Treasure Coast Speedway-

FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING KARNAC's FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING
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Treasure Coast Speedway, built in 1959, saw action until 1974.
A small 9-degree banked 1/4 mile aspahalt oval off Angle Road in Fort Pierce, Florida-
Working down there for the past 2 days, and before I had made my 2 1/2 hour-plus hour drive back home, I went searching for it again before the sun went down. It’s still there, amongst a super-thick forest of woods and trees, and navigating my way through a mosquitto infested wetland, and bumping my way across a homeless camp, and their tenants, which were (thankfully) OK with me walking through their home upon arrival, and back again.
As I Check out the photos on Westerman’s Site, here is what is left:
Entire Track is still there all the way around, except for the forth turn and the front sraightaway almost up to the once-standing flagstand.
Good asphalt, but trees are creeping onto it from the outside and the inside, leaving about a 6-foot section of asphalt around, where upon I was able to circumnavigate the facility.
You can’t see left or right from the tall overgrown foliage, only straight forward on through the turns and straightaways, which was my only line of sight. The frontstretch wall, and backstretch walls are still there, with sand/dirt piled on the outside of it, which is the way it probably used to be.
The front grandstand cinder-block pilons are mostly there, some have been toppled, it seems that these were some pretty tall stands, almost like Auburndale Raceway today. The pressox, which had once stood towereing over, and somewhat back, removed, has since collapsed to the ground, cement blocks and all. A few boards still remain on the upright cinder block wall, for seating. A nice opening was found at the start-finish line, about 3 foot wide with a chain-link gate crumbled and melted into the dirt laying behind the wall. Two remaining light poles remain, just past the opening, and the other enterin turn one, they look OK.
At the area where turn 4 is currently located, a self-storage place resides. And I drove over there at that place, to do some more looking, and actually stood on the remaining section of track that had been removed, inside a private facility----which is where I had been pad-locked out/in because everybody inside was gone for the night. None around to let me out.

And the folks that were across the street that were drinking their beer under their shade tree, were just laughing it up, seeing I was locked inside and all. Kind of embarrasing.

Made a phone call to the property manager— answering machine, nothing, and pusing 7:30 PM.

Glad I had bolt cutters on my van. And I gave them the finger as I left to 95.

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I once got locked inside Volusia County Speedway (as it was known at the time). My buddy and I each fell asleep in the truck during one of those real late nights, and we woke up to find the lights out, pits empty and all employees gone. Figured we would just wait until morning and drive on out.

Not as easy as it sounds.

We finally found a chain with a broken link holding a gate closed behind the turn 1 stands, but we were parked outside turn 4. We had to cross infront of the stands towards the center, make a 23 point turn to drive through the walk-through section, and another 14 point turn to follow along the back side of the stands to the gate.

We finally got out, but I was worried that someone may have seen the tampering with the gate and mistakingly thought we were trying to break IN to the property. I left a note and my phone number explaining that we were only trying to LEAVE, not get in.

Ever since then, I’ve wondered if there is such a law as “Breaking & Exiting”!

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Breaking in?

I don’t condone this practice, but who has ever snuck into a speedway without paying? I’m pleading guilty, but I was a broke teenager at the time.
West Palm Beach Speedway- Snuck in through a hole in the backstretch billboards, ran across the track and hung out in the infield. This was when they moved the pits from turn one into the infield. Thought for sure someone would have seen me. It was during a break in the action.
Miami-Hollywood Speedway- The lighting was so poor, you could just hop the fence for the oval track. You had to go over to the Sportatorium and walk through some swampy brush to avoid payment to the dragstrip.
Hialeah Speedway- Pretty tight perimeter around this track, but if you really made an effort, you could slosh your way through the sawgrass outside the turn 4 wall. There was a small hole in the fencing next to the grandstands that wrapped around turns 1 and 4. Made my way to this point once, but someone had fixed the hole. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the fencing at Hialeah was topped with barb wire. You had to wear long pants and shirt or the sawgrass would slice you to pieces. You had to begin this journey at the topless bar in front of the speedway. I was always more afraid of getting caught near the strip joint than I was getting caught trying to sneak into the track.
East Bay Raceway- I did’nt do this one on purpose. My first time there, I was looking for a place to park and pulled through the pit gate. I guess the gate worker was using the restroom. I parked and walked to the grandstands in the pits, still looking for the pay booth. Took me about 10 minutes to figure out what I had done.
Gateway Raceway (now Columbia)-I decided to drive from Tallahassee to catch a race when I was in college. I think the girl working the ticket booth thought she had found a new boyfriend. She let me in without paying. (Does that count?)