Happy Birthday---Long Lost Speedways.

[egspeedway]

In response to bowlegs, the go kart track in Tallahassee was the Hyman Myers Speedway. It was a high banked [20+ degrees] 5th mile dirt track that was extremely fast as you did not have to lift and could actually draft on the straights. Hosted one national and several regional/state events. The owners attitude of my way or the hiway finally ran off enough people to insure failure. Earl Pearson Jr. was spectacular on this track. There were also races run in Melbourne in the late 40s. The track was a road around the 2 lakes at the Wells park complex off of Fee Ave. I know Emil ran ther but nothing else and I doubt if ther more than 5 or 6 races held there.

[Jimmy McKinley]

Not a Florida track, but:

Pennsboro Speedway, 2012

Apparently, there's been a dispute over who owns the property, and iut's for sale.

The original home of the Dirt Track World Championship and the Hillbilly 100.

[AB195]

Daytona Beach Memorial Stadium---

A 1/4 mile shale/asphalt oval around a football Field, ran in 1955, and up to 1977.
Motorcycles, midgetts, mini-stocks, and such.

The Stadium has since been replaced with another like venue; Daytona Beach Munincipal Stadium......right on top of it. Same location.

[Frasson118]

Daytona Memorial also ran both Modifieds and Late Models during Speedweeks in the late 70's. The fields weren't very big in either, and some nights drivers were allowed to enter both classes. I'm thinking both Bobby Brack and Leroy Porter ran these shows, side by side with guys like Evans, Troyer, Jarzombek and Bouchard. Jim Bickerstaff from the Midwest was another of the LM guys.

[ancrdave]

Memorial Stadium was right in Daytona proper, Municipal Stadium is located on LPGA Blvd west of Daytona about a mile off International Speedway Blvd... It was used for several years (shale surface) for Legend Car racing and flat track racing during Bike Week... Has not been used for racing since the flat track was built off turn one at DIS...

[Tweety16]

Actually when Bobby Brack ran at the Stadium during Speedweeks in 1976? the fields were big. It was a tiny track around a football field. As I recall there were at least 20-25 latemodels and about the same number of modifieds. The crowds never showed but the racing was good.

Bobby Brack won both nights for the latemodels after an inverted start and time trials. Ed Otto the promoter allowed the top 5 finishing late models to start at the rear with the modifieds. Bobby ran top 5 or so in the modified races both nights even after starting in the rear. The modified guys were not real happy about the late model passing them.

[Frasson118]

Tweety.... thanks for the explanation. The racing paper I was getting at that time didn't mention the 'top-5' deal with the Late Models, it only gave results... which were a mix of Mods & Late Models. Saw a few pics also.

Somebody I was surprised to see running that week, was Kenny Brightbill. Kenny has run very little on asphalt in a career that started in the 60's and continues today.

[Racefan99]

In response to bowlegs, the go kart track in Tallahassee was the Hyman Myers Speedway. It was a high banked [20+ degrees] 5th mile dirt track that was extremely fast as you did not have to lift and could actually draft on the straights. Hosted one national and several regional/state events. The owners attitude of my way or the hiway finally ran off enough people to insure failure. Earl Pearson Jr. was spectacular on this track.

Monty Myers was the owner of Hyman Myers Speedway.

I was a dirt poor college student at FSU, who found a kart in the weeds behind a building, fixed it up, and raced it at Hyman Myers Speedway in the mid-late 1980's. I didn't even own a trailer, and would bring my kart to the track in the trunk of my 1976 Lincoln Continental (it would hang out the back), that was always good for a few laughs when I pulled into the track.

One night, Monty walked by my pit, and struck up a conversation. I didn't even know who he was, until we met that night. When he realized I was a huge late model short track fan, he told me "Come with me, I want to show you something...." Then, he took me into his office. The walls were lined with some amazing racing photos. Monty had originally lived in AL, and owned a formidable late model team, with drivers such as Donnie Allison, Neil Bonnett, and several others that have since faded from my memory. And, although he didn't mention it at the time, I found out later that he had entered 2 Nascar Cup races as a car owner, finishing 5th in the 1972 Atlanta 500 with Donnie Allison.

He told me that he simply wanted to "give back" to the racing community, and that's why he built a kart track. I think he owned a construction-related business at the time, and must have spent far more in time and money on the kart track than he ever got in return. The place was state-of-the art, and makes most promoters today still look second-rate, 25 years later. When I go to tracks now that have unpainted, splintery boards to sit on, I think of Monty. He would never have allowed that at his track. I don't know if he's still alive today, but he was always very kind to me.

[egspeedway]

Excellant photos from Hyman Myers though they don,t really show the degree of banking since they are taken from the top. Monty was driving an 18 wheeler the last I heard and still lived in Tallahassee. Some of the drivers who ran and in some cases stared their career there are Earl Pearson Jr, Johnny Collins, Adam Bedenbaugh, Carlton Allen, Shane Russ, Wendall Miller, Wayne Stephens, Rick Stephens, Eric Platt, Petey Broughton, Mike Johnson Stuart Dutton and Casey Yunick. There were several others who made brief attempts but did not stick with it. It was a beautiful facility and was always immaculate.

[Tweety16]

Kenny Brightbill at Daytona Stadium

Kenny Brightbill happened to be parked right next to us. They had a Gremlin bodied dirt car complete with a solid axle up front. To say that it did not go well for them on the pavement track is probably an understatement. Kenny had his hands full and I think he only ran the first night.

[Dana Barlow]

Memorial Stadium was right in Daytona proper, Municipal Stadium is located on LPGA Blvd west of Daytona about a mile off International Speedway Blvd... It was used for several years (shale surface) for Legend Car racing and flat track racing during Bike Week... Has not been used for racing since the flat track was built off turn one at DIS...

I raced on it both ways;The track was assfalt,but some years was covered up with roadmorel /what your calling shale I think,mostly white and some drit and packed in hard some nites depending on how much water was or was not in it,but would eat out in the turns so inside lane was nearly always assfalt. The 8foot high wall was a car eater,it had columes every 10 or so feet that stuck out from the wall like 6in. and would clean off 6in. of a car for each one the car hit,there big steel gates at each end,and a few cars hit them. We had big earthmover tires to mark inside of track to try and keep racers from cutting corners short into the football feild endzone.
The stands were above the wall and really good viewing actully looking down on the races.
One year the promotor ran off with out paying for the last nite of racing,he was from NY New Hollend speedway as I remember and tryed the next year for speedweeks to do a show at Barberville,nearly no one would race for that crook,so that show failed too. New guy did it after that.