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

old tracks in the south

 

more. mostly blaney

 

does anyone know if this car still exist.

 

Eweird, great pics. Thanks for posting. Love that Anglia out of Columbia, SC.

 

A very informative thread on Chester Dragstrip by Frank Spittle. Here's the link:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8594342#post8594342

 

Similar link on Shuffletown strip near Charlotte. Interesting.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=254972&highlight=shuffletown

 

rumor has it that there a 57 t bird gasser in a shed in adams run, s.c,. the guy parked it when walterboro drag strip closed in the early 70's. i try to find out more.

 

Thanks phartman. I have planned to research Chester for 25 years but am just now getting around to it. It has been very rewarding for me.

 

Richmond, VA 1929.

Here is the article that goes with the photograph:

http://vahistorical.wordpress.com/2...n-the-early-automobile-and-racing-industries/

 

hey Pete, I just found these today in Hillbilly reds restarant on Williamsburg road just before 7 pines

 

Thanks, John. I gotta go check that place put. Hear the bbq is terrific. Thanks for posting.

 

Yes great BBQ and plenty for the price the owner is a car guy as well. I enjoyed talking to him about his picture collection. It brought back memory's of the old days of racing that I was a part of ..

 

Thanks for posting those great pics. Brings back many pleasant memories of how racing used to be and ought to be.

 

L. D. Ottinger preparing for a race @ the old Tennessee-Carolina Speedway circa 1962.

 

Live in Roanoke. Went to Starkey as a kid, barely remember it. My uncle ran modifieds on it.The Penn Forest subdivision was it's ruin. Complaints of noise by the rednecks I guess. About 10 years ago you could see the light poles, everything is gone now.
I ride all over Floyd all the time on the dirt roads. Never saw the old track. Knew there was one. Where was it? The photos arent showing anymore on the thread.
I believe that Paul Radford and another driver from Vinton, Toby Nolen once were co owners of it. Or that might have been the Pilot track.
The pic is Billy Hensley at Starkey in the last year.

 

Don't think anyone ever answered this but Starkey/Roanoke Drag Strip was on Buck Mountain Rd. It's now a sub division, but you can still kinda see the lay of the strip by the road into the sub division. The old Starkey Speedway was about a half mile away across the RR tracks on Merriman Rd..The Plastics One plant and the parks sit on the land. There was a big dirt track then they made a smaller asphalt track inside of it. The asphalt one was the popular track and even had a NASCAR race on it in the early 60's. Believe I've got a program from it. Starkey stuff is hard to find! Won't mention a name, but I've seen a tag surround from the track at an old racers house. Perk Brown 'owned' Starkey. Won there continuously in the Mason's Garage #45 37 Chevy straight back coach, as well as 36 straightback coaches.. Glen Wood came down with his #16 37 Slant back backseat driver car and did well too. I've collected a ton of pics of these early mods. Know alot of the drivers and builders. It's been fun as hell!!
Also, Harold Smith owns the Lakeview Dragstrip in Oak Level/ Stanleytown. He's wrote a great book on his racing career called 56 years of Racing...and Still Winning. His nephew sales it on Ebay.

 

The Flash. Early years!

 

Know where this car is setting right now!

 

Still at the Ferrum museum? Or back in the garsge?

 

Back in the garage.

 

Rakes still own it don't they?

 

No Midkiff!

 

couple of nice little 900 sporsters, that twin engine hd dragbike of yours, what size were the engines? Im guessing 103" or at least 96" judging by the big finless jugs, coooool thread so much history, you americans are so damn lucky to have abandoned raceways! in nz we're lucky to have any at all. what happended to most of the photos? they seem to have dissapeared?

 

They are 96 cubic inchs per engine and have just been rebuilt. No, at almost 70 I will not be making any passes on it again....just cranking it at a few shows.

After WWII the most exciting entertainment for most guys here in America was racing. It was something new and anyone could do it and a large percentage did. Race tracks of all kinds were built to satisfy the need. Many of the girlfriends and wives were interested too, even if it was just to be with their guy.

But racing is not exciting for many of the young guys here today. Things change over 50 years. There is not the need for a race track or two in every town anymore. That is the main reason so many race tracks have closed. And also the reason this thread is so important to remind us and show others like you how it was here a long time ago.

I have wondered myself why so many pictures have disappeared. The ones I posted of the drag bikes on page 4 are still there

 

I had a 103" shovelhead dragbike which i recently "gave" to my dad. to keep my lady from reminding me to sell it to pay bills etc. we had alot of race activity after the war down here but mostly on the beaches, where guys like burt munro cut there teeth, unfortunatly we missed out on a lot of american tin as the government put huge taxes on american imports after 1930, we didnt really get any harleys over here till about 1988, up till then it was just the odd tired old wla or jd that was available, we did get a few old 35" indians but they were painfully slow and a good 15" triumph could run rings round one. there were a few airport runways that the americans built during the war that got closed occasionly for car an motorcycle racing events, and street curcuits were quite common and still are today in the smaller towns, but i enjoy the rich history of nascar and its great to read about it from the people that were there. amazing thread and thanks for sharing.

 

I would invite each and every one of you to check out the Stock Car RacersReunion web site and even join if you are so inclined:

http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/

The site currently has over 10,000 members, including many "old" racers and thousands of photos of early years racing, especially at "ghost" tracks in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Many individual "clubs" are found on the site remembering specific tracks and drivers.

You can't go wrong taking a peek: http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/

 

Here is a photo of the Floyd Raceway 1955

 

Looks like it's snowing!