VARR South Boston Speedway History

The History of South Boston Speedway

The South Boston Speedway has been a place that has been challenged by some of NASCAR's top racing legends. And, it is a place that is steep in tradition.

This year will mark the 40th season of stock car auto racing at the Halifax County oval. And, it is expected to be the biggest and best season ever.

A massive renovation and improvement program led to the track's expansion from a .357-mile oval to a .4 mile oval prior to the start of the 1994 season.

Prior to the start of the 1995 season, the improvement continued to come with new concrete walkways around the facility, new press, restroom and concession facilities, an two new suites about the main grandstand area on the front stretch. And, for the first time in more than 20 years, weekly NASCAR racing was back in Halifax County.

A youngster, Elliott Sadler of Emporia, VA., whose sharpness as a driver belied his youthful age of 19, won the South Boston Speedway NASCAR Winston Racing Series championship in the year that marked the track's return to weekly NASCAR racing.

The expansion and renovation of the speedway over the course of the past two years is a demonstration of the continuing growth and popularity of NASCAR racing at South Boston.

From the time that it was opened in 1957 as a quarter mile dirt track by its original co-owners, Buck Wilkins and the late Dave Blount, many of the top names in NASCAR have competed at the racing facility located off of U.S. route 360 just east of South Boston.

Richard Petty, the heralded king of NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing, has several trophies from the South Boston Speedway tucked away in his trophy cases. So did the late Bobby Isaac.

The late Joe Weatherly, Junior Johnson, Jack Smith, Rex White, Possum Jones, David Pearson, Buddy Baker, Charlie Glotzbach, Buck Baker, Wendell Scott, are just a few of the top NASCAR driver that competed at South Boston.

Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Geoff Bodine, Harry Gant, and Benny Parsons are also among the famous name drivers that have competed on the high banks of South Boston.

Perhaps there is no name that is more familiar to South Boston fans that that of the late Ray Hendrick. Hendrick, a legendary driver known for his hard charging driving style, recorded hundreds of wins at the South Boston Speedway during his storied career, many of them coming when he was piloting the famous winged number 11 Modified coupe that was fielded by Jack Tant and Clayton Mitchell.

While the story of South Boston is intertwined with the colorful stories of many of NASCAR's racing legends, the story of the Halifax County racing plant is one of the long term success.

Two years after Wilkins and Blount opened the quarter mile dirt track, the speedway, with the help of Martinsville Speedway owner and president H.Clay Earles, joined the NASCAR fold. Almost immediately after the South Boston Speedway was included under the NASCAR banner, the track began to receive the attention and recognition that went along with being a part of the nation's top stock car racing circuit.