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

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by phartman, Aug 19, 2011.

  1. A neat old place just north of Raleigh is the 4/10ths mile dirt track a short ways off I-85 between the town of Creedmore and the community of Stem, NC. One of the lists has it named "Tri-Cities Speedway" but I don't recall that name. My dad took me there in the late '60s and we watched local racers like "Farmer" John Matthews. While green is considered an unlucky color by many racers, Farmer John insisted on it as "it's the color of tobacco and the color of money."

    The infield is now a lake, but the timing tower is there as well as the concession stands.

    You can feel the spirits of racers past lurking about.....

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    Standing in Turn 1 looking at Turn 2...

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  2. Great thread,, you mention Union County in NC, was that also known as Starlite Speedway in the seventies?
    Also in Charlotte was Metrolina at the fairgrounds.Ned Jarrett promoted there and Hickory in the seventies. It ran as dirt and pavement over time.
    There was also a 11/2? mile board track in Pineville in the 20's.
     
  3. Ob1
    Joined: Jan 21, 2010
    Posts: 411

    Ob1
    Member

  4. This particular version of the Swamprat has a connection to another abandoned dragstrip, this one at Emporia, VA. Here is something about it from the Garlits Museum:

    In 1960, Swamp Rat III was the first 4130 chrome-moly tubing car built by Garlits. Piloted by Connie Swingle, it carried a 1957 392 Hemi and ran a best of 8.23 seconds at 186.46 mph, but after winning many races, the car eventually was destroyed in a top-end crash in August, 1961 at Emporia, VA, when its parachute failed. The car in the museum is an operating re-creation built mostly from period-correct parts.
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    Swamp Rat III –A, B and C: These were the first chrome moly tubing cars to come out of the Garlits Automotive in Tampa Florida. Ironically Connie Swingle is the only one who ever drove them in competition. SR III-B was the first car into the magic 7 second bracke

    Swamp Rat III –A, B and C: These were the first chrome moly tubing cars to come out of the Garlits Automotive in Tampa Florida. Ironically Connie Swingle is the only one who ever drove them in competition. SR III-B was the first car into the magic 7 second bracket, 7.88, and Connie did this at Blaney SC, then at Thompson Ohio Swingle almost hit the 200 MPH zone with a blistering 198.22! The “A” car was destroyed at Emporia Virginia and the “B” car was destroyed in a canal outside of Savannah Georgia. The “C” car was sold to Paul Vanderly and disappeared, probably scraped after an accident. All three cars have been rebuilt or recreated, the “A” car from the bent frame from Emporia, the “B” car completely recreated for Sonny Messner in Acton California and the “C” car recreated. The “A” and “C” cars are on display at the Drag Racing Museum and both are running cars.


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  5. There were three dragstrips at one time near Boiling Springs, NC. All at the time (the '50s) were sand and dirt. Sandy Run ('57-65), Hilltop ('58-'60), and Shadyside. Only Shadyside remains.

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    Last edited: Aug 19, 2011
  6. Raven53
    Joined: Jan 12, 2009
    Posts: 442

    Raven53
    Member
    from Irwin Pa

    Boy a lot of truth here.........they decided to go politicaly correct and ran off their true good ol fan base ......the races now a days are no more than the old race of champions series with different colored cars. And we all know how well that worked out for them. I have been a season ticket holder at Bristol Motor Speedway since 1990 and Its a crime what they did to that great track ...It's a shame what they have done to the sport all in the name of sponsor dollars...well the empy seats are sending quite a message.
     
  7. OahuEli
    Joined: Dec 27, 2008
    Posts: 5,243

    OahuEli
    Member
    from Hawaii

    I gotta agree, went to Richmond several times, South Boston and Charlotte in the '80s and '90s and always had a great time. When I lived in Portsmouth there was always a party on race day at someones house. Between the new cars that all look the same and the cry baby drivers I've lost interest. Too bad, it used to be something to look forward to.
     
  8. Also disappearing from the landscape are buildings and places that are the supporting cast of characters of the racing scene here in Virginia and the Carolinas. One good example, not yet abandoned, but I'll put on the "endangered species" list.

    Paul Radford was an extraordinary racer here in Virginia. He's known as The Ferrum Flash as he lives in Ferrum, VA. And many people know that until fairly recently, he and his wife Hattie ran Paul's Barbeque, just outside of Ferrum.

