Spartanburg Fairgrounds Modifieds Color Film Footage - Circa 1950

Came across this incredible footage of the old Spartanburg Speedway I thought some of you might appreciate. It's a real treasure to finally get to see this historic track in action, with the added bonus of seeing these cars in color so we can finally know what their paint jobs really looked like. There is another track at the end of the footage which I think is Dayton, Ohio?

Here are some still frame captures of the cars. Anyone know the drivers?

#70 is Cotton Owens. #88 might be Frankie Schnieder. #11 Fireball Roberts?

great link Robert. The back third of the tape sure looks like the old Dayton Speedway..

There are two purple & white #70s - 70 & 70A. One has a larger angular number, and the other has a smaller fancier number with the 'A' underneath. Cotton is definitely driving one of those, but who is driving the other?

I too think the #11 is the classic Fireball Roberts coupe.

I think the red, white, & blue #87 is either Buddy Shuman or Buck Baker. Probably Baker. Shuman originally built, owned and drove the #87 and an identical #86. I think I remember reading that he sold Buck Baker the #87 car sometime in late '50/early '51. Baker was associated with the number 87 ever since he bought that car from Shuman.

Glad you enjoyed it, Bill. I wasn't sure about the Dayton film but I did see a guy wearing a Dayton Speedway jacket.

Hi Perry,

The film doesn't belong to me, I just came across it while digging around on Youtube. The poster didn't tag it, so it doesn't show up in a search.

If you click on the Youtube icon in the bottom right of the embedded video it will take you to the original poster's page. His screen name is "allendale101". You could send him a message through Youtube about the film if you'd like.

Perry, there are two purple & white #70 cars - one has an 'A' and the other doesn't. If Cotton is driving one, who do you think was driving the other?

Great photo! I can't wait to hear what Bud says about the film.

I don't think the guy who posted it on Youtube even knew what track it was. I just recognized that it was Spartanburg by seeing the grandstand while watching it the first time. I did leave him a comment saying I thought it was Spartanburg and Dayton, but he never replied.

Here is a direct link to the video for your convenience -

He has a ton of other early stock car films on his page, most from up north but I will be looking through more of them to see if there are other clips from southern tracks.

Here are some other films he has -

Charlotte Speedway - April 1, 1951 -

Langhorne - June 21, 1953 -

Hillsboro 1951 -

Martinsville - May 6, 1951 -

Darlington - First Race - Sept 4, 1950 -

Daytona - Modifieds - 1953 -

Martinsville - May 20, 1956 -

There are others of Daytona, Martinsville, Charlotte, and lots from northern tracks.

Here are the two #70 Plymouth cars side by side -

I would really like to know who these drivers are -

Here is the man in the hat talking to the #82 driver -

Frank Schnieder's #88 from the 1951 Langhorne National Championship race.

Thanks, Bobby! That's the exact same car in '51, so I'm starting to feel this Spartanburg race is also '51.

I found this bad quality picture of the car -

Perry, thanks for the update! It's understandable they can't say for sure the facts on something 60+ years ago. I hope they get to enjoy the film, though.

I do have one lead on when this race was. I had suspected it could have actually been 1951 because Buck Baker supposedly bought that #87 from Buddy Shuman in late '50. Also, Bobby Williamson posted a pic of an identical #88 Frank Schneider car at Langhorne in '51.

Then I found this article of a race on Saturday March 31, 1951 -

Unfortunately the copy was bad and you can't see most of the print. And the pre-race articles were the same, but I could read just enough to see that Buck Baker, Buddy Shuman, Fonty Flock, and Cotton Owens were in the race, and Bill Holland failed to make the field with engine trouble in qualifying. I couldn't read any of the other participants because of the bad copy.

If you notice in the film, there are no leaves on the trees and people are wearing long sleeves and jackets which would indicate it was very late in the year or very early. That March 31, 1951 race was the first race of the year. There were two other races that year on July 4 won by Speedy Thompson, and October 11 won by Cotton Owens.

That very well could be the race. Can't be sure though without seeing better copies of the pre-race and post-race articles. If you could check those at the library we may be able to know a lot more.

Here are some of the bad print pre-race articles for the March 31, 1951 race -

Also, Eubanks won a race in Hendersonville NC the next day -

Will do, Perry. Have a great time on vacation!

Perry, did you find out anything about this race yet? Anything helpful at the library or Bud's scrapbooks?