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

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Took this pic of a junkyard just up the road from the track. Evidence of the glory days is everywhere you look.



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i wonder if i could get my hands on one of those........even though it wouldnt be HAMB compatible. it would be violently fun

 

I won my first trophy in my '51 Chevy at Starlight Dragstrip, a dirt dragstrip, at the age of 17 in 1961. A year later the owners converted it to Starlight Speedway and it became a very popular dirt round track until the town of Monroe expanded out to it. Great thread that is bringing back fond memories.

 

If you have doubts about how quickly a racetrack goes downhill, take a look at these photos. Here's a shot or two of Harper's Speedway (aka King's Speedway) just north of Raleigh in the little community of Kittrell, NC. It operated up until about 5 years ago. Typical little dirt track bull ring. Dozens and dozens used to operate. Seems like way back when every tobacco farmer in Virginia or the Carolinas had a race car.

Here's Harper's in 2005:






A couple weeks ago, I visited Harper's. Here's what I found. Abandoned.

"For out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
Genesis 3:19

 

I attended the first race there in the late '60s. It was rumored Richard Petty was the largest investor. They knew they didn't have to worry about noise ordinances at the airport but it was a dirt track ajoining a large housing development that had dust on everything after a race even with watering the track. I believe they were given the option of paving but decided to close. Somebody lost a ton of money.

 

Shuffletown Dragway. The first picture is my first Harley in '65, the second is my first Fuel Harley in '69 and the last is my twin engine Harley T/F Bike in '83.

 

I could be wrong but I think this is Shadyside Dragway when it was dirt and ran in the opposite direction than what it does today... Great thread BTW!

 

The Charlotte Board Track in the '20s. Charlotte has a long tradition with automobile racing. The old Fairgrounds Dirt Track on North Tryon Street has not been mentioned here yet.

 

Phartman, as is often the case, wikipedia has it about half right.

Asheville-Weaverville closed because it got in such a state of disrepair that Nascar told them to either fix it up or they'd pull the races. At that time, A-W had two 500 lap GN races, one in the spring and one in the fall. The family that owned the track must've figured Nascar was bluffing, but they were wrong. Nascar did pull the races, and the owners blew what would've eventually been a goldmine as tracks like this were sold to Bruton Smith or to others just so they could get the race dates to move to bigger tracks. People around here still shake their heads in disbelief anytime the subject of A-W comes up, and how it went out of operation.

FWIW, this wasn't a case of Nascar being unreasonable. I was at one of the last 250 milers run at A-W, and a good part of the wall separating the pits from the track had been knocked down at some previous time and never fixed. The track itself had so many piecemeal patches you'd have thought it was some 3rd world donkey path. During that race, a car got crossed up coming off the 4th turn and smacked the pit wall. Not that hard, but the concrete was so deteriorated that it knocked another good size chunk out of it. If it had been a solid head on lick there's little doubt one or more pit crew guys would've likely left in body bags.

Funny thing was, the owners wouldn't repair the track, but they wouldn't sell it either. Several people tried to buy it, including the owner of Bristol. Yet they sold it to the county for nothing more than rural farmland prices just a few years later.

I think that pic of Bob Pressley was taken at New Asheville. A bunch of us used to be there every Friday night thru the entire season in the last half of the 60's. The well known regulars were Bob, Jack Ingram, Harry Gant, Morgan Sheperd, Bosco Lowe, the Houston brothers, Ned Setzer from Hickory (very successful at NAS), Dick Plemmons from Asheville (won something like 19 of 21 races one season). Lee Roy Yarborough would show up 3 or 4 times a year and drive a car owned by a local body shop. Jimmy Lineberger, from down around Hickory, was always a strong runner too, and won quite a few races. Great racing in both Sportsman and Limited Sportsman classes, and a regular comedy show when they'd run the rookie class as the last race of the nite. They had to run the rookies last because it'd take the track crew a half hour to pick up all the pieces that fell off or got knocked off in a 30 lapper. Its amazing how easy it is to flip a car once you've "stiffened up the suspension" by putting grease fittings in the shocks and pumped them full of chassis lube

NAS wasn't zoned out of existence. It was bought by a local accountant who was an absolute jackass. It became obvious pretty quick that his only real interest was in turning a quick buck in whatever he did, and the deal he made with Riverlink to buy the track was a result of him playing them and their pot full of money off against a few other potential buyers who would've kept the track going.

Typical of his type, once the sale was made he tried to portray himself as some great contributor to the good of the community in his decision to sell to Riverlink and effectively kill off stock car racing in Asheville forever. Riverlink is a collection of tree huggers and earth nuggets who were foaming at the mouth to buy the site, and they probably paid at least twice what it was worth. Lots of folks around here still have no use for the Riverlink organization or for the guy who sold to them. I'd be a member of that group too

Great thread by the way.

 

Not trying to hi jack this thread but I was wondering if anyone had any pictures or imformation about the Chattanooga Speedway in Chattanooga Tn? Was a 1/2 mile dirt track later shortened to a 1/4 mile. Was located off Hooker road close to Chattanooga Creek. Ran on Sunday afternoons in late '40s to about '50. Thanks

 

Poff's Garage, Bent Mountain, VA between Roanoke and Floyd. A ton of racecars have come out of this place ever since the '50s. Still in operation today.

