Beltsville Speedway

Beltsville Speedway
Baltimore-Washington Speedway
Location Beltsville, Maryland, USA
Coordinates 39°02′47″N 76°51′05″W / 39.046319°N 76.851296°W / 39.046319; -76.851296
Capacity ~7,000
Broke ground 1964
Opened 1965
Closed 1978
Major events None (demolished)
Pavement oval track
Length 0.500 mi (0.805 km)

The Beltsville Speedway, formerly the Baltimore-Washington Speedway was an asphalt oval track in Prince George's County, Maryland; it spanned 0.500 miles (0.805 km).

Near Beltsville, it was on land now occupied by Capitol Technology University,[1] in the South Laurel census-designated place.[2][3]

Summary

It was specially designed with banked turns for stock car racing. Originally known as the Baltimore-Washington Speedway, this track received its final name in its 19th month of operation.[4] The track hosted modified stock car racing vehicles alongside the other NASCAR series.[4] Wednesday nights were the original night for racing but the schedule eventually added Friday night racing.[4] Ten Grand National races were raced there including the popular Beltsville 300 series of races.[5] Strict noise restrictions were given out in its final year of operation and the county (Prince George's County) starting monitoring the events.[4] Eventually, a sound wall was built surrounding the speedways. Cars had to begin running mufflers in order to stifle the noise from the increasing RPMs from the vehicles themselves.[4] The track was eventually shut down, demolished, and replaced with a local university.[4]

Famous race car drivers like Richard Petty, Tiny Lund, and David Pearson participated in legendary races there.[5] The 1968 Beltsville 300 was an example of some of the classic NASCAR Grand National races that were run on the track.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Capitol History." Capitol Technology University. Retrieved on August 26, 2018. "In 1980 the college found its home in Laurel, Maryland. Within three years, Capitol purchased the 52-acre former site of the Beltsville Speedway, [...]"
  2. ↑ Campus map. Capitol Technology University. Retrieved on August 26, 2018. "Capitol Technology University 11301 Springfield Road Laurel, MD 20708"
  3. ↑ "2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP (INDEX): South Laurel CDP, MD." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 26, 2018. Pages: 1, 2, and 3. Note that the census-designated place was previously smaller: 2000 Index Map and pages 1 and 2. In the 1990 map of Prince George's County (see index), South Laurel is on pages 2 and 5.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Complete history of the Beltsville Speedway at The Vintage Racer
  5. 1 2 3 Beltsville Speedway event history at Everything Stock Car
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.