Fading Thunder...Abandoned Racetracks in Virginia and the Carolinas

I mentioned earlier a track that was given up for dead, only to come back in a major way, Virginia International Raceway.

Here is a second one, this time not too far down the road from VIR. The Madison-Mayodan Speedway, a fine old dirttrack between Madison and Mayodan, NC, went out of business only to come back to life as 311 Fasttrack. Going strong and the future looks good.

And why does this track merit noting otherwise? Home track of NASCAR driver Tim Richmond during his formative years....

Here's a blurb about the track from the local newspaper:



311 Speedway reopens

Dirt track racing returned to Western Rockingham County on April 11 when the gates of the half-mile oval located west of Madison reopened as 311 Fastrack.

Track managerGene Robertson said the track underwent significant renovations after being repurchased by former owner David Dick, a grading contractor from Greensboro. A Madison native, Robertson attended his first race at 311 when he was 8 years old. By the age of 17, he was already a car owner.
“I guess I just fell in love with racing,” he said. “I’ve been involved in one form or another just about ever since that first night.”
Robertson came back to 311 in 2000 as track manager and stayed through the 2004 season. Dick bought the track following the 2004 season and operated it one year before selling it to a Floridabusinessman. The track essentially went out of business and closed its gates in July 2008.
Robertson said Dick regained ownership last year, changed the name to 311 Fastrack, did some renovation work and reopened in April.

 

More on Brian Katen's work mentioned earlier in a post. You GOTTA check out this website featuring his work on oval track racing. His drag racing work is all over the HAMB, but I wasn't aware of his circle track stuff. MUST SEE viewing if you like old pictures of racing around the region here in the mid-Atlantic.

http://www.vaautoracing.org/oval.htm

Racing at Felts Park, Galax, VA. The track is long gone, but the site is where the annual Fiddlers' Convention is held the 2nd weekend every August.




Sprint Cars at the Roanoke Fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds and track are long gone.

 

Phartman, I'm kind a nube to this area. Have heard of a track in Mt. Airy.
My lady friend told me of a track in Elk Creek, above Independence, '50's? There still is an active 1/8 drag strip not far from where the oval was.
I'll ask around,,,,scrap'

 

Pete, great thread you've really done some homework. See you at Maxton in October.

 

The Chester Dragstrip at the Chester S.C. Airport was one of the finest dragstrips on the East Coast in the '50s. The Charlotte Hot Rodders would drive their cars there and race them. Bob Osiecki ran the show but lost the lease after Garlits' horrible fire there in 1958. I was only 14 or 15 when it closed so I never went there. Art Malone won $10,000.00 from the France family by setting the World Closed course record above 180 mph in 1961 at Daytona in the Osiecki owned "Mad Dog IV". Osiecki chose Malone after booking his AA/FD in at Chester and seeing what a fearless, talented driver he was.

 

Hey Pete, in my earlier post I was talking about Whitey's place in Franklin county, you ever get out to the Natural Bridge track he was involved with? Looks like they have a dragstrip there now, I can remember as a kid going there and playing in the covered, wooden bleachers on the straight between turn four and one, I think the track was a mile then.
If your familiar with Whitey, you might know my dad, Jim Moore, he helped Whitey with the tracks for awhile. He was the guy who got hurt really bad at Natural Bridge when he got hit by a race car that came on the track after practice was over trying to sneak in a couple of practice laps. Have some really good memorys of the times with my dad and racing. I got to meet alot of racers because of my dad and his friends.

Reading up on Wendall Scott, I see where he won his first ever race in Lynchburg, a little before my time, I think the track was gone before I was born (1966), it was called Shafer's field, not sure where that was but I believe the current city stadium is called shafer's field. There was actually an early rival to Nascar based in Lynchburg called the Dixie circuit, in the early 50's

 

Whitey was quite the character way back when. I lived in Ferrum, VA and over in Patrick County in the Woolwine community from 1976 to 1981 before I moved to Richmond. Took one year off to seek fame and fortune in New York, but that proved to be a short-lived mistake. Came right back to Franklin County and took up where I left off.

Whitey was quite the promoter and Callaway, USA "Fastest 3/8ths Mile Track in the Country" was the place on Friday nights, unless there was a modified race going on at Bowman Gray in Winston-Salem.

