|| *Comments on Raleigh Speedway:* View the most recent comment <#6> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Cooper posted: 03.15.2010 - 1:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Raleigh Speedway (originally and perhaps later Southland Speedway or Dixie Speedway) was a one-mile (1.6 km) oval race track which opened in 1952 one mile (1.6 km) north of Raleigh, North Carolina in Wake County. It was the second superspeedway ever built (the first being the 1.366-mile (2.198 km) Darlington Raceway at Darlington, South Carolina). It was also the first lighted superspeedway and the first track on which NASCAR sanctioned night-time races. The track had a long and narrow shape, like a paper clip, with the front and back straights about 500 feet (150 m) apart and the straightaways about 1,850 feet (560 m) long. The turns were banked at 16° and the straightaways were flat. The track opened in 1952 as Southland Speedway. Its first major event was a 200-mile (320 km) AAA sanctioned IndyCar race held on July 4, 1952. That race was won by Troy Ruttman in an Offy powered Kuzma. From 1953 the track was known as Raleigh Speedway. NASCAR races were held at the track from 1953 to 1958. On the 1/4-mile (0.4 km) infield track there were weekly Modified an Sportsman races on Fridays. Occasionally, the Sportsman and Modified's ran on the one-mile (1.6 km) track. The Grand National series ran 100, 250, and 300-mile (480 km) races yearly (twice in 1955). The final three Grand National races were held on July 4, 1956, 1957, and 1958. When the Daytona International Speedway opened, the July 4 Grand National event moved to that track. Shortly thereafter, the Raleigh Speedway closed due to noise complaints from residents of nearby neighborhoods. The track was demolished in 1967. Most of the track site is now The Seaboard Industrial Park with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (CSX) siding occupying the former location of the front straight. About 90' of the backstretch remain in the woods near a Progress Energy substation. The only fatalities at the track occurred during a night race on September 19, 1953. Drivers Bill Blevins (Ford) and Jesse Midkiff (Burlington, North Carolina) were killed during the start of a combined Modified and Sportsman race. Blevins car would not start as the 60-car field took off. He got a start from a push truck, but stalled and came to a stop in the racing line at the exit of turn two on the backstretch â?? perhaps under the mistaken assumption that he would get another push-start. Blevin's dark maroon car went unnoticed by race officials as the green flag waved. Some in the crowd noticed the stalled car and yelled and pointed, but the flag man never noticed. The remaining 59 cars exited turn two at full speed. One car ran into the back of the stalled car starting a chain-reaction crash. Blevin's car burst into flames, and with only two fire extinguishers at the track it took considerable time to get the fire put out. There was no way to get the driver out of the car with flames shooting 100 feet (30 m) into the air. Blevins and Midkiff were killed, and several other drivers suffered lesser injuries. At least 15 cars were severely damaged. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes to clear the track, after which the race was shortened to 170 miles (270 km) and won by Buddy Shuman. In 1953 Jocko Flocko, Tim Flock's pet monkey, accompanied the racer in-car for the final time at the 1953 Grand National race. Somehow Jocko got loose from his seat harness and began exploring the race car. He found a string that lifted a trap door where the driver could check the condition of the right-front tire. As Jocko opened the door, a pebble flew up and struck him in the head. The monkey went berserk and Tim, who was leading the race at the time, had to pit to have the crazed primate removed from the car. Tim finished third as a result. 2. Anthony posted: 09.19.2016 - 7:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) someone should build a track like this one was - a one mile Martinsville 3. Rod Ray Skirvin posted: 04.23.2018 - 12:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wish there was a little more explanation to as location. I have the main idea of the location. Sounds like its not walk-able. 4. A posted: 10.01.2019 - 10:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) There's a power substation at 3500 Tarheel Drive in Raleigh, and apparently the small area of woods immediately surrounding this contain a small area of the backstretch pavement. There appears to be no other remnants of the track or even things that were there during the racing era. This YouTube video has a lot of information about the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN-ZwJI9pyI 5. LMSC18 posted: 10.01.2019 - 10:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Historic Aerials has a photo from 1965 that shows the track, but you see re-development has already started. 6. RaceFanX posted: 02.06.2021 - 8:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There was a lot of local opposition to this track at the time it was built and that likely played into why this modern for its day facility never caught on. When the track was starting up there was a local push to ban stock car racing altogether but it failed so instead the neighbors got a policy approved to prevent the track from ever holding Sunday races for noise purposes; all the major races here were run on Friday, Saturday, or the Fourth of July instead as a result. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: