Greenville-Pickens Speedway is a race track located in

Easley, South Carolina Easley is a city in Pickens County (with parts extending into Anderson County) in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Most of the city lies in Pickens County, with a small portion of the city in Anderson County. In 2001, Easley hosted the Big ...

, just west of

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...

. The track hosted weekly NASCAR sanctioned races. Several NASCAR touring series have raced at the track in prior years, including the

Whelen Southern Modified Tour The Southern Modified Auto Racing Teams (SMART) Tour is a Modified stock car racing series racing in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of The United States. The series began in 1989, NASCAR took over the series in 2005. During ...

and the NASCAR Grand National Division.

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

and

Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

teams frequently tested at the track until 2015, when all private testing was banned.Long history hugs racetrack's curves
, March 17, 2005; Ed McGranahan;

The Greenville News ''The Greenville News'' is a daily morning newspaper published in Greenville, South Carolina. After ''The State (newspaper), The State'' in Columbia and Charleston's ''The Post and Courier'', it is the third largest paper in South Carolina. Hi ...

; Retrieved November 1, 2007 The Upper South Carolina State Fair has been held at the fairgrounds adjacent to the race track since 1964. The capacity of the track was 35,000, including the

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

Backstretch, a three-tiered parking area where fans can take in races while tailgating or camping. The track held 28 races on the NASCAR Grand National tour between 1955 until 1971. It also hosted two NASCAR Busch Grand National (now

) tour races in 1983. The April 10, 1971, race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway was the first NASCAR race nationally televised from start to finish, on ABC Wide World of Sports.

History

The track opened in 1940 as a half-mile dirt track. It was closed the following year for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

like all race tracks in the United States. It reopened on July 4, 1946, in a race promoted by

Bill France Sr. William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992) was an American businessman and racing driver. He was also known as Bill France Sr. or Big Bill. He is best known for founding and managing NASCAR, a sanctioning body of US-based s ...

The race was the third of the day after 2 horse races. NASCAR began racing at the track in 1955. The track was paved as an asphalt track in April 1970. The last NASCAR Grand National race was held at the track in 1971, when NASCAR began cutting small tracks from its schedule. The NASCAR Grand National Division's Busch North Series name was changed to Busch East Series in 2006 after the series' first Southern race, held at this track.

Rumors of track sale and closure

In January 2023, ''The State'' reported that the track faced an uncertain near future, with no racing events scheduled for the 2023 racing season and potential rumors of the facility being sold being made. Two months later, real estate company RealtyLink acquired a contract to purchase the track. On March 15, shortly after the track was listed for purchase to build an industrial park, racing driver Jackie Manley began discussing with Whittaker to lease out the facility for races, hoping to crowdfund $103,000 by mid-April. However, with the funding goal not being met in May, Manley's plans were completely scrapped in July, with only $60,000 being raised for the lease. In November, RealtyLink to start construction on a industrial park around the speedway were approved, with RealtyLink owner Phil Wilson stating that he did not wish to buy out the speedway itself. Eight months later, with the project now expanding to include over the span of three phases, groundbreaking on the first phase of construction began on June 20. Shortly after, the racetrack itself was placed for sale by RealtyLink for $5.8 million. In January 2025, the third phase of construction, which included the demolition of the speedway, was denied by the Pickens County Planning Commission; however, RealtyLink agreed to wait one year until a renewed attempt at renewal for the phase. As of March 2025, multiple offers of approximately $3 million were made to purchase the track according to ''The State''.

NASCAR race winners

Grand National

: ''Note: The 1951 race at

Air Base Speedway Air Base Speedway, originally named (and interchangeably called) Textile Speedway and Greenville Textile Speedway, was a motorsports half-mile and quarter-mile dirt track facility located south of Greenville, South Carolina. It was located south o ...

is sometimes erroneously credited as being held here.'' *1955

Tim Flock Julius Timothy Flock (May 11, 1924 – March 31, 1998) was an American stock car racer. He was a two-time NASCAR series champion. His brothers Bob and Fonty Flock also raced in NASCAR, as did his sister Ethel Mobley, NASCAR's second female d ...

*1956

Buck Baker Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. (March 4, 1919 – April 14, 2002), better known as Buck Baker, was an American stock car racing, stock car racer. Born in Richburg, South Carolina, Richburg, South Carolina, Baker began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his ...

*1958 Jack Smith *1959

Junior Johnson Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American professional stock car racing driver, engineer, and team owner as well as an entrepreneur. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career befor ...

*1959 Buck Baker *1960

Ned Jarrett Ned Jarrett (born October 12, 1932) is an American former race car driver and broadcaster. He is a two-time NASCAR Grand National Series champion. Because of his calm demeanor, he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett". He is the father of form ...

(Greenville 200) *

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

Emanuel Zervakis (Greenville 200) *1961 Jack Smith (Pickens 200) *1961 Junior Johnson *1962 Ned Jarrett (Greenville 200) *1962

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "the King", is an American former stock car racing driver who competed from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most nota ...

(Pickens 200) *1963 Buck Baker (Greenville 200) *

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

Richard Petty (Pickens 200) *1964 David Pearson (Greenville 200) *1964

LeeRoy Yarbrough Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough (September 17, 1938 – December 7, 1984) was an American stock car racing, stock car racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, had 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211 ($ when adjusted for infl ...

(Pickens 200) *

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

Dick Hutcherson Richard Leon Hutcherson (November 30, 1931 – November 6, 2005) was an American businessman and a former stock car racer. A native of Keokuk, Iowa, Keokuk, Iowa, Hutcherson drove in NASCAR competition from 1964 to 1967. He won 14 races, finishin ...

