STARKEY SPEEDWAY - ROANOKE VA
Starkey Speedway originally opened as a 1/4 mile dirt track in 1950. In 1954 a 2/5 mile dirt oval track was added. The track was very popular running mainly Midgets and Sportsmans. Starkey Speedway hosted its first NASCAR race in 1956 for convertible cars. It was 200 laps, and Curtis Turner outdistanced the field beating second place finisher Allen Adkins by a lap. Four more NASCAR events were held at Starkeys. All of those were Cup races, and when NASCAR returned the track had been paved. 1958 saw Jim Reed Battle Rex White, with Reed grabbing the checkers. NASCAR was back again in 1961. This time it would be Junior Johnson who would hold off White to get the win. 1962 would be a real battle which saw five cars finish on the lead
lap. Richard Petty held off Joe Weatherly by four seconds to claim the win. The rest of the top five was Ned Jarrett, Bob Welborn, and Jack Smith. The last race was in 1964. Junior Johnson covered the 200 laps first and he beat Jarret by a lap to get the win. Glen Wood was third, with David Pearson fourth. In 1965, Starkys was renamed Roanoke Speedway and continued to run Stock Car racing until 1971 when the track closed. This was Glen Woods final career race.
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