LANCASTER SPEEDWAY - LANCASTER SC
Lancaster Speedway was built in 1954, by a group of local businessmen, headed by the late Herman "Hump" Poovey. It was constructed on land that was owned by Mr. Poovey. It is a 1/2 mile dirt oval located near Lancaster SC. NASCAR came to race in 1957. Bringing their Cup series here twice that year. The first race was June 1st, and race #21 of the 1957 season. It is interesting to note that they returned here on July 30 for the second race; and that race was race #34 of the season. So in that six week span between the first of June, and end of July, NASCAR ran 14 Cup events. In the June race, a 200 lap event, Paul Goldsmith would capture the win over Buck Baker. In July, Speedy Thompson would beat Bill Amick. The rest of the top five was Marvin Panch, Buck Baker and Lee Petty. The NASCAR Convertibles would race here in 1956. Larry Odo, from Chicago IL, would make the trek down to South Carolina to try his hand at wheeling the
Convertibles. He would run all 47 series races that year; and claim his only career Convertible win here that date. Odo would go on to finish third in the points chase. Interesting fact: 22 cars would start this race; but when Odo crossed the finish line, only three cars would be running. Odo beat second place finisher Dick Joslin and third place runner Art Binkley by a lap. From 1958 until 1963 however, the track fell upon some hard times, changing owners and management several times. In 1963, cousins Ross and Charles "Snooks" Cauthen bought the track and put it back into regular operation. As of 2022 the track races almost every weekend. They run Limited Late Models, Crate Sportsman, Renegade, Extreme 4, Pure Stock, Pro 4, Thunder Bomber and Vintage divisions. Some special events are Super Late Model Series, Outlaw Late Models, and Xtreme Dirtcar series. Near the end of 2021, NASCAR Truck series driver Stewart Friesen took
NASCAR's new NextGen car to Lancaster to put it through it's paces. This, in preparation for NASCAR's race in 2022 at Bristol Speedway on the dirt.
All Photos copyright and are property of their respective owners