    But way back when there was another restaurant he ran...The 77 in "downtown" Ferrum. You see, his car number was 77. The folklore is that he lost the 77 in a poker game one night and had to relocate up the road. The restaurant still operates under the old name. But it's always one change of ownership or "modernization" away from disappearing.

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    Another example...Swansboro Motor Company on Midlothian Turnpike here in Richmond. Don't recognize the name? How about Junie Donlavy? That help?

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

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    Junie (who called everybody "Chief") ran a successful operation and enjoyed some success. Here's his car at Daytona. He had a winning partnership with Sonny Hutchins at the time.

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    One of the last of the independent racers on the Cup circuit. Always kept his shop here in Richmond and refused to move to Charlotte and the Mooresville area where most of the shops are located today. But the sport simply outgrew him. His shop is still here in town:

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    And who opened up almost across the street from Junie's shop? Local station WRVA. They decided to become a sponsor and broadcast from the racetrack. A little burb about their equipment and the early days of radio and TV broadcasting:

    Here's an early day WTVR TV vehicle. A little later tv station WRVA signed on in Richmond, almost across the street on Midlothian Pike from Junie Donlavey's Swansboro Motor Company race shop. The first WRVA "live truck", which was a converted bread truck, assisted in the first national tv broadcast of a race from a Virginia track in 1965 when ABC's Wide World of Sports telecast Junior Johnson's win and Dick Hutcherson's rollover at the Richmond dirt track. That same Richmond WRVA TV live truck was later purchased by Bob Pearse of Tega Cay, SC and became the backbone mobile production studio for his Charlotte-based Sunbelt Video. Sunbelt was the pioneer in great tv stuff from the track.

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    This section of Richmond is now industrial and light commercial. The radio station has relocated long ago and Swansboro Motor Company is gone, but the building is still there.
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2011
  9. Ronnie Sox is a legend in drag racing circles. He grew up in Burlington, NC. His family ran a gas station there:

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    He first raced at Piedmont Dragstrip- still operating off Mount Hope Church Road east of Greensboro. And at the old abandoned Sanford, NC dragstrip.
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2011
  10. customcory
    Joined: Apr 25, 2007
    Posts: 1,831

    customcory
    Member

    Grew up going by Shuffletown . People would hang out on the bridge where the main road went by, hwy 16. and the state patrol would tell you to go buy a ticket or keep moving. You could see the action good as you went by. The first time we went it was dirt and we sat on the hood of my dads 59 Chevy to watch the racing. You could here them running from the driveway of our house then. We then moved to Hickory in about 1966 and went to the Hickory Speedway when it was still dirt. You can still here them practice over there from my house now. Good thread.
     
  11. rockguy92
    Joined: Jul 18, 2009
    Posts: 1,141

    rockguy92
    Member

    So sad to read about all of these tracks closing, no matter if it is circle, drag, or go-kart track, makes no difference to me. Most close in the name of "Progress". What a pile of BS.

    The Rock
     
  12. 'Mo
    Joined: Sep 26, 2007
    Posts: 7,432

    'Mo
    Member

    I wondered if you'd unearth Emporia Drag Strip. Good job.

    I saw my first drags there. My folks dropped me off on one of their trips to North Carolina.
    (I remember their playing "Heatwave", by Martha and the Vandellas, over and over at the drag strip, so it must have been 1962.)

    Abandoned landing strip, much worse for wear.
    No lights... Flagman at the starting line, flagman at the finish to indicate the winner. Eliminator handicapping was by car lengths measured out on the strip. Both cars would start at the same time at drop of the flag, with the slower classes starting out front. I remember a run for Top Stock Eliminator, in which a Hudson was moved up sixteen lengths (one per class) in front of a '59 Chevy. (He lost, BTW.)

