race held at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta was won by Lloyd Seay of Dawsonville. The second race was won by Roy Hall of Dawsonville. These two dominated the races at Lakewood until Gober Sosebee of Dawsonville came along, who was one of the greatest racers of all time. Gober, who is buried in Dawson County, won over 200 races in his career. Bill Elliott put Dawsonville back on the map in 1985. Bill is the only man to win the Winston Million. He has won over 40 NASCAR Races and the 1988 Championship. Bill and his brothers Ernie and Dan along with their father, George, have helped make Dawsonville and the Pool Room famous in racing circles. We are proud of this Dawsonville family.
