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Map of the Original Ten World Stock Car Championship track locations.

The Original Ten is the group of ten tracks that comprised the inaugural season of World Stock Car Championship racing. The ten tracks are Bowman Gray Stadium, Columbus, Daytona Beach, Flemington, Langhorne, Monroe, Riverside Park, Seekonk, Thompson, and Warwick.

Of the Original Ten, only Thompson, Seekonk, and Bowman Gray Stadium still host auto racing as of 2019.

Tracks[edit | edit source]

Name Location State Opened Type Length Surface Notes
Bowman Gray Stadium Winston-Salem North Carolina 1937 Oval 0.25 mi (0.402 km) Asphalt
Columbus Motor Speedway Obetz Ohio 1946 Oval 0.333 mi (0.536 km) Asphalt Closed in 2016; facilities used as part of Fortress Obetz entertainment complex
Daytona Beach Street Course Daytona Beach Florida 1906 Street Course 4.2 mi (6.7 km) Asphalt and Sand Closed for auto racing in 1959 with the opening of Daytona International Speedway.
Flemington Speedway Flemington New Jersey 1915 Oval 0.625 mi (1.000 km) Dirt Demolished in 2005
Langhorne Speedway Middletown Township Pennsylvania 1926 Oval 1.000 mi (1.608 km) Dirt Closed in 1971 and sold to land developers. A recreation of the speedway, known as the New Langhorne Speedway, opened in 2014 in Upper Makefield Township, Pennsylvania.
Monroe County Fairgrounds Rochester New York 1950 Oval 0.500 mi (0.804 km) Dirt Closed in 1973.
Riverside Park Speedway Agawam Massachusetts 1949 Oval 0.25 mi (0.402 km) Asphalt Closed in 1999 and demolished to allow expansion of Six Flags New England.
Seekonk Speedway Seekonk Massachusetts 1945 Oval 0.333 mi (0.536 km) Asphalt
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Thompson Connecticut 1940 Oval 0.625 mi (1.000 km) Asphalt Only Original Ten track remaining on WSCC Schedule as of 2019
Warwick Fairgrounds Warwick Rhode Island 1933 Oval 0.400 mi (0.643 km) Dirt Demolished in 1964 due to expansion of Interstate 95 in Rhode Island.

Bowman Gray Stadium[edit | edit source]

Main article: Bowman Gray Stadium

Bowman Gray Stadium, nicknamed The Madhouse, is located in the town of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The track began hosting stock car racing in 1947, and quickly became a popular site for weekly stock car races. The National Stock Car Series would visit the track annually until 1968, after a schedule reform removed tracks smaller than 1/2 mile from the schedule. Owing to stock car racing's enduring popularity, the track continues to host weekly racing sanctioned by the World Stock Car Championship's lower-tier divisions.

Columbus Motor Speedway[edit | edit source]

Main article: Columbus Motor Speedway

Columbus Motor Speedway held races for the National Stock Car Series consistently throughout the first decade of professional stock car racing; however, the track's position became tenuous in the early 1960's, as the owners did not agree to make requested (but not required) safety upgrades, leading to several driver injuries. The track was removed from the schedule in 1965; it is believed that the owners' refusal to pay for the upgrades (a common position many of the smaller track owners at the time held) was the catalyst for the schedule reforms the series underwent in the middle of the 1960's.

The track was closed in 2016, and an entertainment complex known as Fortress Obetz opened on its site the following year. Columbus is the seventh and most recent of the Original Ten to close.

Daytona Beach Street Course[edit | edit source]

Main article: Daytona Beach Street Course

Land speed record attempts at Daytona Beach were nothing new by the 1930's, and city officials turned to local promoters to develop a street race in the city. Though the early years were tumultuous, Daytona Beach's street course became immensely popular both preceding and after the Second World War. Promoters caught on to the growing trend of stock car racing early, and were the second group to partner with Elliott Crawford's National Stock Car Series to host a sanctioned race (the first was the promotion team at Thompson).

