HICKORY SPEEDWAY - HICKORY NC
It is one of stock car racing's most storied venues, and is often referred to as the "World's Most Famous Short Track" and the "Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars". The track first opened in 1951 as a 1/2 mile dirt track. Gwyn Staley won the first race at the speedway and later became the first track champion. Drivers such as Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, and Ralph Earnhardt also became track champions in the 1950s, with Earnhardt winning five of them. The picture on the left is from one of the early races. In 1953, NASCAR's-- visited the track for the first time. Tim Flock won the first race at the speedway, which became a regular part of the Cup Series. Joe Eubanks finished second and Ray Duhigg third. Fonty
Flock would win the following year and Herb Thomas won in 1954. Then came the first of three track changes. In 1955 the track was downsized to 4/10 of a mile. It would remain that way until 1970. Over that span many of the stars of the Cup Series would get wins at the historic old track. Junior Johnson became the most successful Cup driver at Hickory, winning there seven times over an eleven year span. Tim Flock was the first two time winner; adding his second win in 1956. Speedy Thompson would win two races in 1956 and become the first back-to-back winner. The late '60's saw the great battle between Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Isaac. It was the same here. From 1964 until the Cup series stopped racing there; Pearson won four times. He won twice in a row in 1966. Not to be outdone, Petty won the next three races. After the race in March of 1967, the track would be
Jack Ingram
paved. Then, Isaac would sweep the events in 1969 and 1970 and post four Cup wins in a row. The track was reconfigured again after the 1969 season, going from a 4/10 mile track to about 3/8 of a mile. Tiny Lund won the tracks final Cup race, the "Buddy Shuman 276". It was a tribute for Cup driver Buddy Shuman, who died in a hotel fire the night before the start of the 1956 NASCAR Cup campaign. He had been tasked to head Ford's effort to succeed in NASCAR. Lund led the final 124 laps to beat Elmo Langley by over half a lap. The Xfinity Series also raced here from 1980-1998. Hickory played a prominent part of its first season, hosting six of the series' 28 races. It was the battle ground for Tommy Houston, and 'Iron
Man' Jack Ingram. In the years spanning 1982-1992, both drivers would get eight wins here. Not to be forgotten; the Convertible Series would run here on five occasions. The 1956 race saw Bob Welborn beat out Don Oldenberg to get the win. Gwyn Staley would outrun Curtis Turner to get his first career Convertible win. 1957 Turner would not be denied as he drove to the win by over a lap, ahead of Joe Weatherly. Welborn would win again in 1958. Turner would march through the field from his 21st place starting position to take the win by more than a lap over Junior Johnson. Joe Lee Johnson was third, as Richard Petty and Rex White rounded out the top five in NASCAR's final convertible race here at
Hickory. Hickory was dropped from the Cup schedule after the 1971 season, when R. J. Reynolds began sponsoring the newly christened NASCAR Winston Cup Series and dropped all races under 250 miles. Hickory is still used as a venue for NASCAR's club racing division, the Whelen All-American Series, Pro All Stars Series South Super Late Models and the CARS Tour featuring late model and super late model touring series cars.
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