    There were two rails there that first time, and I really wanted to see them race. One went under the moniker "Howard Cams Special" (though not one I've ever seen pictured.) It had an orange frame, and green body panels. The other had a Caddy mill, with a broken rocker arm. The announcer made a request to borrow one from any spectator driving a Caddy, saying the dragster's crew would both remove, and re-install it after the race. Disappointingly, no one obliged. :D

    Closed at darkness. When my folks finally came back to get me, the gates were locked, and I was waiting at roadside. (This was some 80 miles from home, mind you.) At least I was easy to find!
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2011
  13. 'Mo
    Joined: Sep 26, 2007
    Posts: 7,432

    'Mo
    Member

    If any of you Richmonders soaked up suds at "The Hut" (across from Broad Sstreet Station), then you might know that the ever present, bearded owner behind the bar was none other than driving legend, Sonny Hutchins (mentioned in an earlier post).
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2011
  14. breeder
    Joined: Jul 13, 2005
    Posts: 10,948

    breeder
    Member Emeritus

    Sad to see it sitting empty. Killer thread phartman!
     
  15. 'Mo
    Joined: Sep 26, 2007
    Posts: 7,432

    'Mo
    Member

    If you're going to mention Ronny Sox, you might also want to mention North Carolina native Malcolm Durham, the sport's first Afro-American superstar. He started racing at Easy Street Drag Strip (Newton Grove, N.C.), and often put Sox and Martin on the trailer.

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    Last edited: Aug 20, 2011
  16. Mo, thanks for all the info. Malcolm was from Goldsboro, NC.
     
  17. Asheville Speedway in Asheville, NC was also called the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. Close to Weaverville, NC.

    From 1957....

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    Racing legend Bob Pressley at Asheville...

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    From Wickipedia....
    The track was closed from the 1970s to racing, until North Buncombe High School was built on the property of the former track. In the 1970s and 1980s the track was used as softball fields and sports practice fields. The track itself had been disabled by first placing earthen barriers on opposite sides of the track, and later, concrete barriers at 8 locations around the track.
    Not to be confused with the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway, the "New Asheville Speedway" was located on Amboy Road in Asheville, NC, approximately 20 miles south of the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. This track was closed after zoning ordinances forced the track owners to sell the track to the River-Link organization, and Organization that promoted making the French Broad River area of Asheville a public park.

    The New Asheville Speedway aka "goin' down by the river)...Saw a race there in the summer of '76, won by The Ironman, Jack Ingram.

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

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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeIrleA00V4



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    Last edited: Aug 20, 2011
  18. Ob1
    Joined: Jan 21, 2010
    Posts: 411

    Ob1
    Member

    More info I found on the Charleston Rebel Speedway

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    This is how I remember it in the early '90's after being abandoned...

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    How it looks today...

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  20. motoandy
    Joined: Sep 19, 2007
    Posts: 3,334

    motoandy
    Member
    from MB, SC

    Cool place to hold a car show,
     
  21. h2omonkey
    Joined: Dec 8, 2008
    Posts: 165

    h2omonkey
    Member
    from vegas

    talking about va/nc legends, don't forget wendall scott from danville, got to see him in his last race in the late 80's at franklin county speedway, someone let him use their late model stock car, pretty cool to be there for that
     
  22. I got the chance to watch a race once at the Asheville Speedway during the summer of 1961. I don't remember too much about it as I was only ten yrs. old, but I do remember Junior Johnson raced that night in the feature piloting a 1956 Ford.
     

  23. More coming on Wendell.

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    Now, when you say Franklin County Speedway, some of us old-timers know it as Whitey Taylor's track at Calloway, Fastest 3/8ths Mile Track in the Country? I saw many a race there, crewed for a while on Bobby Radford's team (Paul Radford's nephew). Great place.
     

  24. More coming on Wendell.

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    Now, when you say Franklin County Speedway, some of us old-timers know it as Whitey Taylor's track at Callaway (Fastest 3/8ths Mile Track in the Country). I saw many a race there in the mid-'70s, and crewed for a while on Bobby Radford's team (Paul Radford's nephew). Great place.
     
  25. edweird
    Joined: Jan 4, 2009
    Posts: 3,186

    edweird
    Member

    i remember it well. dont forget summerville speedway.
     
  26. I looked through my photo archives for a good pic of the old Callaway Speedway (now called Franklin County). Here's a shot I'm particularly fond of. I took this picture around 1979 or 1980. It's Paul Radford, The Ferrum Flash, still at it charging hard in his Late Model Sportsman car rounding the 4th turn on a Friday night race. Paul was getting up there in age. You can see the beatin' and bangin' the #5 took. Regular action at this terrific little sharply-banked tough, tough track. No place for thin skin.

    Paul could still give as good as he got....

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    Last edited: Aug 20, 2011

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