“Sad Day Indeed”—NASCAR Fans Bemoan Loss of Another Classic NASCAR Track

There has been yet another concerning development behind the scenes in NASCAR. Recently, it has transpired that another classic NASCAR track may be lost. The NASCAR community was hit particularly hard by the news as it comes on the back of the Auto Club Speedway’s final race as a 2-mile track last weekend. The picturesque speedway will be torn apart to be turned into a half-mile track. It will not see any action in the next couple of years.

However, it looks as if another celebrated track will be suffering a worse fate. The owners of a historic speedway in South Carolina are putting it up for sale. Reports suggest that once the sale is finalized, the track will be broken down and turned into an industrial park. 305 acres of land and a 100,000-square-foot-sized building will go under the hammer, though an asking price has not been made public yet.

The track in question is none other than the Greenville Pickens Speedway.

NASCAR fans were not pleased with this development

The speedway is as important as it is memorable because it was host to the first live-televised start-to-finish NASCAR race in 1971. This happened barely a year after the track, which had been a dirt track since its inauguration in 1940, got paved.

But as of the present, it seems that the memorable track will not see more action.

The move sparked a wave of outrage as yet another classic track will now be lost. Some people acknowledged that the quality of racing was something left to be desired. However, they insisted that the track needed to stay and get some tender care.

Even when races used to be held there, the grids had been rapidly shrinking year by year. One fan observed that during one Late Model race, the purse was $10,000, but there were barely 15 cars on the track.

Several fans were saddened at the inevitable fate of the Greenville Picken Speedway. It is also worth mentioning that defending Cup Series champion, Joey Logano, once triumphed there.

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According to some fans, this is just a consequence of more “rich kids” entering the racing scene. Owing to the absence of local stars and their fans, the interest has dwindled.

One thing is for sure—people are mourning the slow, agonizing death of local short-track racing culture.

It is safe to say that no one anticipated the classic track being turned into an industrial park. Unfortunately, there is no Dale Earnhardt Jr around to save this track as he did with North Wilkesboro.

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