Myrtle Beach Speedway

Last updated
Myrtle Beach Speedway
MyrtleBeachSpeedway.svg
Location Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Time zoneGMT-5
Coordinates 33°44′47″N78°57′7″W / 33.74639°N 78.95194°W / 33.74639; -78.95194
Capacity12,000 (Oval)
Opened1958
Closed2020
Major events
D-oval
SurfaceAsphalt
Length0.538 miles (0.866 km)
BankingTurns - 13°
Straights - 4° front, 3° back
Myrtle Beach Speedway Myrtle Beach Speedway USA.jpg
Myrtle Beach Speedway

Myrtle Beach Speedway (originally named Rambi Raceway), was built in 1958 and was located on U.S. Route 501 near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Contents

The speedway was a semi-banked asphalt oval track that spans 0.538 miles (0.866 km).The NASCAR Cup Series competed at the Speedway from 1958 through 1965. The NASCAR Busch Series (now the Xfinity Series) raced at Myrtle Beach Speedway from 1988 to 2000.

Over the years, Myrtle Beach Speedway has been the training grounds for some of NASCAR's biggest stars including Jeff Gordon (former Busch Series track record holder). All four generations of Pettys (Lee, Richard, Kyle, and Adam) and three generations of Earnhardts (Ralph, Dale Sr., Dale Jr., and Kelley [1] ) have taken a green flag around the asphalt oval that spans 0.538 miles (0.866 km).

History

A Late Model car belonging to The NASCAR Racing Experience NASCAR Racing Experience 24.jpg
A Late Model car belonging to The NASCAR Racing Experience

Rambi Raceway opened as a dirt track in 1958.

The track hosted one NASCAR Convertible Series event in 1958 and one NASCAR Grand National East Series race in 1972.

Nick Lucas bought the track in 1968, paving it in 1974. Billy Hardee became a co-owner in 1987.

NASCAR Southeast Series had run 17 races at the facility between 1991 and 2004, with the Myrtle Beach 400 Late Model race (originally an All Pro event) beginning in 1993. Originally a 400-lap touring race, the race settled to NASCAR-specification Late Models of 250 laps with heat races and support races combined for 400 laps, originally set for Thanksgiving weekend, but later moved to the week before Thanksgiving in order to allow competitors to participate in the NASCAR Late Model Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucana, North Carolina.

The Busch Series race (the Myrtle Beach 250) in 2000 was the last major NASCAR event at the track.

Until 2020, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series raced on Saturday nights from late February through November. The track also runs various other classes of racing including Late Model Charger, Super Trucks and Mini Stocks. The speedway is home of the Myrtle Beach 400, IceBreaker 200, NASCAR Racing Experience, Monster Jam, NOPI Nationals and Horry County Fair with recent additions of Wheels of Destruction Thrill Show and the Myrtle Beach BikeFest. [2]

In a deal that closed April 2012, Speedway Group Inc. bought the facility, including 48 acres. Robert J. Lutz, one of the new owners, said Lt. Gov. André Bauer arranged for the deal to take place. Bauer said he wanted the track to help improve Myrtle Beach's economy with new events. Upgrades to the track were planned, and plans called for the NASCAR Racing Experience to attract drivers and tourists. One goal was another top-level race. [3]

The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour had one race at the speedway in 2009. After merging the two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tours at the end of the 2016 season, beginning in 2017, the newly unified tour hosted three events at the track from 2017 through 2019.

CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series had 24 races at Myrtle Beach between 1998 and 2014. CARS Super Late Model Tour and CARS Late Model Stock Tour had 3 events each at the facility, between 2015 and 2018.

In 2016, Myrtle Beach Speedway began opening the season in February with the Late Models in the IceBreaker.

In May 2020, it was announced the track would close its doors for good once the season was complete as the result of a sale to a land developer. [4]

The final race at Myrtle Beach Speedway was held in August 2020. Sam Yarbrough won the final Late Model race [5] while Carmen Odum and Carsyn Gillikin won their respective races in the final feature race ever held at the track. [6]

Originally, the land owners' plan was to demolish the facility and build hotels and condos on the property, but it was announced in early July 2021 that the company will not use the land for the original purpose, and the concept for the area fell through. Although it kept the track safe from demolition for the time being, photos taken on July 6, 2021 showed weeds and grass slowly taking over the racetrack. In December 2021, most of the track, including the track itself, most of the outside walls, and pit road were demolished, as now all that remains (as of December 31, 2021), is the frontstretch and backstretch walls which show the name of the former racetrack.

However, track promoters worked immediately to preserve Myrtle Beach's major races and keep them running with another track acquisition in the same market.

Promoters Acquire Florence Motor Speedway (Timmonsville)

In preparation for the last race, in July 2020, track promoter Steve Zacharias and business partners Brian Vause and Savannah Brotherton formed Speedway Plus Promotion LLC, becoming the promoters for the Florence Motor Speedway, a .400 mile (644 metre) oval located at 836 East Smith Street in Timmonsville, 75 miles from the track but in the same metropolitan region owned by Charlie Powell, Jr., whose family has raced in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. Built in 1982 as a dirt track, it was paved in 1988. The Powell family agreement was a lease to own agreement between Powell's family and Zacharias that continued until the end of the 2023 season, when Zacharias acquired full ownership in the track under the agreement. [7]

Sam Yarbrough, who won the last Myrtle Beach Late Model feature, won the first race at Florence with the same promoters, the 100 lap Prelude to the Southern 500.