The biggest thing I remember about Whitey was the summer of '77 or '78. He announced he had lined up Willie Nelson to play at the track over 4th of July holiday. The community went absolutely nuts. The sheriff's department went nuts, Ferrum College students went nuts, the local hippies went nuts...but all to no avail. Willie never showed, Whitey hid out for a while and kept a low profile, and before long, Franklin County just went back to arguing whether Paul Radford or Joe Henry Thurman or Satch Worley was the better driver.

Those were great days. I miss 'em.



One more Friday night at Callaway racetrack, circa 1979, under Whitey Taylor's management....

 

And speaking of Satch...



And a story from The Franklin County News Post by the great Morris Stephenson about Joe Henry Thurman.

Joe Henry, when he won the national Late Model Sportsman division, went by the nickname of "Country Boy" because NASCAR gave him permission to drive in his bib overalls, as long as they were treated with some kind of flame-proof chemical. And that's exactly what he did, and I never heard of him getting any kind of serious burns in his bibs, short-sleeve shirt and brogans.
And I think the year he won the title, he ran something like 60 plus races that season. That's when men were men when it came to race car drivers.

Personally, I think just about 90 percent of today's NASCAR cup drivers are wimps.



For the entire editorial, here's the link....

http://www.thefranklinnewspost.com/article.cfm?ID=17095

 

Really enjoyed these pictures. Wish the "caretaker" had been around when we visited a few years ago. My family visited North Wilkesboro and Rockingham on the way back from the Mother's Day Cup race at Darlington in 2006. Sure wish we could have seen some racing at these Historic Tracks back in "The Good-Old-Days".

 

Well speaking of Rockingham, it sounds like "The Rock" might be put back on the Bush/Nationwide schedule maybe as soon as next year. They're in the process of putting in the safer barriers now.

 

I've been wanting to get to the strange tale of The Rock. Opened in 1965, extensively reconfigured in 1969.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockingham_Speedway

The news media refers to it as the "nearly abandoned." Guess that's close enough for this thread. Brush with death and all that....

Here's an internet story that nicely summarizes what happened there in Rockingham, NC- actually in nearby Hamlet, NC:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1885014/


It would be awfully good to see the facility back operating again on a major circuit. Owner Andy Hillenburg deserves tremendous credit for what he's accomplished there.







Rockingham, 1965

 

After much searching and some false starts, the one and only photo I was able to find of the now gone Sanford, NC Dragstrip (not to be confused with the Sanford, ME dragstrip that also has a long, rich history).

I'm still a little skeptical, so if someone can verify for me, please.

 

is so sad to see this

 

creeds dragstrip in pungo. two tenths instead of a quarter mile. just right for my 406 galaxie with 5.14 gears...........

 

Yup, that one is on the list of "abandoned." It was the old Naval Air Station, another airport dragstrip, gone, gone, gone.





Here is a list of Virginia dragways, many of which are now closed:


Old Dominion Speedway - April 1953
Manassas, VA

Pungo Air Force Base - 1955
Pungo, VA

Eastern Dragway - March 1957
Petersburg, VA Mid-summer 1961 NHRA both 1/4 and 1/2 mile.

Roanoke Drag Strip - June 29, 1958
Roanoke, VA NHRA

Tappahannock Dragway - 1958
Jack's Fork, VA

Lakeview Drag Strip - 1958-1959 First full season
Bassett, VA

Virginia International Raceway - 1959
Danville, VA

Hidden Valley Drag Strip - April 18, 1959
Covington, VA

Callaghan Drag Strip - March 8, 1959
Covington, VA

Oak Level Dragstrip - 1960
Oak Level, VA

New London Dragway - 1960 NHRA
New London, VA

Louisa County Dragway - 1960
Louisa, VA

Emporia Dragway - 1961
Emporia, VA

Bristol International Dragway - July 30, 1961
Bristol, TN

Freedom 7 Dragway - 1962
Creeds, VA (Virginia Beach)

Suffolk County Raceway - 1963
Suffolk, VA

Richmond Dragway - May 1964
Richmond, VA

Eastside Speedway - 1964
Waynesboro, VA

Colonial Beach Dragway - 1964
Sterling, VA

Summerduck Dragway - 1965
Culpeper, VA

Cedar Hill's Dragway - 1966
(Big Al's Dragway)
Richlands, VA

Elk Creek Dragway - July 18, 1968
Elk Creek, VA

Lonesome Pine Drag Strip - Closed in 1971
Coeburn, VA

Natural Bridge Drag Strip - 1991
Natural Bridge, VA

Virginia Motorsports Park - 1994
Dinwiddie, VA

Bristol Dragway - 1998
Bristol, TN


OTHER POPULAR DRAG STRIPS FOR VIRGINIANS

Burlington Drag Strip - 1954
Burlington, NC

Maple Air Force Base - 1955
Elizabeth City, NC

Chester - 1956
Chester, SC

A & H Drag Strip - 1961
Fletcher, NC

 

