The Conservative Cave
The Bar => Sports => Topic started by: EagleKeeper on March 16, 2012, 06:15:15 PM
-
Race Track Owner Plans to Build Nurburgring Clone in Nevada
Read more: http://wot.motortrend.com/race-track-owner-plans-to-build-nurburgring-clone-in-nevada-178971.html#ixzz1pKBaioav
I think this is an awsome idea, Nascar could stand to loose a couple of the cookie cutter D shaped 1 an 1/2 mile ovals any way.
-
Of local interest to me....and I'll get around to Bruton Smith eventually.
Last weekend the local dirt track held it's grand opening. It was supposed to be a big 2 day thing...but Saturday night got rained out and will be run in May. The top dirt trackers from all over the southest were there. The main event was to be a 50 lapper with $20,000 to win.
The local paper ran a full front page story plus a couple more pages about the event. They gave some of the history of the track. The first race run there was in 1953(as a boy I was there for it with my dad). The race promoter was a 27 year old Bruton Smith. All the big name drivers of the day were there also. Bruton Smith has come a long ways since those days, huh.
The news article told the names of the people involved with starting the track and how they got it built and how they got the money up for the first race. They traded stock in it for the grading and building of the track and sold stock to raise more money. No one seems to remember who the grading contractor was, including me. But I remember them talking to my daddy about grading it for stock and he wouldn't do it. It was a good thing he didn't because it opened and closed several times. Eventually someone bought the stock for pennies on the dollar and took it over and it made money.
For the last 35/40 years it has been a good track for dirt tracking. The Petty's, the Earnhardts, all have raced there at some time or other. The Saturday nights before the Darlington 500 races(and Rebel 400) used to be greatest. Several of the NASCAR greats back then would show up to drive a racecar and they would really put on a show. The best of those Saturday nights were back in the 60's when Tiny Lund and LeeRoy Yarborough would run. They would run side by side down the straight aways and then literally turn the cars around and back them into the high banked turns, throwing a rooster tail of dirt over the guard rails. It was beautiful.... a work of art. :-)
The newspaper had a few pictures of the early race cars. 40 FORD coupes, Hudson Hornets, Narrow mud grip tires, straight front axles... :rotf: ...but they were racing.