||


  *Comments on Hickory Speedway:*
  View the most recent comment <#11> | Post a comment <#post>


  1.   Cooper posted:
  03.20.2010 - 6:14 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Hickory Motor Speedway is a short track located in Hickory, North
Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most storied venues, and is
often referred to as "The World's Most Famous Short Track" and the
"Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars".

The track first opened in 1951 as a half mile dirt track. Gwyn Staley
won the first race at the speedway and later became the first track
champion. Drivers such as Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, and Ralph
Earnhardt would also become track champions in the 1950's, Earnhardt
alone winning 5 of them.

In 1953, NASCAR's Grand National Series (now the Sprint Cup) paid visit
to the track for the first time. Tim Flock won the first race at the
speedway, which became a regular part of the Grand National Schedule.
After winning his track championship in 1952, Junior Johnson became the
most successful Grand National driver at Hickory, winning there 7 times.

The track has been re-configured 3 times in its history. The track
became a .4-mile (643.738 meters) dirt track in 1955, which was paved
for the first time during the 1967 season. In 1970, Hickory was
shortened a second time to its present length of .363 miles (584.192
meters).

Hickory was dropped from the Grand National schedule after the 1971
season when R. J. Reynolds began sponsoring the series and dropped all
races under 250 miles (402.336 kilometers) from the schedule. It
remained in use, however, as a popular NASCAR Late Model Sportsman
Series venue. When the series was reformed as the Budweiser Late Model
Series (now known as the Nationwide Series) in 1982, Hickory played a
prominent part of its first season, hosting 6 of the series' 28 races.
Drivers Jack Ingram and Tommy Houston, two former track champions, would
each win 8 times at the track in the Busch Series.

As more tracks began hosting Nationwide Series races, Hickory's
involvement was progressively reduced to 2 races a year by 1987, and
then just the Easter weekend by 1995. By 1998, the Nationwide Series
began adding more races at Sprint Cup Series tracks, and Hickory was
dropped from the schedule after 17 years.

Hickory is still used as a venue for NASCAR's club racing division, the
Whelen All-American Series. The USAR Hooters Pro Cup also features a
race at the track.


  2.   john kuna CA. posted:
  03.30.2010 - 6:24 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

GOOD LUCK THIS YEAR JASON ROMERO!!! WE ALL MISS YOU BRO!!!


  3.   Jim Petty posted:
  04.22.2012 - 11:42 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Only win for Jocko Flocko. Tim Flock won this race with his pet
monkey/co-driver Jocko Flocko.


  4.   StenhouseFan17 posted:
  02.16.2015 - 1:18 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Proud to call this my home track.


  5.   irony posted:
  03.15.2015 - 5:55 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Me too, although I'm closer to Tri-County.


  6.   Tylor Thaber posted:
  10.05.2015 - 8:36 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

The planned Mods South race at Hickory the other day was rained out and
cancelled. It would have been their first time at the track since 2011.


  7.   Sebastien posted:
  09.12.2017 - 11:29 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

The first repave of the track after the 1967 dirt/asphalt transition
occured sometimes before the Busch race held in march 1991.


  8.   A posted:
  07.18.2020 - 12:51 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Featured briefly in the rather cheesy 1997 FOX made for TV movie, "Steel
Chariots," which is available on YouTube at the time of this post.


  9.   JSPorts posted:
  07.18.2020 - 3:04 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

I may have to go check that out. Is it a racing movie?


  10.   RaceFanX posted:
  07.28.2020 - 12:22 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

@8, @9
A short-track Sportsman racing scene was also filmed here in 1972 for
the much better racing movie "The Last American Hero."


  11.   RJW posted:
  09.21.2020 - 5:13 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Anyone have any information on the Busch race that was "cancelled" after
it was said Patty Moise ruined a light pole and the promotor called the
race?


------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Post a comment:*
Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved
by the moderator.

Name:

Comment: