You-The-Man-
Mr. Flowers–
No kidding, you sir, have finally hit the spot where the old Gainesville Raceway had existed.
Terra Server punched it up, and labled it as Gainesville Raceway, and the data and imagry confirmed it so.
The photo is good, the Topo photo confirmed it as such.
And that, my friend, has made you the best Race Track locater in the world, or State, rather.(next to Marty Little)
How did you do this? Proud of you, I am.
I’m giving you the ol’ high-five right now.
roger
Auburndale Speedway operated in it’s current location as Winter Haven Speedway for many years… Was renovated by Bill Reno in the mid-70’s and renamed Auburndale Speedway (under NASCAR sanction by the way)… I went to the old track a few times back in the '60s…
Auburndale Speedway is where we won our first race with the legendary Frank Riddle driving my dad’s latemodel, so Auburndale will always hold a special place in my heart!!!
very good-
Very good indeed, boys and girls.
Lets hit a couple others, you historians you.
Phillips Field and Plant Field Raceways.
Phillips Field was a 1/4 ml dirt oval built 11/29/1939, and then paved until 1964, at the University of Tampa Stadium, I think it still stands today, somewhat.
And Plant Field Speedway was 1/2 mile dirt oval located at the Tampa U. Athletic Field, built in 1921, ran until 1942. Again from '46 to 1980. And it seemed to have relocated twice/maybe once. I don’t think this was the old Tampa Fairgrounds Raceway, but who knows?
Fort Pierce Florida had two Raceways.
Treasure Coast Raceway on Angle Road, a big 1/4 mile asphalt oval which still stand today, mostly,(1958 to 1974)—
And Gold Coast Speedway, another 1/4 mile asphalt track built in 1957, ran until 1967.
Anybody seen these two? I have seen on the first one, but cannot locate the second one. Where was it at?
i ain’t gonna tell how old some one is but daniel keene
use to race when he was a young man at plant field i remember getting tangled up with him and he went cross ways wide open tru back straight a way wall i thought it would kill him and he got stopped just before he went under a truck in middle of in field some of drivers i remember that day natz peters - rw gleen spookie whittle don abney me ron abney and the other twenty five drivers i can’t remember
but remember buzz barton was working down on track would roll 55 gallon drum painted yellow and stand behind it in middle of track to line up cars till some one ran over the barell and he got back up in stands
man that was nice track i think it had covered stands man wouldn’t racing fun back then with pete folse -ponco alverez here it goes again forgetting them names again
one thing i can honestly say i have never regreted ever going to my first race i have gotten a lot of pleasure out of it and still in my older years i love it as much today as i did the first day i walked into a race track — some times it is very painful when a driver gets hurt or -------- and when they are in your family you never get over it no matter how manny years go by
rest in peace DENNIS ABNEY died at lakeland speedway at the age of 21 we will never stop loving or missing you :engel016:
The University of Tampa stadium and athletic field are the same place. There is a very nice monument near the field that tells of the racing heritage of that site.
And Plant Field Speedway was 1/2 mile dirt oval located at the Tampa U. Athletic Field, built in 1921, ran until 1942. Again from '46 to 1980. And it seemed to have relocated twice/maybe once. I don’t think this was the old Tampa Fairgrounds Raceway, but who knows?
There was a 1/2 mile dirt at the State Fairgrounds, where the Ford Amphitheater now stands. Right at the intersection of I-4 and 301. I remember the ONE night we went there; State Troopers were getting people and cars off of the 92/Hillsborough Ave exit ramp behind turn three all night long. The ramp was just high enough to see over the backstretch fence/wall/billboards. And I wanna say it was 1981 we went, because Buzzie had built our Dillon chassis asphalt car that year, and Golden Gate hadn’t yet reopened (it would reopen in June of that year); we went to the Fairgrounds on a Friday night, and ran at St. Pete the next night.
There is NO sign of the speedway left. I do know they also ran GTP/sports cars at the Fairgrounds, but I believe they only ran once in the early or mid-90s.
Treasure Coast Raceway
Treasure Coast is mostly still there Mayflower moving and storage took out most of the fourth turn and front stretch to put in the storage facility. I have been here since 61 and the only other race track that I know of here was on Orange Ave which now would be close to 95 I don’t ever remember it being open, it was closed when we moved here, the only track I ever went to was off Angle Rd. Where are you getting this info as I would like to read some of this history myself.
