Orange County Speedway


Orange County Speedway is a 3/8 mile asphalt oval in Orange County, North Carolina, near Rougemont. It first opened in 1966 as 1/4 mile and 5/8 mile dirt oval, which operated until 1967 and 1973, respectively. The facility was reopened and paved in 1983. With a slogan of "the fastest 3/8-mile race track in America," the oval features 19 degree banking through the turns and 16 degrees on the straightaways creating three distinct grooves making for very fast turns. The aluminum grandstands stretch from Turn 4 all the way down the front straightaway to Turn 1. The speedway closed in 2003, but reopened on March 11, 2006.
Some of the most famous names in stock car racing have raced at the Orange County Speedway, including Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Davey and Donnie Allison, Dale Jarrett, Jeff and Ward Burton, Elliott and Hermie Sadler, Scott Riggs, Michael Waltrip, Todd Bodine, Kyle Petty and Bobby Labonte. Some more recent notable drivers include Timothy Peters, Darrell "Bubba" Wallace, Jr., Ryan Blaney, Jeb Burton, Timmy Hill, Ryan Reed, Jesse Little and Gray Gaulding. David Pearson and Glen Wood raced at the speedway when it was a dirt track. The track currently runs a regular weekly show on the second and fourth Saturday night of each month, April thru October. The facility also hosts the PASS Super Late Model series, CARS Super Late Model Tour and CARS Late Model Stock Tour.

History

Orange County Speedway was built as a horse racing track; it stayed as a horse track from 1857 until 1919, when the first auto race took place. Automobile races were going to be a regular event at the track before being stopped because of World War II. Three years after the war was over stock car racing started again. The first stock car driver to win on the ½-mile track was Frankie Schneider.
In 1966, the speedway underwent significant improvement, which is considered the actual launch date of the track. Tt open as a 1/4-mile dirt oval, but soon was increased to 5/8 mile and remained until 1973.
In 1973, the track hosted one NASCAR Grand National East Series event.
In 1983, the speedway underwent more improvements. 19-degree banking was added in the turns and 16-degree banking in straightaways to assured more safety for drivers and exciting on-car movements for fans. At that time the Orange County Speedway became known as “the fastest 3/8-mile race track in America".
In 1983, the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series began running events at the speedway. Orange County Speedway was one of the first tracks in the area to have live televised Busch races; the first was the 1990 Roses Stores 200 on June 9, 1990.
Between 1986 and 1988, the facility hosted 5 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races. Also, the track hosted 3 NASCAR Southeast Series events between 1993 and 1999.
ASA National Tour ran 2 events at the speedway, between 1998 and 1999. And CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series ran 5 races at Orange County Speedway between 1997 and 2014.
At the start of 21st century, the track was in bad shape and attendance had been falling. Eventually the track was shut down in 2003. Then in March 2006, under a new management team, the track reopened. Volunteers put in time to rehabilitation of the speedway for the opening day. The event was a big success, with a large crowd for the first time in years.

Major results

NASCAR Busch Grand National Series

The NASCAR Busch Grand National Series had 27 races at the speedway from 1983 until 1994.
DateRace NameWinning driverMakeAverage speedRace length
June 18, 1983L.D. Swain & Son 200Jack IngramPontiac
July 2, 1983Mason Day Paving 200Tommy HoustonChevrolet
July 9, 1983Mello Yello 200Tommy HoustonChevrolet
October 1, 1983Solomon Enterprises 200Sam ArdOldsmobile
April 21, 1984Mason Day Paving 200Jack IngramPontiac
June 6, 1984L.D. Swain & Son 200Jack IngramPontiac
July 7, 1984Miller 200Jack IngramPontiac
June 15, 1985Puryear Truck 150Larry PearsonPontiac
September 28, 1985Goody's 150Jack IngramPontiac
June 14, 1986Poole Equipment 150Tommy HoustonBuick
August 16, 1986L.D. Swain 150Dale JarrettPontiac
September 28, 1986Roses Stores 150Larry PearsonPontiac
June 27, 1987Poole Equipment 150Mark MartinFord
August 15, 1987Carpenter Chevy 150Larry PearsonChevrolet
June 11, 1988Roses Stores 150Tommy HoustonBuick
August 13, 1988Poole Equipment 150Rick MastBuick
June 10, 1989Roses Stores 200Jimmy SpencerBuick
August 12, 1989Texas Pete 200Robert PressleyOldsmobile
June 9, 1990Roses Stores 200Chuck BownPontiac
August 11, 1990Texas Pete 200Chuck BownPontiac
June 8, 1991Roses Stores 300Robert PressleyOldsmobile
August 10, 1991Texas Pete 300Jimmy HensleyOldsmobile
June 6, 1992Roses Stores 300Robert PressleyOldsmobile
August 8, 1992Texas Pete 300Jimmy SpencerOldsmobile
May 1, 1993Roses Stores 300Ward BurtonBuick
October 2, 1993Polaroid 300Hermie SadlerOldsmobile
April 30, 1994Pantry Stores 300Hermie SadlerChevrolet

Multiple winners (drivers)

Multiple winners (makes)