NASCAR and CARS helped with the transition by transferring the track's sanctions for both NASCAR weekly racing and the CARS Tour to Florence Motor Speedway. CARS moved the traditional Myrtle Beach race to Florence in the ensuing weeks, while the Myrtle Beach 400, now the South Carolina 400 Charlie Powell Memorial, was held on the traditional date in November 2020. The IceBreaker followed in February 2021, keeping the track's major weekends at the new home in Timmonsville. The circuit also holds the "Prelude to" races before both Darlington NASCAR Cup weekends.

The Myrtle Beach 400 was renamed for former Florence Motor Speedway owner Charlie Powell, Jr., and remains in its traditional date before Thanksgiving as a major end of season race Late Model event. For the 30th running of the event in 2022, both NASCAR and the promoters now recognise the Myrtle Beach races into the history of the Charlie Powell Memorial. NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who raced at Myrtle Beach in his early career, entered a Late Model for himself and one of his Late Model drivers. [8] Numerous winners of the Powell Memorial have won at NASCAR's national level. Earnhardt continues to both drive and field cars for the major Florence races, with participation in the season-ending Powell and the season-opening IceBreaker since the 2022 season finale. Earnhardt's driver Carson Kvapil won the 2024 IceBreaker in a season which led to him making starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series that including a podium finish at Dover Motor Speedway.

Starting in 2023, a new rule was implemented for the Charlie Powell Memorial. During the Prelude to the Southern 500, the winner of the Marty Ward Memorial 150 Late Model feature, which counts towards NASCAR's Weekly Series championship for local, state, and national track championships, wins pole position for the Charlie Powell Memorial in November.

Charlie Powell 400 Winners

The Myrtle Beach 400 was originally a NASCAR All Pro / Southeast Series Late Model event from 1993 to 1995 before becoming a NASCAR-spec Late Model division race in 1996 where any Weekly Series track that runs a NASCAR Late Model class car can participate (primarily in the Carolinas now, perimeter chassis). Originally a 400-lap All Pro race, the race has become 250 laps as a NASCAR Late Model with other weekly features combining for the 400 laps. The race was not held in 2012 because of weather, after which there were two features in 2013, one to start the season and one to end the season.

After the transfer of sanction by NASCAR, the race moved to Florence for the 2020 season. The 2023 format for the Saturday event is two 25-lap features for non-qualified cars that send top finishers to the feature, then a 50-lap feature for four-cylinder race cars, a 50-lap feature for Street Stocks, and a 250-lap feature for NASCAR-specification Late Models. The race is currently run in two parts, with a ten-minute halftime break after 125 laps (or earlier if a safety car happens within five laps of the prescribed break). The halftime break is the only time teams can change four tires (during the race, teams can only change tires if they are damaged).

As of 2023, qualifying only gives positions second and beyond. Pole position is guaranteed to the winner of the Marty Ward 150, a Late Model race part of the Prelude to the Southern 500 held during the weekend of the Cook Out Southern 500.

YearDriver
1993Jody Ridley
1994Gary St. Amant
1995Freddie Query
1996Jay Fogleman
1997David Blankenship
1998Stephen Grimes
1999 Scott Riggs
2000Greg Edwards
2001Robert Powell
2002Robert Powell
2003 Timothy Peters
2004Frank Deiny Jnr
2005Frank Deiny Jnr
2006Frank Deiny Jnr
2007Sam Yarbrough
2008Jamey Caudill
2009Lucas Ransone
2010Frank Deiny Jnr
2011Garrett Campbell
2013Anthony Anders (March) [9]
Lee Pulliam (November)
2014Travis Swaim
2015Myatt Snider
2016Christian Eckes
2017 Josh Berry
2018 Chad McCumbee
2019Will Burns
2020 Ty Majeski
2021 Ty Majeski
2022Brenden Queen
2023Kade Brown

Sources: [10] [11] [12]

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References

  1. ↑ Newton, David (26 January 2010). "Junior took a backseat to big sis Kelley". ESPN . Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Start Your Engines at Myrtle Beach Speedway". Compass Cove. 12 August 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  3. ↑ Kanpek, Kurt (2012-02-25). "New owners have big plans for Myrtle Beach Speedway". The Sun News . Archived from the original on 2012-02-28. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
  4. ↑ Altman-Devilbiss, Alexx (2020-05-13). "Myrtle Beach Speedway prepares for final season of racing". WLOS. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  5. ↑ Andy Marquis. "Yarbrough wins rain-shortened finale at Myrtle Beach – Short Track Scene" . Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  6. ↑ "Final Checkered Flag at Myrtle Beach Speedway Goes to the Ladies – Short Track Scene" . Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  7. ↑ Brown, Kinsley. "Florence Motor Speedway gets a fresh start under new ownership". Florence News Journal. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  8. ↑ Paul, Brandon. "Dale Earnhardt, Jr. To Compete In Enhanced South Carolina 400". Floracing. Flosports. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  9. ↑ Race cancelled in 2012 because of weather. Two Myrtle Beach 400 races were held in 2013.
  10. ↑ Third Turn
  11. ↑ |Short Track Scene
  12. ↑ |Racing America
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