Forum Activity for @dave-fulton

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
02/02/16 11:22:03AM
9,138 posts

The forgotten Norfolk Speedway


Stock Car Racing History

A couple of items from the website LittleJoeWeatherly.com regarding Norfolk & Virginia Beach tracks:

Virginia Beach Speedway: A 3/8 mile sand oval built on the intersection of Witchduck Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard in 1948. It was used through until 1960, and was also known as Joe Weatherly Speedway and Chinese Corner Speedway.


Chinese Corner Speedway. Thats a track that Joe Weatherly and Paul Sawyer (of Richmond International track fame) promoted.

Norfolk had two racetracks in the '40s: Virginia Beach and Princess Anne speedways. About this time Paul Sawyer started building race cars with an early NASCAR star and fellow Norfolkian and Virginia native, Joe Weatherly. In the early '50s, Weatherly asked Sawyer to invest in a speedway in Wilson, N.C. and Virginia Beach. With a $5,000 investment, Sawyer took the raceway ownership, management and promotional plunge. Sawyer bought Joe Weatherly out in 1956.

Sawyer also became involved in the Virginia Beach Speedway on Virginia Beach Boulevard near Witchduck Road, and in 1955, Sawyer joined Weatherly as co-owner of Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway (aka Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds") - the humble dirt-track precursor of today's 83,000-seat facility. The Virginia Beach speedway was also promoted as the Joe Weatherly Speedway.

By 1960, events conspired to cause Sawyer to sharpen his focus on Richmond. On Easter Sunday 1958, a fire wiped out the Wilson track, and by 1960, escalating rents at the Virginia Beach speedway and lack of expansion space for parking made its continued operation unfeasible.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
01/24/16 11:51:02AM
9,138 posts

Tommie Clinard


General

Sure thinking of and praying for Tommie. Appreciate the alert, Johnny.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
01/28/16 12:21:00PM
9,138 posts

NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction


Current NASCAR

Margaret Sue with "Pops" 1966. Courtesy Virginia International Raceway:

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
01/24/16 11:49:00AM
9,138 posts

NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction


Current NASCAR

Indeed it was. The speeches of bothMargaret Sue and Terry Labonte exuded pure C L AS S.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
01/13/16 01:27:18PM
9,138 posts

RIP Charlie Binkley


Stock Car Racing History

Thoughts and prayers top friends and loved ones.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
04/07/16 10:42:09PM
9,138 posts

Rockingham


Current NASCAR

Not unanticipated unfortunately.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
01/13/16 01:25:48PM
9,138 posts

Rockingham


Current NASCAR

I'll reserve judgement. Don't know these folks. There's a lot more to successfully promoting races than just opening the gates, though.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
01/07/16 10:20:04AM
9,138 posts

Richmond Removing Backstretch Stands


Current NASCAR

At the rate they're going, ISC will soon tear down all the seats at Richmond that we worked so hard to build back in the 90s. The news item of the latest Richmond grandstandtear downbrings tears to my eyes. I watched every one of those seats constructed on a daily basis when I was Media Relations Director at Richmond from 1990-1999. Just pitiful.

From 112,029 seats to 60,000 and they still can't sell them. What am I missing?

The entire area where fans spelled out "God Bless America " on the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 attack will be gone.

Here's what they were writing about my dear, old Richmond track a brief 13 years ago, in Feb. 2003. My, how times have changed in the Brian France decade:

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
01/01/16 07:28:50PM
9,138 posts

Racing History Minute - New Year's Day Racing


Stock Car Racing History

I never see the name Eastaboga that I don't think of part-time stock car racer and fulltime trucker, Johnny Ray of Eastaboga setting the world's closed course speed record for a full tractor-trailer rig at Alabama International Motor Speedway (what is now called Talladega SuperSpeedway) in 1975. I don't know what Johnny Mallonee was doing that day.

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