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Topic: Speedways Past, But still visible! Email this topic to a friend | Subscribe to this TopicReport this Topic to Moderator
Page 1 of 1   of  16 replies
digs
January 29, 2011 at 07:29:44 AM
Joined: 12/03/2004
Posts: 298
Reply
This message was edited on January 29, 2011 at 07:52:15 AM by digs

I've always been interested in history, especially something I can relate to, like Allen Brown's History of Speedways, Past and Present. So in those context, I've located some local speedways or at least their former outlines, still able to find on Google Maps/Earth. Listed below, you'll find the over head view and coordinates, to allow you to find them yourselves.

Copy and paste these coordinates into google maps, to locate them.

Greenville Speedway, Greenville, OH

http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/OH/GreenvilleMS.html#TrackFacts

http://wikimapia.org/14101448/Greenville-Motor-Speedway

Coordinates: 40.074837,-84.638586

New Bremen Speedway; New Bremen, OH

http://wikimapia.org/11144200/New-Bremen-Speedway-Site

http://www.teambesecker.com/newbremen.html

Coordinates: 40.456948,-84.390535

Pence (Shelby) Drag Strip, Lockington, OH

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=414786

Coordinates: 40.228092,-84.247085

Willowdell Go Cart Track; Willowdell, OH

Coordinates: 40.307372,-84.456367

Troy OH (Sorry the name escapes me)

Coordinates: 39.996676,-84.190121

Dayton Speedway, Dayton, OH

http://wthompson4.sports.officelive.com/friendsofdaytonspeedway.aspx

FrenchTown Speedway, Frenchtown, OH

Rumor has it, a dirt track existed in Frenchtown, OH, about 15 miles from Eldora, that a famer had carver out a track in the early 50's, and ran it for a few years. I'd not be surprised, if this inspired Earl to build Eldora, as his family has strong roots from the Frenchtown area, such as the old Baltes resturant, The Crystal Ball Room (aka The Lost C (Cause)), etc. But I have no idea where this track existed, I've only heard rumors of it.

Coordinates: 40.246434,-84.523466

For a variety of others, view

http://www.vintagemx.us/forgottentracks.htm




StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
January 29, 2011 at 11:05:28 AM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
Reply

Rex Speedway Minnesota operated from the late 40's until the mid 50's just south of Saint Paul and racing history buffs have located and taken photos at the former location. I've got a few pictures posted in the history section of my website.



Stan Meissner

SteveV
January 29, 2011 at 04:21:21 PM
Joined: 12/01/2004
Posts: 644
Reply

Newcastle Motordrome in Australia was still visible in 2006:






Chico Cherokee
January 29, 2011 at 10:14:12 PM
Joined: 08/08/2008
Posts: 272
Reply

Do you want some from California?

Cisco just bought the land (or at least very close) to where Baylands used to be...

San Jose Speedway sill sits at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds...

want more?



throttlejohnson
January 30, 2011 at 01:40:48 AM
Joined: 02/27/2007
Posts: 468
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: Chico Cherokee on January 29 2011 at 10:14:12 PM

Do you want some from California?

Cisco just bought the land (or at least very close) to where Baylands used to be...

San Jose Speedway sill sits at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds...

want more?



Yep..your right San Jose speedway is still there as well as Baylands. Also in Gardenia,Ca is ASCOT Park. I believe the Old track in Dixon,CA is still there too..I'll go even as far to say...maybe even the Old Sacramento Fairgrounds too, but not sure...I know Cal Expo is still there, they haven't raced the Champ cars or Sprints for over a decade or so now...but they are running the AMA flat track motorcycles there for the first time in ..idk maybe 12 years.


The older I get, the faster I used to be.

Dryslick Willie
January 30, 2011 at 07:03:50 AM
Joined: 12/17/2009
Posts: 2235
Reply

Bring 'em on guys. I love this stuff, even though I've never been to any of those tracks. I was curious about the Dayton, OH track. I thought that one had been turned into a landfill, but I might have it mistaken for another place.




digs
January 30, 2011 at 08:00:22 AM
Joined: 12/03/2004
Posts: 298
Reply

Dryslick, yes one of the pages on the Dayton speedway pages shows an ariel view, and an outline drawn where the track used to be located. I'd be interested in any information on these old tracks, from Oz, CA or anywhere, list the coordinates, so we can easily find these locations, if you zoom into the area, usign Google maps, you can simply right click on the location and select, what's here, it'll list the coordinates in the address line, simply cut and paste into you reponses.



StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
January 30, 2011 at 11:15:02 AM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
Reply
This message was edited on January 30, 2011 at 12:10:18 PM by StanM

You can see the outline of the Rex Speedway half mile oval just below 105th Street. Barnes Avenue cuts through the middle of the track. Rex Speedway operated from 1947 to 1952. They never built the site up with homes because there are metal towers with high voltage power lines cutting through where the track used to be. Someone got permission to walk around and took photos of the banking and what's left of the wooden posts that were part of the crash walls. I've got the photos taken a few years ago and a couple pictures taken during the races. One that my dad took from my personal collection was of a stock car that went through the fence and rolled down the bank. Rex holds the distinction of being the only track I have ever heard of where someone was killed doing their business in an out house when an errant race car went off the track and hit it. The poor guy probably never knew what hit him.

Here are the google map coordinates for Rex: 44.795804,-93.062739

Another Minnesota track that operated until the early 70's was the quarter mile Stillwater Speedbowl. Trees still outline where the track used to be. The oval you see on the right side of a driveway is not the dirt track, that one is a riding ring for horses that someone built on their property. The dirt track was the tree lined area between Northbrook Blvd and the driveway that connects to 44th St. I didn't go to this track very often but if memory serves me correctly you'd enter the track from Cty 14 and cross the RR tracks to get back there. They ran the supermodifieds at this track. The odd thing about this track is that there was a boulder in one of the turns that was too big to remove so they just left it there and covered it with dirt. During the course of the evening the top of the boulder would gradually become exposed and drivers familiar with it's location knew precisely where to stand on the gas. The boulder gave them a little more traction if they knew how to hit it just right.

Google map coordinates: 45.012058,-92.828379

One more note of interest to Sprint fans about the Stillwater Speedbowl. This track was owned by the uncle of Jerry Richert Sr. and was the place where he ran his first race in the Stock Car class back in 1953. It's pretty amazing to look at this satellite view of a little clump of trees knowing that a Knoxville Nationals and multi time IMCA champion started racing there.


Stan Meissner

Sprint50
January 30, 2011 at 12:06:21 PM
Joined: 01/30/2008
Posts: 543
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: digs on January 29 2011 at 07:29:44 AM

I've always been interested in history, especially something I can relate to, like Allen Brown's History of Speedways, Past and Present. So in those context, I've located some local speedways or at least their former outlines, still able to find on Google Maps/Earth. Listed below, you'll find the over head view and coordinates, to allow you to find them yourselves.

Copy and paste these coordinates into google maps, to locate them.

Greenville Speedway, Greenville, OH

http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/OH/GreenvilleMS.html#TrackFacts

http://wikimapia.org/14101448/Greenville-Motor-Speedway

Coordinates: 40.074837,-84.638586

New Bremen Speedway; New Bremen, OH

http://wikimapia.org/11144200/New-Bremen-Speedway-Site

http://www.teambesecker.com/newbremen.html

Coordinates: 40.456948,-84.390535

Pence (Shelby) Drag Strip, Lockington, OH

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=414786

Coordinates: 40.228092,-84.247085

Willowdell Go Cart Track; Willowdell, OH

Coordinates: 40.307372,-84.456367

Troy OH (Sorry the name escapes me)

Coordinates: 39.996676,-84.190121

Dayton Speedway, Dayton, OH

http://wthompson4.sports.officelive.com/friendsofdaytonspeedway.aspx

FrenchTown Speedway, Frenchtown, OH

Rumor has it, a dirt track existed in Frenchtown, OH, about 15 miles from Eldora, that a famer had carver out a track in the early 50's, and ran it for a few years. I'd not be surprised, if this inspired Earl to build Eldora, as his family has strong roots from the Frenchtown area, such as the old Baltes resturant, The Crystal Ball Room (aka The Lost C (Cause)), etc. But I have no idea where this track existed, I've only heard rumors of it.

Coordinates: 40.246434,-84.523466

For a variety of others, view

http://www.vintagemx.us/forgottentracks.htm



The track in Troy Ohio was called I believe Boone Hill Speedway




harriet_othelo
January 30, 2011 at 12:26:12 PM
Joined: 05/27/2007
Posts: 207
Reply

Earl's mile track near Eldora that never got finished:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.312307,-84.624596&num=1&t=h&sll=40.312291,-84.624488&sspn=0.008263,0.02738&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=40.312749,-84.624488&spn=0.008263,0.02738&z=16&iwloc=near

 



Dryslick Willie
January 30, 2011 at 01:18:52 PM
Joined: 12/17/2009
Posts: 2235
Reply

I'm not sure if you guys are aware of this website or not, but go to www.historicaerials.com. There are some areas of the country that they have aerial photos from different years dating all the way back to the 1950s. You can use lat/long, addresses, intersections, and landmarks to find the area you're looking for. Once you find the location you can sometimes have several different aerial photos from different years to look at.


For example, the Devils Bowl Speedway we have in Dallas (Mesquite actually) is the second Devils Bowl. The original Devils Bowl was in East Dallas and was a 1/4 mile. Some guys by the name of Rutherford, McElreath, and Foyt used to race there back in the day. You can see it at historicaerials.com. On the map, just type in "John West & Peavy Rd Dallas, TX" and hit the search button. Click the box that says "1956" and when the picture loads start scrolling west from that intersection. You won't have to scroll far and you'll see the old Devils Bowl. I've had a lot of fun finding old tracks this way. If you haven't checked this site out already, then I'd say go there and have some fun.