 

Here is a pic and video from Spartanburg Dragway in Spartanburg, S.C. that operated from 1965 to 1984 or 1985. I was in high school when it shutdown. Check out the video. Cool stuff!

http://youtu.be/Kq_J4RoQ8Qk

 

Bosco Lowe from Fairview, NC. I hadn't heard that name in many years. Thanks for the memories.

 

chinese corner in norfolk?

 

There was a dirt track in the Rhodhiss Granite Falls area of N.C., that I've seen a pic of. But I believe its completely gone now, This would have been in the 40's judging by the cars I saw in the pic. Keevers Key Service here in Hickory has the pic of this track on his wall. I never heard of it before. It looked like it was just carved out of the dirt. Anybody hear of this one? Might have been the Sawmill Speedway.

 

Just in case you missed it, there was a nice thread earlier this year on the Goldfinger Chevelle that raced in the Fayetteville area in the mid-Sixties. I remember the car vividly because it was one of the few VA/Carolinas racecars ever featured in Hot Rod Magazine. The thread has a wonderful shot posted by Super-Six of the old Fayetteville facility. Check out the thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=339962

 

Another pic of the old Fayetteville facility, this time from Larry Davis' book Super Stock: Drag Racing the Family Sedan.


And it is important to note that Fayetteville Drag Strip is still going strong. The "new" track, that is. We're talking about the old, narrow one that is gone, gone, gone (and probably for the good of everyone's safety. The old place was pretty scary).

 

Dragstrips at airports...how old-school is that? We had four that I'm aware of in Virginia. 'Mo already mentioned the track at Emporia that was an NHRA site at one time and got event coverage in Hot Rod. They used to race at the airport at Petersburg, too. The site is at the Dinwiddie Airport, off Route 460, not far from Virginia Motorsports park is located now. Suffolk Dragstrip operated in Chesapeake; and New London Dragstrip, located between Lynchburg and Bedford, VA.

Of these four, only New London survives.


Suffolk Dragstrip clips on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBLQlt44sLM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXiccquIM0I

Suffolk during the glory days...

 

Thats some good stuff!!

 

Your clip is the only known footage from the dragstrip.

From an earlier thread on the HAMB, much appreciated pics of what the dragstrip looks like today, posted by Tuckerboy.

Thanks, fellas.

Lost Dragstrips Thread for more Spartanburg pics
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=313182&page=16

 

wow! thats a cool pic. curtis.

 

the old walterboro drag strip at the waterboro airport. it ran from 55 to 72. it was also a very sucessfull road course there too,[ just like sebring] until the fine people of this town shut them both down....idiots! kustom riv found the trophy at a local antique store. the asphalt is still there its just a driveway at the airport,which is now the largest non commercial air port in the southeast.

 

This thread is awesome! Such rad history here.

 

garlits ran there too.

 

there was also one in chester s.c. this is the only info i have on it.

 

anyone have any pics. of blaney drag strip in elgin, s.c. ? thats where i smelled nitro for the first time. the dixie finals in oct. good memories!

 

http://wediditforlove.com/DragCity.html

And more early photos of Blaney here:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/22544








Look carefully at this photo. Look above the car body. That's the blower! Car body is coming off the chassis! Yikes.

 

Ah yes, good old Suffolk Raceway, not only did I race there but went skydiving there too. Got to watch three or four runs as I was floating down. Its amazing how much noise those cars made at 3,000 feet in the air!

 

A couple of really random thoughts here....

If you enjoy looking at racetracks, old cars, architecture, urban archeology, etc. you might enjoy this book. Highly recommended. A meditation on why particular historical objects and artifacts evoke such strong emotion in certain ones of us.



Historical objects require context for us to derive their full meaning. We're examining context today in a thread like Fading Thunder, ie, trying to get at what it all means, lest we forget.

The context has changed (ie many tracks have disappeared), but what about the people and the cars? Can these tracks now absent from the landscape still have an influence from the grave on contemporary society?

I believe they can.

Here around Richmond, VA where I live, there are a growing number of streetcars built by old timers who are beyond the time that they can get out and race (and so many of the tracks are gone anyway), but they still want to raise hell. It is not an uncommon site to see cars on the street that are heavily influenced by the old modifieds and sprint cars that were once commonly found at the tracks on Friday and Saturday night. These cars have full race motors, chassis, quick change rears, roll cages, and all the speed tricks. And gray beards driving them are grinning from ear-to-ear.

The tracks may be gone, but their influence is not lost....


From full-blown, historically accurate restorations that remind us of "the way it used to be...."




To street driven cars with tons of historical influence....






Finally, if you missed the chance to see many of these tracks and you regret it, there is an operating track about to go under. Don't miss the opportunity to go there and see it in person. The ECTA track at Maxton, NC will not operate after this year. Same old story guys. It is shutting down in the name of "progress." So go, be there, be part of history at the last running. You won't regret it.

http://www.ecta-lsr.com/?page_id=68

 

"Progress may have been alright once, but it has gone on too long"
Ogden Nash

 

He got that right....

Scrapiron, the caretaker at North Wilkesboro told me there used to be a track at Mt. Airy. You know anything about that?

And any information on the track locally there in Independence or the one up in Floyd? Please post up any information you might have. Very much appreciated.

Thanks.