Happy Birthday---Long Lost Speedways.

[Edm]

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.

[tedrichard]

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.............

[AB195]

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.

[AB195]

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?

[AB195]

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.

[Edm]

Found at Floridastockcars.com 1967 I saw several racing family names that look familiar.

http://www.floridastockcars.com/gall...7e323d0b653d24

Hey Rog, great web site Dave has there.

[carolwicks]

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

[Kenny Alderman]

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.

[ancrdave]

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...

[AB195]

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.

[AB195]

Vero Beach Speedway--

I know it's in ruins/ gravle pit condition. But this was the genious work of Mr. Bud Jenkins, and alot of the outskirts remain of this once mostly running Sunday afternoon facility, as was already listed. All I have is a photo, and a list of Ron McRery stories,(yes, Todd's dad) about this old gem.

Todd, Ron----how the heck was this old Raceway laid out? N-S-E-W.
Would sure like to know/locate it again.
(you can see the pond, but no track)

[ronabneysr]

wow thanks for putting up that picture

i was 18 years old and my brother don was 17 that was first dirt track we ever raced on after moving up from miami florida

from racing old hollywood speedway and hiealeah brings back old memeories

[Jimmy McKinley]

Hey AB...the frontstretch at Vero ran north and the backstretch south. I have one surviving pic of Vero...it's Paul Connors in his orange '69 Camaro #33. I believe Dave has the pic on his Web site.

[AB195]

Up In The Panhandle--

This counts, I think,

-Jackson SpeedBowl,
It was called, in Marianna, Florida---way up in the Panhandle.

Was a small 1/4 mile dirt oval, and it was in operation from 1949 to 1952.
if you punch it up on terra-server, you can see the outline of the raceway out in the trees.
I don't really know the history of it, but it's still there in the woods.

[AB195]

And The Panhandle-

And speaking of the Florida panhandle area--

Panama City, had a really great Raceway, a 1/4 mile aspahlt oval from 1970 to 1979, on Allison Avenue--
Beaches Speedway it was called.

To top it off, there was an 1/4 (?) asphalt Dragway laid out in the woods right next to it. I have seen the Subdivision of houses that actually sits on top of where these two Raceways existed.
Topo-Maps have also confirmed this as such.