MRZERO
January 30, 2011 at 01:45:35 PM
Joined: 09/21/2005
Posts: 461
Reply

I have been to Dayton Speedway and New Bremen. Dayton is a landfill now.




johnsonsofeunice
January 30, 2011 at 06:57:11 PM
Joined: 08/13/2006
Posts: 35
Reply
This message was edited on January 30, 2011 at 07:02:28 PM by johnsonsofeunice

Would like to throw in Forest Hill Speedway in Forest Hill, Louisiana. This was a great little track where Jason Johnson started his career. One of the few tracks that raced Winged Modifieds on a weekly basis.

This was what it looked like: http://msrmaps.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Alon=-92.531797&Alat=31.042192&W=1&opt=0&qs=+11520+Highway+165+S|forest+hill|la|&addr=US-165+S%2c+Forest+Hill%2c+LA+71430&Lon=-92.55031707&Lat=31.02605245


Now it's filled with water and used to water plants at a nursery. http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv269/etownbreaker/foresthillnow.jpg



W2Motorsports
August 23, 2017 at 09:24:17 AM
Joined: 03/02/2017
Posts: 292
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: on at


Generally when people resurrect a thread from 5 years ago it is annoying because people start reading and realize that its an old post or something like that later on. This thread on the other hand is interesting and I've never seen it before, so thanks. Would love to see some of these for the old PA tracks that I never got to go to (moved here in 2013)

 

Thanks,

Jeff.



onporch
August 24, 2017 at 07:20:12 AM
Joined: 02/12/2017
Posts: 368
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: W2Motorsports on August 23 2017 at 09:24:17 AM

Generally when people resurrect a thread from 5 years ago it is annoying because people start reading and realize that its an old post or something like that later on. This thread on the other hand is interesting and I've never seen it before, so thanks. Would love to see some of these for the old PA tracks that I never got to go to (moved here in 2013)

 

Thanks,

Jeff.



 

There is a website dedicated to this.  And they aren't just screwing around !

AERIAL VIEWS OF DEAD RACE TRACKS
[and some not so dead]

http://www.catamountstadium.com/aerialphotos.htm

 

The only one on the list that I attended was Circle K, Whitesville PA around 1987.




RacerX20
MyWebsite
August 24, 2017 at 07:35:30 AM
Joined: 09/14/2010
Posts: 95
Reply

There is also a few Facebook pages that I follow that are about closed and abandonded tracks.  Lost Speedways does both paved and dirt tracks and is the best one out there (they also have a webiste: lostspeedways.com) and there is one just dedicated to dirt tracks called Lost Dirt Tracks.  Great pics of the tracks and some information about each.  Very interesting stuff.



stubb
August 26, 2017 at 05:10:07 PM
Joined: 12/05/2004
Posts: 529
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: digs on January 29 2011 at 07:29:44 AM

I've always been interested in history, especially something I can relate to, like Allen Brown's History of Speedways, Past and Present. So in those context, I've located some local speedways or at least their former outlines, still able to find on Google Maps/Earth. Listed below, you'll find the over head view and coordinates, to allow you to find them yourselves.

Copy and paste these coordinates into google maps, to locate them.

Greenville Speedway, Greenville, OH

http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/OH/GreenvilleMS.html#TrackFacts

http://wikimapia.org/14101448/Greenville-Motor-Speedway

Coordinates: 40.074837,-84.638586

New Bremen Speedway; New Bremen, OH

http://wikimapia.org/11144200/New-Bremen-Speedway-Site

http://www.teambesecker.com/newbremen.html

Coordinates: 40.456948,-84.390535

Pence (Shelby) Drag Strip, Lockington, OH

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=414786

Coordinates: 40.228092,-84.247085

Willowdell Go Cart Track; Willowdell, OH

Coordinates: 40.307372,-84.456367

Troy OH (Sorry the name escapes me)

Coordinates: 39.996676,-84.190121

Dayton Speedway, Dayton, OH

http://wthompson4.sports.officelive.com/friendsofdaytonspeedway.aspx

FrenchTown Speedway, Frenchtown, OH

Rumor has it, a dirt track existed in Frenchtown, OH, about 15 miles from Eldora, that a famer had carver out a track in the early 50's, and ran it for a few years. I'd not be surprised, if this inspired Earl to build Eldora, as his family has strong roots from the Frenchtown area, such as the old Baltes resturant, The Crystal Ball Room (aka The Lost C (Cause)), etc. But I have no idea where this track existed, I've only heard rumors of it.

Coordinates: 40.246434,-84.523466

For a variety of others, view

http://www.vintagemx.us/forgottentracks.htm



You can still see the outline of McCutchensville,Oh too





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