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 Asheville-Weaverville Speedway (1964) | |
| Location | 890 Clarks Chapel RdWeaverville, NC 28787 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35°44′19″N82°33′31″W / 35.738671°N 82.558649°W /35.738671; -82.558649 |
| Capacity | over 7,000 |
| Opened | August 20, 1950 |
| Major events | Grand National Series |
| Dirtoval track | |
| Length | 0.54 mi (0.87 km) |
TheAsheville–Weaverville Speedway nearWeaverville, North Carolina was a raceway forNASCAR races in both the Grand National andWinston Cup Series eras. From1951 to1969, races at the track were won by drivers likeRichard Petty,Bob Flock,Fonty Flock,Lee Petty,Rex White, andFireball Roberts. As a dirtoval track, the speedway helped serve its purpose during the dirt-dominated formative years of NASCAR's premier series. The track was paved in 1957.[1] Other NASCAR legends likeBanjo Matthews,Ralph Earnhardt,Junior Johnson, andCotton Owens had made notable appearances here.
The track was closed in 1970, until North Buncombe High School was built on the property. In the 1970s and 1980s the track was used as softball fields and sports practice fields. The track itself had been disabled by first placing earthen barriers on opposite sides of the track, and later, concrete barriers at 8 locations around the track.
An anti-noise ordinance was used to shut down the track after years of racing; this fight was staged as early as the1970 racing season when a group of citizens petitioned their city council to shut down the track. 75% of people who read theAsheville Citizen wanted that track to be closed in a poll done in the summer of 1987. However, by that time, the track had already been physically disabled for racing purposes.Urbanization and progress forced the property to be closed, demolished, and re-zoned for educational purposes.
The property is now occupied byNorth Buncombe High School.
Winners of the circuit during the Grand National Series.
The Asheville-Weaverville Speedway is not to be confused with the "New Asheville Speedway", which was a1⁄3 mi (0.54 km) oval circuit located on Amboy Road inAsheville, about 12 miles south of the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. This track was closed after the track owners sold the track in 1998 to RiverLink, an organization that promoted making the French Broad River area of Asheville a public park. New Asheville became Carrier Park, with its racetrack becoming a banked concrete bicycle track.
35°44′25″N82°33′28″W / 35.740382°N 82.557793°W /35.740382; -82.557793