GREENSBORO FAIRGROUNDS - GREENSBORO NC
The track was a 1/3 mile dirt oval, and began having races in 1926. It hosted it's first major event in June 1946 with a NASCAR race and three AAA races. The NASCAR Modified Series started racing there in 1948 with Tim, Bob and Fonty Flock winning three of the first four races. The NASCAR Late Model Sportsman began racing there in 1951 also; and were joined by the NASCAR Midget Division in 1955. Talk about running flat-out-fast. Spectators were doing that May 1, 1955, at the old dirt race track at the Greensboro Fairgrounds. The grandstand was on fire. More than 2,000 people fled the inferno by crossing the track to the safety of the infield. Race cars were stopping to avoid hitting anyone. In the rush, one man broke his ankle and a woman fainted. The grandstand collapsed after the last person got out. Then spectators and drivers pushed away charred debris from the track. Then the drivers climbed back in their cars and picked back up. Pee
Wee Jones of Winston-Salem went on to win the race, outlasting Bill Myers of Germanton in the 150-lap event. NASCAR brought the Convertible Series to the track in 1956, before bringing the Cup cars in 1957. The race was 150 laps. Joe Weatherly led the first nine laps, but crashed out on lap 13. Curtis Turner took the lead at that point, but he too would crash out after 49 laps on the point. From there Bob Welborn would led the final 92 laps to get the win. Gwyn Staley was second just three car lengths behind, while Glen Wood was third. The convertibles came back in March of 1957. Curtis Turner would lead all but the first two laps to collect the in. Weatherly was second and Possum Jones third. Later in 1957, the Cup cars made their first appearance. Info from the final Cup race is interesting. It seems driver introductions were being made on the back of a flat-bed trailer. As they passed on the make-shift stage, NASCAR champion Lee Petty and rival driver Tiny Lund exchanged angry words. Fists instantly started flying. The nickname “Tiny” was a misnomer. Lund stood around 6-6 and weighed 275 pounds. The 6-2 Petty possibly scaled 170. Lee’s teenage sons, Richard and Maurice, then members of their father’s crew, rushed to his rescue. “Tiny was beating the dickens out of all three of them,” Tim Flock recalled with a laugh. “It looked like minnows bouncing off a battleship.” The race was 250 laps, and Paul Goldsmith would lead 178 laps and just beat Jack Smith by five seconds. Buck Baker was third one lap back. Later in the year Baker would return with the Cup Series and
win the race by more than a lap. But it's wasn't without some issues. It seems that Baker tore out the transmission in his car in practice, and won the 250-lap event with a borrowed one from a Chevrolet panel truck in the infield. Speedy Thompson was second while Joe Weatherly was third. The final Cup event held at the track would be in May of 1958. The distance was reduced to 150 laps, and Bob Welborn would lead the final 125 laps and get the win. Lee Petty was second and Junior Johnson third. The fairgrounds track is long vanished. It was bulldozed in 1958 for the Greensboro Coliseum complex.
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