Daytona Beach was the first of the Original Ten to close, as the street course was shuttered in 1959 due to the opening of the Daytona International Speedway. Markers denote the former track's layout on Daytona Beach today.

Flemington Speedway[edit | edit source]

Main article: Flemington Speedway

Flemington Speedway's first stock car race was a big one; it hosted the first-ever dirt race sanctioned by the National Stock Car Series. Flemington was the last track of the Original Ten to join the series, due to the promoters' uncertainty in the future of stock car racing. Despite their doubts, the race was an immense success, prompting the track to invest heavily in stock car racing. To this end, the track installed lights in 1955 and started hosting stock car racing as a weekly feature. The track was initially removed from the schedule in 1966, but returned in 1993 after being paved three years earlier. Flemington innovated the use of foam in the walls to absorb impact forces (allowing for higher speeds with reduced risk of injury in the event of a crash), which would help pioneer the creation of SAFER barriers.

Flemington would host its final World Stock Car Championship race in 2002; the track closed after the racing season ended and was eventually sold to developers, who demolished it. Flemington was the sixth Original Ten track to close.

Langhorne Speedway[edit | edit source]

Main article: Langhorne Speedway

Langhorne Speedway opened in 1926 by a group of racing enthusiasts looking to host sprint cars near the city of Philadelphia. By 1950, the track had changed hands several times, and the new ownership group had agreed to promote stock car racing alongside Elliott Crawford and the National Stock Car Series. At the time, Langhorne was the largest oval track on the circuit, a title it would hold until 1953 when Darlington Raceway joined the schedule.

The track struggled in the years following the WSCC schedule reforms; despite reconfiguring to a paved oval in 1967, the track was unable to recover and closed in 1971. Langhorne was the third Original Ten track to close.

Monroe County Fairgrounds[edit | edit source]

Main article: Monroe County Fairgrounds

The Monroe County Fairgrounds opened a dirt speedway in 1950, as organizers recognized the potential of an exhibition featuring the new "stock car racing" craze as early as 1947. After securing funding, they partnered with the NSCS to christen the Fairgrounds with an official championship event. The series would visit the Fairgrounds annually during the county fair until 1966, when dirt tracks were removed from the schedule.

The loss of its major series backer hurt the track's position with the organizers, and by 1973 the track had been replaced, though the grandstands remained for some time after. The Fairgrounds were the fourth of the Original Ten to close.

Riverside Park Speedway[edit | edit source]

Main article: Riverside Park Speedway

Riverside Park Speedway hosted the season finale event for the National Stock Car Series, The Turkey Bowl, from 1950 through 1968. The track, situated on the grounds of Riverside Amusement Park in Agawam, Massachusetts, was one of the premier stops on the early circuit, being the first track to record sellouts for ten straight years.

Though the track was offered an exemption from the schedule reforms, park officials were unwilling to continue keeping the part open into late November; the races had operated at a loss for the park in the final years. The series would continue to sanction races at Riverside until its final weekend in 1999, when the track was closed and demolished to make way for an expansion of the park, which was under management from Six Flags.

Riverside Park was the fifth of the Original Ten to close.

Seekonk Speedway[edit | edit source]

Main article: Seekonk Speedway

Seekonk Speedway played host to the second race in NSCS history, and maintained a spot on the schedule from the inception of the series until it was removed from the schedule in 1968. The track has the distinction of being the oldest track continually under the same operating group.

The WSCC still sanctions stock car racing at Seekonk through its lower tier divisions.

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park[edit | edit source]

Main article: Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park has the distinction of hosting the first race in World Stock Car Championship history. The track is the only track to be included on the schedule for every season of WSCC competition, and opened the season from 1950 until 1957, and then again from 1983 to the present day.

Thompson is the only one of the Original Ten that remains on the WSCC calendar.

Warwick Fairgrounds[edit | edit source]

Main article: Warwick Fairgrounds

The Warwick Fairgrounds hosted the penultimate race of the inaugural World Stock Car Championship season. It holds the distinction of being the only track in Rhode Island to ever hold a WSCC race.

The track was closed in 1963 amid plans to extend Interstate 95, and became the second of the Original Ten to close.