Well, I called Keevers Key Service in town and the woman on the phone said she remembered the pic on the wall, she also said that was about 15 years ago! A old guy that worked there put his pictures on the wall then and took them with him when he quit. She says he is dead now.So the pic is somewhere out there. Anyway, I was trying to get a copy of the pic for phartman. This is what I remember. The guy said it was a track near Granite Falls, which is right beside Sawmills, little towns all together. The pic showed a track that looked like it was carved out of a bank, lots of pine trees around. I didn't see any out buildings or tower , it wasn't a fancy track. The cars on the pic was what made me look at it to start with. About 4or5 38-39 Ford coupes with cut up fenders and graphics and lettering on them. One car was fresh with a shiny paint job, no damage. They were just sitting lined up ready to go.
My dad was a land surveyor here since the 60's , and he dosen't remember coming across it or hearing about it. He is going to ask around. The pic looked like the track might have been put on the backside of somebodys 90 acres, it looked like it was in the middle of the woods. If I hear anything about it , I'll try to go out and get a pic of its location now.

 

Wow, what a day, what a day. Good news and bad news....

I had wondered about the status of Southampton Speedway in Capron, VA and just found out that this state-of-the-art racetrack has joined the ranks of abandoned tracks. Last race was in 2004 and there isn't much hope of anybody picking it up. Very sad.



And the other bad news was that Rolling Thunder Raceway in Ararat, VA closed its doors on July 15 and the track is for sale. They've thrown in the towel. RIP. But if you have a spare $240,000 or so, it can be yours, lock stock and barrel as they say. Don't let this track be abandoned!



How about the good news? Man oh man, this is huge.

I had wondered about the status of the old 1/2 mile dirt track at Oak Level, VA, not far from the town of Bassett. The location is where the ancient, ancient track used to be as well as the dragstrip. It last operated in its old form under the name Fairystone Raceway. It's in Patrick County, VA, right there on the Eastern slope of the Blue Ridge. Beautiful spot. Big time moonshine country.





Got totally revamped in the late '70s, but pretty quiet since then.

After some scratching around on the internet, found a telephone number and called it early this morning. I couldn't imagine that the number was any good. But somebody answered!

And not just somebody, but French Grimes. Don't know French? Runs one of the top fuel injection and racecar magneto shops in the country!

http://www.frenchgrimes.com/contact.htm

I asked French what the devil he was doing answering the phone. "Why aren't you at your flow bench???!!!"

His answer: "I bought a racetrack!" Yup, at 68 years old, French has become a promoter. Told me he's spent all his retirement $$$ doing it, but what the heck. Here's the story from the local newspaper:

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=10358

And he formed a new racing organization. Here is their website:

http://www.racesaver.com/

So a down-and-out old dirt track that was older than Moses comes back to life. Next big race is Labor Day weekend. Good luck, my friend. Good to see somebody stepping up to the plate. Now operates under the name Forked Mountain Raceway.

http://www.forkmountainraceway.com/

Wish him all the success in the world. Here's a pic of French at the track, looking all the world like Moses hisself. Kind of fitting, isn't it? He's da Man.

 

This thread is awesome Phartman----good job!

 

More on Wendell Scott from Danville....




Here's the link. Good essay.

http://therevivalist.info/wendell-scott/

What a nice little film here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qTgUJaO5B0

And from ESPN films, this docu-drama on Wendell. Captivating. It'll break your heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnPvPqPYyHA

 

great thread phartman,,kudos for starting this thread. east coast is rich in racing history. too bad much of it is history........selah!

 

That Wendell Scott movie was really good!

 

Dover Downs had the same seats . you paid more to sit there

 

Speaking of movies, local racers, racetracks and landscape have been featured in numerous films set in Virginia and the Carolinas. While hot rod and racing movies tended to turn our attention to California, the unique look and feel of the mid-Atlantic South was never lost on film directors. They quickly grasped the colorful nature of our region, and audiences responded enthusiastically.

Context is so important to understanding old racecars and hot rods. And like the abandoned tracks, much of that distinctive landscape that defines Virginia and the Carolinas is gone, gone, gone.

