Goodnight, Old Dominion Speedway; May Re-open in 2014 in New Location on I-95

Sadly, the last event has been staged at one of NASCAR's most famous short tracks. Manassas, Virginia's Old Dominion Speedway, operated for many years by the Gore family, has ended all racing on both the oval track and drag strip.

The history of the facility would fill more pages than Jeff would allow. It would fill a book. What is currently called the NASCAR Late Model Stock Car was conceived at this venerable old racing plant by the Gores as an affordable alternative to Late Model Sportsman racing.

While Grand National/Cup races were staged at Old Dominion, it gained fame for NASCAR Modified-Sportsman and Late Model Sportsman events, especially the annual Bill Bogley Gold Cup LMS race that drew the best NASCAR short track drivers from all over the country.

There is hope that the facility may relocate as detailed in the following story. I sure hope that is the case for the oval track and drag racing fans of Northern Virginia.

We held off two separate invasions by the "Damned" Yankees at Manassas, but we've been unable to fend off "progress" in the way of suburbia. R.I.P. Old Dominion Speedway. I saw some wonderful races sitting in your stands. Another "feeder" track is now gone and NASCAR sits on it's arse counting television dollars. At least the story headline is optimistic. Time will tell.

Old Dominion Speedway on the move
By: KIPP HANLEY | For the Stafford County Sun
Published: October 17, 2012

MANASSAS, Va. Barring any last-second snafus, OId Dominion Speedway will be shutting its doors for good in a few weeks.

Owner Steve Britt recently purchased a piece of land next to the Thornburg exit off Interstate 95 in Spotsylvania County to build a larger racing facility. The plan is to have an oval track, drag strip and road course up and running by 2014 at the new 160-acre site, said Britt.

In addition, Britt said he plans to put retail stores around the track that can benefit the community and racegoers. There are already a few hotels and fast food restaurants on the other side of the Thornburg exit that he believes will benefit from his new facility, said Britt.

According to Britt, the property in Spotsylvania needs to be rezoned from agricultural to commercial. He also is waiting for the rezoning to go through for the current property. Plans have been submitted to Prince William County to build 324 townhomes on the current site.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors is scheduled to hear the rezoning and comprehensive plan amendment for the current site during its Nov. 20 hearing.

Britt said he's sad to shut Old Dominion's doors for good. The current NASCAR-sanctioned track has been in operation in Manassas since 1952.

However, he said making the move makes sense for multiple reasons. Britt believes the current parcel of land is more conducive to residential property. And the new site is not only larger but provides excellent visibility with its proximity to I-95 and Lake Anna, a popular summer vacation spot for many around the state.
"We want to make this a destination," Britt said. "We want to give them a reason to stop during the week."

The new site will likely either be called Dominion Speedway or Dominion Raceway Park, said Britt.

Old Dominion Speedway's 2012 season is finished. However, the raceway is still open for testing and practices for a few more weeks.

From Racing Reference:

NASCAR Sprint Cup Race Recaps - Old Dominion Speedway

Race Date Cars Winner(s) St Make / Model Len Sfc Miles Purse Pole Cau Laps Speed LC
1958-13 04/25/58 25 Frankie Schneider 4 '57 Chevrolet .375 P 56 3,920 69.018 67.590
1963-24 05/18/63 16 Richard Petty 1 '63 Plymouth .375 P 113 4,310 71.580 0 0 70.275
1964-36 07/08/64 20 Ned Jarrett 1 '64 Ford .375 P 150 5,350 73.609 67.652 2
1964-54 09/18/64 20 Ned Jarrett 3 '64 Ford .375 P 188 6,300 74.626 68.842 4
1965-30 07/08/65 24 Junior Johnson 2 '65 Ford .375 P 150 5,550 73.569 1 8 68.165 1
1965-48 09/17/65 30 Richard Petty 2 '65 Plymouth .375 P 150 5,750 73.851 67.890
1966-29 07/07/66 24 Elmo Langley 2 '64 Ford .375 P 150 5,555 73.973 2 68.079 5

7 races

NASCAR Convertible Series Race Recaps - Old Dominion Speedway

Race Date Cars Winner(s) St Make / Model Len Sfc Miles Purse Pole Cau Laps Speed LC
1957-05 03/24/57 18 Joe Weatherly 16 '57 Ford .375 P 56 3,765 67.669 67.365 2

Bill Bogley Gold Trophy

NASCAR Late Model Sportsman race
Old Dominion Speedway, Manassas, VA
June 26, 1971
267 laps on 0.325 mile paved oval; 100.125 miles