(Greenville 200) *1965 Dick Hutcherson (Pickens 200) *1966 David Pearson (Greenville 200) *1966 David Pearson (Pickens 200) *

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

David Pearson (Greenville 200) *1967 Richard Petty (Pickens 200) *1968 Richard Petty (Greenville 200) *1968 Richard Petty (Pickens 200) *1969

Bobby Isaac Robert Vance Isaac (August 1, 1932 – August 14, 1977) was an American stock car racing driver. Isaac made his first NASCAR appearance in 1961, and quickly forged a reputation of one of the toughest competitors of the 1960s and 1970s. He was most ...

(Greenville 200) *

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

Bobby Isaac (Pickens 200) *

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Bobby Isaac (Greenville 200) – First NASCAR race after track was paved *

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Bobby Isaac (Greenville 200) – 1st NASCAR race televised flag to flag. It was on ABC in

prime-time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to b ...

Jim McKay James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' (1961–1998). His intro ...

and

Chris Economaki Christopher Constantine Economaki (October 15, 1920 – September 28, 2012) was a pioneering American motorsports journalist, publisher, reporter, and commentator known as "The Dean of American Motorsports Journalism." Working for, and later ...

. *1971 Richard Petty (Pickens 200)

Busch Grand National

*1983

Jack Ingram Jack Owen Ingram (born November 15, 1970) is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Alt ...

(Coca-Cola 200)Track winners
racing-reference.info, Retrieved November 1, 2007 *1983 Butch Lindley (DAPCO 200)

NASCAR Grand National Division, K&N East Series

*2006 Sean Caisse *2007

Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No.22 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for NASCAR operations of Tea ...

*2008

Austin Dillon Austin Reed Dillon (born April 27, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet ZL1 and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet ...

*2009 Brian Ickler *2010 Darrell Wallace Jr. *2011 Brett Moffitt^ *2011 Sergio Peña *2012 Darrell Wallace Jr. (Spring) *2012 Corey LaJoie (Fall) *2013

Brandon Gdovic Brandon R. Gdovic (born February 28, 1992) is an American professional racing driver. The Yorktown, Virginia resident competes in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series, driving for Precision Performance Motorsports. He has also raced i ...

(Spring) *2013 Dylan Kwasniewski (Summer) *2014 Ben Rhodes (Spring) *2014 Austin Hill (Summer) *2015 William Byron^ *2016 Justin Haley (Spring) *2016 Kyle Benjamin^ (Summer) *2017 Kyle Benjamin ^ = Flag to flag

List of late model track champions

Track officials began writing its track champions on the wall in 1971, and they went back to 1957. *1957 Grady Hawkins (1) *1958 Elmo Henderson (1) *1959 David Pearson (1) *1960 Floyd Powell (1) *1961 Floyd Powell (2) *1962 Floyd Powell (3) *1963 Dub Nelson (1) *1964 Jeff Hawkins (1) *1965

Ralph Earnhardt Ralph Lee Earnhardt (February 23, 1928 – September 26, 1973) was an American stock car racer and patriarch of the Earnhardt racing family. He was the father of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, grandfather of Kerry Earn ...

(1) *1966

(2) *1967 Jeff Hawkins (2) *1968 Jeff Hawkins (3) *1969 Jeff Hawkins (4) *1970 Jeff Hawkins (5) First track champion on pavement *1971 Johnny Allen (1) *1972 Butch Lindley (1) *1973 Don Miller (1) *1974 Don Miller (2) *1975 Bob Jarvis (1) *1976 Don Sprouse (1) *1977 Buddy Howard (1) *1978 Buddy Howard (2) *1979 Buddy Howard (3) *1980 Buddy Howard (4) *1981 Donnie Bishop (1) *1982 Gene Morgan (1) *1983 Donnie Bishop (2) *1984 Donnie Bishop (3) *1985 Roy Chatham (1) *1986 Donnie Bishop (4) *1987 Larry Hines (1) *1988 Robert Pressley (1) *1989 Larry Ogle (1) *1990 Marty Ward (1) *1991 Marty Ward (2) *1992 Donnie Bishop (5) *1993 Randy Porter (1) *1994 Donnie Bishop (6) *1995 Mardy Lindley (1) *1996 Steve Howard (1) *1997 Dexter Canipe (1) (NASCAR Weekly Series National Champion) *1998 Pete Silva (1) *1999 Dennis Southerlin (1) *2000 Gene Morgan (2) *2001 Pete Silva (2) *2002 Marty Ward (3) *2003 Marty Ward (4) *2004 Kenneth Headen (1) *2005 Blair Addis (1) *2006 Randy Porter (2) *2007 David Roberts (1) *2008 Marty Ward (5) *2009 Roger Powell (1) *2010 Marty Ward (6) *2011 Randy Porter (3) *2012 Toby Porter (1) *2013 Anthony Anders (1) *2014 Anthony Anders (2) (NASCAR Weekly Series National Champion) *2015 David Roberts (2) *2016 Dylan Hall (1) *2017 Will Burns (1) *2018 Trey Gibson (1) *2019 Taylor Satterfield (1) *2020 Cameron Bolin (1) *2021 Ryan Walker (1) *2022 Mag Tate (1)

Race broadcasting

References

External links

Official websiteGreenville-Pickens Speedway at nascar.comNASCAR Commentators Crews and Networks1971 Greenville 200
{{NASCAR Elite Division Midwest racetracks NASCAR tracks Motorsport venues in South Carolina NASCAR races at Greenville-Pickens Speedway Sports venues in Pickens County, South Carolina Sports venues completed in 1940 1940 establishments in South Carolina