So we'll take a little ramble out to Hollywood and see how those cats have treated our beloved Southern Upland in cinema. Oh boy, you ain't gonna believe some of this stuff....

Let's start with the granddaddy of 'em all Thunder Road.

From Wikipedia:

In the film, Mitchum drove a souped-up 1951 Ford 2-door sedan hot-rod with a custom tank in the back for moonshine and later a 1957 Ford coupe with the same alterations. The '51 Ford was modified with a '49 hood and grill and the rear taillight trim was removed. The film's dialogue refers to the car as a '50, but it is not, although at least one exterior shot, when the car spills oil on the road, is of the trunk of a '50.

Most of the scenes were filmed in Asheville, North Carolina Highway 16 and others at Lake Lure. Some scenes were actual local moonshine drivers shot with a camera mounted on pickup tailgate.


What a great movie. It never gets old. And me bein' a Y-block Ford guy and all....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBeZ7q6Hymo&feature=related

 

If you HAMBers around Asheville and NC 16 can take some current pics of scenes that are in the movie so we can see what they look like today, that would be huge. Good destination for a cruise.

Thanks, guys. Very much appreciated and never, ever taken for granted.

Pete
Richmond, VA

 

Another terrific contemporary film that features North Carolina locations- it was filmed around Hickory- is the 1973 release, The Last American Hero starring Jeff Bridges.




It is loosely based on the essay from Tom Wolfe, who is not to be confused with Thomas Wolfe. Tom is from Richmond, VA and Thomas is from Asheville, NC. Anyway, Tom wrote an essay by the same name as the movie. Both are loosely based on the Junior Johnson story. If you've read any Tom Wolfe you know he's a little fast and loose with the truth, as is the movie. In the film, Bridges plays Junior "Jackson" and it is an updated version of moonshiner-turns-racecar driver.

The dirt track scene here in the film is the old Concord Speedway, RIP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJXC35lxPxk

And here's a blurb about it in Ghosts of Southern Dirt Tracks:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]From the 1960's until the late 70's, Concord Motor Speedway was a active dirt track that was home to many stars of the era and today. Located outside Concord, North Carolina, Concord was a 1/2 mile high banked clay dirt track. It was home to weekly stock car racing, some Grand National (now Winston Cup) races in the early 60s, and an occasional motorcycle race. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]While Curtis Turner was exiled from NASCAR in the mid 60's, he raced at Concord Motor Speedway. Speedy Thompson was a frequent challenger there also. When Ralph Earnhardt switched from racing all over the southeast to racing closer to home, he competed at Concord until his death in 1973. Several youngsters learned their craft at Concord. Freddy Smith raced there weekly. Freddy has continued racing on dirt for his entire career. And one driver of note that moved on to prove that he could race on asphalt as well, Dale Earnhardt cut his racing teeth at Concord Motor Speedway. In the 70's several race scenes from the movie "Last American Hero" were filmed here. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Unfortunately, progress encroached on Concord Motor Speedway in the 70's. The land was sold for a housing development and racing ended. [/FONT]

 

Here is the trailer from Last American Hero.




You gotta love some of the dialog:

Valerie Perrine (in bed, ready for hubba hubba) " What's your sign?"

Junior Jackson (Jeff Bridges) "Oh Ford, I reckon. It's been real good to me lately...."


Now that's good stuff right there.

I want to say that the paved speedway seen in the clip ever-so-briefly is the old Darlington before it was reconfigured to its modern form. And there is a fleeting glimpse of the old Hickory Speedway RIP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQVFjJ13eTY&NR=1


Correct? Anybody want to venture a guess???

 

For the eggheads on the HAMB.

http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC02folder/lasthero.html

An essay about the portrayal of the working class stiff in the American Hero film...not such a bad essay really. It just provides a little more context about the South, working class sensibilities and values at the time, and maybe a little insight on the cultural landscape that surrounded these wonderful old racetracks.

If you can connect the dots and think about our modern society, is it any real wonder these historic places are being abandoned, discarded, and overlooked (even for their historical significance)?

What a shame.

 

phartman... that 1/2 mile track that French Grimes bought is right about where I raced in '85....is it the old Log Cabin Raceway ? It was a 1/2 mile dirt with some monster concrete outside walls..( I hit 'em hard in turns 1 & 2 ). It had a tunnel coming into the infield and the road to it ran by an old log cabin.

We worked at W&B Chevrolet in Bassett, Va. in the body shop at the time and ran the cars out of Masters Body Shop in Oak Level.....wow....talk about a blast from the past...