Fin St Driver # Owner Car Laps Money Status Laps Led
1 Ray Hendrick 11 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle 267 1,500 running
2 Jimmy Hensley 63 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
3 Ted Hairfield 04 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
4 Paul Radford 44 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
5 Lennie Pond 1va 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
6 Charlie Wierman 65 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
7 Coleman Mann 00 1957 Chevrolet
8 Sonny Hutchins 01 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle
9 Joe Westerman 9 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
10 Bobby Ballentine 21 Ford
11 Melvin Bradley 39 1965 Pontiac
12 Joe Thurman 5 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
13 Rhea Greenwell 32 1963 Ford
14 Bob Glass 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
15 Vincent McWhirt 02 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
16 Ronnie Fones 79 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle
17 Bubba Tatum 27 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
18 Benny Kerley 70 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
19 Sam Sommers 27 1964 Ford
20 Carlton Coleman 7 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
21 Harry Gant 77 1957 Chevrolet
22 Bobby Wilcher 66 1964 Mercury
23 Eddie Card 21 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
24 Tommy Ellis 4X 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
25 Red Farmer 26 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
26 Satch Worley 21 Chevrolet Chevelle
27 Herman Wells 99 Chevrolet Chevelle
28 Joe Faulk 40 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
29 Jimmy Mairs 0 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
30 Reds Kagle 02 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle

Race Purse: $ 25,000

Someday within the next twenty years, the suburbs will have put an end to every virtually track in the country. The France family will have killed NASCAR by then, and EA Sports will control all motor racing in America with their online virtual series.

It will be cheaper for the fans and safer for the racers. If real racing sticks around long enough for the programmers to get the physics right, it will be just as good as the real thing. Don't be surprised if real football is gone too. Too many recruiting scandals, too many concussions and career-ending fractures. Basketball will die off from a combination of high player salaries and high felony arrest records.

Genuine baseball will survive; it's the American sport. But Soccer will be bigger.

A grim picture to imagine. Since I'm not into online gaming, video games, or whatever that stuff is, guess I'll be out in the cold for my racing fix.

As a driver you would be. But as a spectator it would be as real as what you see now. You'd just turn on your home TV/computer/entertainment system and it would be right there just as it is now. Probably no burning rubber smell though. As a driver, it probably would be much the same as it is now, except that you don't have to sit in rolling oven and it won't hurt when you hit the wall.

Computers and their graphics give a pretty good approximation of reality now. Twenty years from now, they'll be miles better. Besides, everyone will have become accustomed to and accepting of the appearance of computer graphics. It's happening now with movies and TV commercials. There's a lot more fakery out there than most people realize.

Virtual sports will be easier for everyone. No worries about weather or life-altering injuries. No municipal bonds floated to build a new sports stadium. Your home team will never be bought up and moved cross-country. No trainers or medical teams. No maintenance, cleanup, parking or insurance. No travel or equipment costs. Well actually, you'd still need to design stadiums, uniforms, etc, but you'd pay a programmer to do that and there would be no ongoing expenses beyond the creation.

Modern NASCAR computer games are very realistic. The interfaces vary from a hand-held joystick to multi-thousand dollar rigs with built in sound and vibration. A lot of the barriers that prevent a good driver from moving up today could be eliminated. In the case of stick-and-ball games, not all athleticism would be lost. Players might be rigged up with body sensors and pull all the moves of an actual game but in their living rooms.

Not all that I imagine will come true, but it is so much cheaper for sports team owners that I can't imagine them turning it down if virtual sports became possible. There's big money in virtual reality, but nobody has figured out how to exploit it yet. People didn't understand the benefits of watching TV on a 12"screen instead of going to the movies, but they came around. The future will be different, my friend. Maybe not better, but different. Just like today, some of it you'll like and some things will make you wish for the old days.

Dave, we know this story all to well, don't we? It's deja'-vu all over again. We can only hope the rosy press release happens. But, it's wishful thinking to hope for NASCAR to save the Saturday night tracks. Especially now with the fat 33% Fox increase; a'int no problems in NASCAR-land.

The King had two wins at Old Dominion - the first in 1963 and the second in 1965.

Though brief and without much detail, here is my blog entry about RP's 1963 win:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/05/may-18-this-day-in-petty-history.html

His 1965 victory was one of two Petty wins that I was unable to find any meaningful information. Please contact me if you have any articles, photos, program cover, ticket stub, memories, etc. you could share about Richard's win on September 17, 1965.

The replacement track for Old Dominion Speedway has obtained NASCAR sanction and willbegin hosting weekly races, along with NASCAR specialevents such as K&Nin April, 2016:

http://www.richmond.com/sports/auto-racing/article_bba7191a-c304-55...

And:

http://ovaltrack.dominionraceway.com/

A practice session for NASCAR Late Model Stock Cars was held on December 15, 2015 at the new Dominion Raceway in Virginia between Richmond and Fredericksburg on I-95. Here are some photos released by the track: