Wilson Speedway was a half-mile dirt oval located in

Wilson, North Carolina Wilson is a city in and the county seat of Wilson County, North Carolina, United States. Located approximately east of the capital city of Raleigh, it is served by the interchange of Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 264. Wilson had an estimated p ...

that held 12

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

between 1951 and 1960 and 5 races in the

NASCAR Convertible Series The NASCAR Convertible Division was a division of convertible cars early in NASCAR's history, from 1956 until 1959, although the signature race for convertibles remained a Convertible Division race until 1962. Two remnants of the Convertible Divi ...

from 1956 to 1958. and continued to hold local races until 1989 when the track was closed. The track was located at the Wilson County American Legion Fair Grounds.

History

The track opened in 1934 and originally held

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

before switching to becoming an auto racing track in 1935 the track was accredited three years later by

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

and held races until the United States' entry into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1941. Racing continued following the war until 1989. Hours before the 1959 NASCAR race, the grandstands burned to the ground and 8000 fans in attendance watched the race from the ground. In the 1960 NASCAR race,

Emanuel Zervakis Emanuel Zervakis (January 23, 1930 – June 25, 2003) was a NASCAR driver and team owner. He won two NASCAR Grand National Series races in his career, both in 1961 (Greenville 200 and Yankee 500). He later went on to own a part-time Cup team ...

was disqualified for his fuel tank being too large after winning the race. During the 60's the track was one of the venues

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably dri ...

raced at very early in his career. As of 2022 the track is abandoned but still partially intact, with all of the track surface in turns 3 and 4 turning into grass and turns 1 and 2 being slightly off from the original track.

NASCAR results

Cup Series Results

Reference

Convertible Results

Reference

References

{{NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racetracks Motorsport venues in North Carolina NASCAR tracks Wilson, North Carolina 1989 disestablishments in North Carolina 1934 establishments in North Carolina