The half-mile Greenville-Pickens Speedway is the second-oldest NASCAR-sanctioned track in the entire country, starting out as a dirt track and going on to host NASCAR’s Grand National (now the Nextel Cup) events before eventually becoming one of the premier NASCAR Weekly Racing Series tracks.
The track was built in 1940 but was closed the following year because of World War II.
But with the peace came a new beginning when the track re-opened on July 4, 1946 with a race promoted by famous NASCAR icon Bill Frances Sr.
Eddie Samples of Altanta won the first automobile race, but there is not record of who won the first two races of the day – put on by horses instead of cars.
The leap from horse races to the big time came fairly quickly though when the track hosted its first NASCAR Grand National race Aug. 25, 1951.
Bob Flock, one of the Flyin’ Flock Brothers, was the hero of the day, winning the race in his 1951 “Gray Ghost” Oldsmobile.
Four years later, the Blackwell family purchased the track and surrounding property from the Garrison family. During their 47 years of ownership, the family saw many great track champions, some of which went on to even greater fame in the world of NASCAR.
Names like Earnhardt, Pearson, Lindley, Ward and Pressley have become synonymous with Greenville-Pickens Speedway, which also holds the distinction of hosting the first ever NASCAR race televised in it’s entirety on national television.
That was on April 10, 1971 when ABC’s Wide World of Sports aired the event. Jim McKay and Chris Economackie anchored the race, and Bobby Issac was first to take the checkered flag.
But almost a year later, NASCAR entered its modern era, taking its biggest racing division to the larger tracks like Talladega and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Since then Greenville-Pickens Speedway has joined more than 100 other tracks in the country hosting the Weekly Racing Series.
In 1975, track officials created the “Wall of Fame.” Names of all the track winners dating back from 1957 until present are including on the track wall, reminding each new generation of drivers of those who came before them.
Through the 1980s the track saw heated competition – between the “mountain drivers” of Western North Carolina and the local talent.
And in 2003, the Blackwell family sold the track to Greenville automotive dealer Kevin Whitaker, along with the more than 150 acres surrounding the track, which is also the location of the Upper South Carolina State Fair.
At the time of the purchase, Whitaker called buying the track “a dream come true.”
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