HUB CITY SPEEDWAY - SPARTANBURG SC
also called Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds - An October 1908 program was found for a horse trotting and racing event at the fair. The first car racing event was held at the track in 1939 and it was promoted by Joe Littlejohn; he promoted events at the track until 1966. In 1946, the Piedmont Interstate Fair Association was organized to replace and enlarge the old county fair. The purpose was to combine the efforts of six counties (Laurens, Polk, Rutherford, Cherokee, Union and Spartanburg) to better show off their industrial and agricultural potential. NASCAR made it's first appearance in 1953. The track was a 1/2 mile dirt oval that saw the cars run 200 laps. Lee Petty would claim the first race over Buck Baker and Herb Thomas. Herb Thomas and Tim Flock would win the next
two events. Petty would be the first repeat winner when he outran Fireball Roberts in 1956. In 1956 the Fair built a concrete grandstand to replace the old wooden structure and harness racing was replaced by stock car racing. It was the highlight of the weeks activities. The next two races would see Ralph Moody and Marvin Panch get the win. Then, Lee Petty got the win again. In all, the track saw ten races ran before somebody besides Petty won more than once. Ned Jarret won in 1960, just beating Petty to the line. At that point, this track became a battle group between Jarrett and Richard Petty. Jarrett won again in 1962, but Petty won the next two events. Not to be outdone; Jarret would win the two races after that. Petty won the fall event in 1964; but 1965 would see Jarret sweep both events. Over an eight race span, Petty or Jarrett won each race. The final Cup race was won by Elmo Langley as he bested Neil Castles by four laps. Tiny Lund had led the first 160 laps before losing his differential. That's where Langley took the lead and went on to win. Elmo Langley who went on to become the long time pace car driver for the Cup series. The NASCAR Convertibles raced twice here. Curtis Turner would win in 1956 and he beat Joe Weatherly. Turner would win again in 1957 as he whipped the field by three laps. While the last race at the track on the Cup Series was raced there over fifty-four years ago you can still find the grandstands where fans watched numerous legends thunder around the track in years gone by and from those stands you can still see what used to be the old racetrack.
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