This Saturday night, NSS is celebrating a milestone, 50 years of continuous racing. That’s a pretty impressive number. Congratulations to Robert, Jane, Andrew, and the staff for sticking with it all these years. And a tip of the hat to all the former employees who also helped build the racing program and keep the track going. And of course thanks to Clyde Hart for his vision in making NSS a short track that could stand the test of time.
The first actual race program at NSS was held on Sunday afternoon April 23, 1967… At that time there was a “Florida” racing newspaper called “Action Racing” and here is the story on the first-ever race held when the track was known as Daytona Raceway… Unfortunately, my copy got torn somehow but most of everything is here including most of the photo of the Late Model winner that day, Charlie Brown from St. Augustine.
When NSS first opened as Daytona Raceway, it was dirt (so to speak - sand actually) and the dust was terrible… so bad that the track only ran through early June before giving up and paving…
The first race on asphalt was held on Labor Day weekend of 1967… The track broke up pretty bad that day and dirt-track ace Larry Flynn was more suited to the place and he won the first Late Model feature with Ray Gardner taking second place… Six Cylinder “Early Models” also raced that day and were the first feature, so Donnie Tanner was actually the first to win a feature after the track was paved… There weren’t enough Late Models for a full field, so the sixes were allowed to enter the LM race if they wanted too… Tanner, who was driving a car owned by Billy Wade, finished third in the LM feature…
I don’t have the article on that race and I’ve lost the photos I took that day, but here are a couple of stories from the month of September 1967…
The track had no lights, so ran on Sunday afternoons… Lights were installed in January 1968 but the track still ran on Sunday evenings for the first couple of years after it became New Smyrna Speedway in '68…
Note in the first story the name Harold Gordon… he was the father of the late Homer Gordon who was one of the most popular drivers at both NSS and Orlando SpeedWorld…
Not many people know that the track was built by, and initially run by, Benny Corbin. I believe he also built Volusia County Speedway.
I remember running Orlando on Fri night, Eau Gail Sat night then get up early Sun to change rear gear for Daytona (nss…) It was like running a super speedway for us back then. Loved that track then and now. Mike P.