Fairgrounds Speedway
Wake County, Wake County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Fairgrounds Speedway. After 1928 popularized Indy-style car racing. Site hosted the last NASCAR race on dirt track, 1970. Half-mile oval was 250 yds. SW.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
After 1928, this half-mile dirt oval near the state fairgrounds helped popularize Indy-style automobile racing in North Carolina. It earned a footnote in motorsport history in 1970, when it hosted the last NASCAR premier-series race run on a dirt track. The site captures the moment stock car racing left its rural dirt roots behind.
Why it matters
NASCAR grew out of the dirt tracks of the American South, and this speedway marks the literal end of that era as the sport paved its way toward national spectacle.
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Related events
- · Last NASCAR premier-series dirt-track race, 1970
Themes & tags
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