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 NASCAR
Veteran Dick May died June 9, 2009, at Harrisburg NC following a
long illness. The Watertown NY native moved to North Carolina
in 1967 to begin competing in the NASCAR Grand National series.
May competed in 185 races before retiring from the sport in
1985. During his career he was known for his ability to qualify
cars and avoid crashing. May was also quite active as a relief
driver, often filling in for fatigued drivers during NASCAR
events. In the 1975 Mason Dixon 500, May drove five cars
for five separate owners but never completed the race. A broken
throttle linkage with five laps to go sidelined him.
During his NASCAR career, May competed in nine Grand
National/Winston Cup events at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway. |
New 1971 Pix posted courtesy of Tony Roberts
Track
History
The first races
were held at Nashville Fairgrounds speedway was on June 11, 1904.
The track was configured into a one and an eight-mile dirt oval and
the races became an annual tradition
occurring in conjunction with the Tennessee
State Fair until the 1940's.
In
1958, promoters Benny Goodman, Bill Donoho and Mark Parrish reconfigured the
track into a half-mile paved oval. On July 19, 1958, Charlie Griffin of
Chattanooga won the first race held on the new track. Weekly races became
a fixture of the track along with the annual (later bi-annual)
appearances of
NASCAR Grand National / Winston Cup.
In
1969, the present 5/8-mile configuration was established with 35 degree banked
turns.
The
first
Grand
National
race
on
the
new
banking
was
televised
live
on
ABC's
Wide
World
of
Sports
in
1970.
However,
the turns proved too
treacherous for the local sportsman racers
and were modified to the current day 18 degree banking
that exists today.
During
the
seventies
many
of
Winston
Cup's
biggest
stars
visited
the
Nashville
track
with
sell-out
crowds
in
the
grandstands.
Unfortunately,
time and economics eventually lead Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway to be stricken
from the ranks of NASCAR's
Winston Cup
Division in 1984, However, the
track continues to host weekly NASCAR series racing and continues to
provide a
training ground for future NEXTEL Cup stars.
Photo
Notes
I
began
attending
Grand
National
races
in
Nashville
during
1972.
The
collection
of
pictures
contained
on
the
website
were
obtained
from
driver
postcards
obtained
at
the
track,
postcard
from
the
internet
and
photographs
taken
at
the
race
track.
The
track
pictures
taken
from
1972
to
1980
were
made
with
a
Kodak
instamatic
126
and
an
Anseco
Pioneer
616;
1982
through
1983
with
a
Pentax
35mm
and
1984
(Talladega)
with
a
Nikon
FG.
All
track
photos
are
indicated
with
applicable
race
on
individual
car
webpage.
I
would
also
like
to
thank
Russ
Thompson,
Tommy
Marchman,
Fred
Marchman,
Evelyn
Hylton, Ray
Lamm,
Ray
Pentecost and Tony Roberts for
the
contributions
that
they
have
made
to
this
project.
The
overall
quality
and
thoroughness
of
the
site
would
have
been
impossible
to
achieve
without
their
support
Closing
This webpage is
dedicated to the drivers, teams, track officials and fans that have made Nashville
Fairgrounds Speedway one of the south's great sporting attractions.
This
site is also dedicated to my parents for enduring many pre and post races hours
while I took photos, helped independent drivers in the pits and collected
postcards.
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