How about the Old Deland Speedway? I know it closed ALONG time ago but I don’t know any of the history of it other then where it was located.
I moved to Florida in 72 and I remember going to a few shows there. I believe they closed either that year or maybe 73. One of my fondest memories of that place is watching Chip Crider beat the LATE MODELS in the Cartwright VW bug ministock! Larry Flynn used to OWN that place. I do believe he had more feature wins there than any other 2 drivers combined. Some of the names I remember from there, as well as Volusia… RoHo Sims, Bob “Batman” Whitaker, Carl (9/16) Tyler, Randall Conelle, David Viers, Ronnie Rhone, Joe Faircloth, Tug Wilson, Gene Evans…
Emd-
Ed–believe it or not, I have actually located this old gem.
Deland-Drive-In Raceway, as it was called, was built in 1966, and ran it’s last race in 1973. The Burkhalter young guns were there watching on the back of a station wagon on Sunday afternoons after church, they told me.
It is/was located on the north side of Mcgregor Road, about one mile west of 17-92.
If I knew how to send a terra-server image, I would do just that. But I don’t.
It’s pretty cool, the depressded area in topo mode, as 5 houses actually sit on the outskirts of a bowl-like area, and all of their backyards look in to a “pit” like area where the Raceway exised.
The banking from two turns is still intact on the west side, a pile of tires off in the trees, a couple of 55-gallon drums with trees growing through them, and up on the hill on the west side, is a cement slab with plumbing draines lines going down through it; it was probably the restrooms.
Another Tampa Raceway–
In St. Pete actually, a Tri-City Sportsmans Park was a 1/4 mile asphalt Raceway built in 1951, was sanctioned by NASCAR if you can believe it, and ran until 1955.
No location is given as to where this old Raceway was located; no street, highway, or subdivision/shopping center.
Something has to out there somewhere, info that is.
Anyone?
Orlando Speedway–
And this thing got started with a birthday to Orlando Speedworld at 35 years old.
And the old Orlando Raceway has followed, down on Landstreet Road.
However, Ben White Raceway on Lee Road, an ol’ horse/trotter raceway was another track where Stock Cars raced for 3 years, 1948 to 1950.
But, a fourth track is also known, Sunbrock Speedway, sometimes called Rocket Speedway, located just south of Hwy 50, on the west side of Furguson Road, was a tight 1/4 mile asphalt track built in 1949, and ran it’s last race in 1957.
It was built by Larry Sunbrock (henceforth the name).
I have actually stepped upon this old gem, and all that is left of it, are a couple of light poles, and get this-- the bathrooms and it’s structure are still there; sinks, toilets and doors on an old delapidated shack.
Found at Floridastockcars.com 1967 I saw several racing family names that look familiar.
Hey Rog, great web site Dave has there.
Charlotte County Speedway
CCS , now known as Charlotte County Motorsports Park, a 3/8 mile track in Punta Gorda, was built from scratch by LeRoy Davidson in 1987… The land is leased through the Airport Authority and it has quite a history. CCMP is now owned by Bobby Diehl and is a figure eight track.
carolwicks
My dad, Dale, won the heat, semi and feature the last two nights Tri-City was open, driving his Modified. I remember his payout was $20 for one night and $21 the other. I believe it was in the general area of Toytown in St.Pete.
Sunbrock Speedway ran off and on thru 1963 and was owned by a local “hustler” named Larry Sunbrock… We went there one time but on that night the drivers had barricaded Larry in his office demanding to be paid for the races the week before… There were cops all over the place… I think there were only a handful of races there after that although the track sat, virtually untouched, for several more years and was used for some time by Amick Construction as a place to park their trucks…
Deland Speedway was a cool place… No grandstands, no lights… Ran on Sunday afternoon… You’d drive your car up to the fence and park and that’s where you watched the races… We would always bring a big picnic dinner…
When they started racing at nights, the lighting system consisted of light bulbs strung across the track similar to the way old used car lots used to be lit…
I remember J.T. Peacock had a pretty potent 1958 Ford he ran there…
Deland–
Actually, Ancrdave, I’m looking at a photo (c.1967) where there is a VIP Press Box, and also, (if I can count correctly) bleachers for almost 160 fans on each side of it =320 fan bleacher seating was available at the time. I just can’t figure out where east and west/ north and south are located, as all the photos look alike, seemingly.
