Black River Speedway ~ Andrews, SC
Stock Car Racing History
Eric, you have the pic upside down...
Forum Activity for @dirtshooter
Legion Stadium, Wilmington, NC
Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks
I ran up on this track last week. I found the following article on myreporter.com The aerial that got me interested is below from 1969.
Legion Stadium has been the hub of Wilmington’s sports scene since its construction in the mid 1930s. Automobile racing was part of that scene from the facility’s beginning.
Newspaper clippings from October 1937 and 1938 advertise “AAA-Sanctioned races” at the “American Legion track of the Coastal Fair grounds,” the name Legion Stadium went by before completion of the athletic fields a few years later.
Automobile exhibitions were frequent as well. Several ads from the 1940s promise “action, thrills, speed, crashes!” with the Jimmy Lynch Death Dodgers. The Hell Drivers, with what was described as a “daredevil leap,” were also a popular attraction in the ’40s.
Motorcycle exhibitions were held at Legion during the ’40s, and a 1948 newspaper article describes a request to the New Hanover County commissioners to open the stadium to motorcycle races that summer.
Records from the 1950s and ’60s are sketchy, as no public clip files exist from those decades. Local racing legend Hoss Ellington, a member of the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame who moved to the Port City in 1961, said he recalls car races at Legion in the ’60s, but he did his racing around a dirt track that was located near Snow’s Cut just north of Carolina Beach.
Another local sports historian, Tommy Walton, remembers motorcycle races at Legion in the ’50s and ’60s, but didn’t recall any auto races.
A most unlikely source revealed not everyone in Wilmington was thrilled with auto racing at the stadium. Billboard, the national amusement industry publication based in Chicago, has a small article in its June 26, 1954 issue about the Wilmington city council allowing Sunday afternoon racing despite the protests of residents who lived near the track.
The race track at Legion disappeared in the early 1970s as the once-thriving horse racing facilities there were dismantled and the focus of the complex turned to football and baseball.
Date posted: February 12, 2010
Gaffney Speedway
Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks
I run up on this diddy searching for Gaffney Speedway in the June 5th,1955 Sunday morning Spartanburg Herald-Journal. The track was located on the south side of Old Racetrack Road just east of SC 150 about 4.2 miles SSW of town. (Aerial is 1966)
Hunt for Riverside photos
Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks
I ran across this one today, it is a fairly early shot. Notice no oval in turn 9, no 7B & no track support structures have been constructed as of yet.
Zion XRoads Speedway, Hilltop Speedway & Central Va. Raceway Were All the Same Track on U.S. 250
Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks
Google Earth coords 37°58'13.41"N 78°12'22.48"W
Between US 250 & I-64 at the end of Jackson Heights Rd. 0.7 miles due east of Zion Crossroads
Baton Rouge International Speedway
Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks
When I was young (5-8 y.o.) JIS was my home track, 1969-72. I have very few memories of it. I do remember the very low 1 rail armco guardrail down the backstretch that was very easy to go over. Also the treacherous "3 foot flat lip" on the frontstretch, that would suck you into the front wall if you got your right sides off the banking onto the flat.
Jackson was one bad fast joint. It and Winchester swapped the "Supermodified World record" regularly.
Lake Speed of NASCAR fame and former karting World Champion drove late model Camaros there.
The "track rule" was under caution, if you pit, you get your spot back in the lineup. Regardless of how many laps you were in for service as long as you were back on track before one to go. With all the crazy rules NASCRAP has implemented in the last few years maybe this will be next! LMAO 
Zion XRoads Speedway, Hilltop Speedway & Central Va. Raceway Were All the Same Track on U.S. 250
Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks
Here is Zion Crossroad Speedway
