Thompson has had a few different courses.
Thompson has had a few different courses.
Adrian_Thompson said:We've had this conversation a few times over the years about different tracks, but never a general thread I can think of. This is one that came up before. It's actually an old Kart track I belive so a bit small for anything other than autocross, or maybe rallycross in it's current state. It's abandoned but now part of 'Greenwood acres family campground' about 7-8 miles east of Jackson Mi, just south of I94. I grabbed this off Google maps back then, but it's still visible on Google maps if you look for Greenwood acres.
I posted about this one a few years ago. I have never been able to find any history about it. I even emailed the campground with no reply. I drove buy it one time and it has a ton of elevation and you can't really see much of it from the street on the right side of the picture. I'd love to know more about it.
Not long ago, we here in central Pennsylvania had two abandoned paved half-mile ovals. We started autocrossing at Jennerstown speedway shortly after starting the Allegheny Highlands Region after years of it sitting idle, and having all of its copper robbed, which led to a couple of my buddies reopening it for circle track cars.
They tried making Clearfield Mountain Speedway dirt again in the early-mid 2ks, but that didn't go so well, then a local circle track car owner bought it and tried it as a paved oval again, but that didn't work either. It sat for a few years, and UMI Motorsports bought it last fall. Their plan is to pave the infield and use it to test their autocross/road race suspension parts, rent it out for circle track testing, and have some circle track races, car shows, and autocrosses. Maybe in a few years, put in a bigger road course, if all goes well. I hope all goes well.
I forgot about Smithton motordrome. For sale last I heard
Texas World Speedway is rapidly approaching "Abandoned" status. The back 2.9 has been demolished, so I've heard, but there's still rumors of it somehow reopening for club status. It was used to store flooded cars post-Harvey, and I heard the racing surface was destroyed even further than it already was. So, short of someone coughing up a couple million to repave the whole thing and build the new facilities it so badly needs, I think it's done for. It was already circling the drain when I worked there in 2008-2011ish.
There's two editions of this book. Very interesting read.
Texas World was such a GREAT racetrack. A few corners that really separated the pros from the sportsmen, and a lot of history, between Can-Am, USAC, IMSA, NASCAR, and Indycar.
[url]https://youtu.be/cac9bpWS6eQ[/url]
Second Creek Raceway and Continental Divide Raceway near Denver were closed down over ten years ago. Both have just been sitting there unused ever since.
I don't understand it, they could've been making money this entire time. Then when the developer, or whomever had their stuff together and was ready to build, then close them...
Thompson had three tracks . First used the oval. Crewed with friends , the second did not use the oval, crewed with a friend, Not sure if the present track follows the first.
https://www.autobooks-aerobooks.com/product/1723/ - Paramount Ranch Remembered - a CA road course that is not under a mall somewhere. You can still walk the vestiges of it.
https://www.autobooks-aerobooks.com/product/7511/ - Golden Gate Remembered - another walkable course though less of it is traceable than the above track.
https://www.autobooks-aerobooks.com/product/4923/ - Pebble Beach Remembered - much of this course is on private property now.
https://www.autobooks-aerobooks.com/product/lost-road-courses/ - Lost Road Courses - including the aforementioned Bridgehampton. The cover shot is the Chevron Bridge which still remains.
https://www.autobooks-aerobooks.com/product/1506/ - Lost Race Tracks - includes ovals (dirt and blacktop) plus street and road courses. Goes back to the beginning of automotive time.
We have another book called Silent Speedways of the Carolinas by Perry Allen Wood. It's a fascinating look at old NASCAR ovals from the days when they raced as often as 60 times a year. We've had it so long, it's not even on our website. Some of the books listed above are unobtanium but we happen to have a couple of copies.
In the early 80s, Readng (PA) Speedway was plowed under to make a mall. Now the mall is out of business, and there are rumors about tearing it down to build a race track. It'll never happen, but at least there are rumors.
snailmont5oh said:In the early 80s, Readng (PA) Speedway was plowed under to make a mall. Now the mall is out of business, and there are rumors about tearing it down to build a race track. It'll never happen, but at least there are rumors.
That's not a rumor. That's poetic justice.
Tri-City Raceways outside of West Richland Washington. Track has been closed for years and is slated to be torn down for development in the future, but is still in use for the local autocross club. This tri-oval track with steep banking was formerly the fastest half-mile track west of the Mississippi.
docwyte said:Second Creek Raceway and Continental Divide Raceway near Denver were closed down over ten years ago. Both have just been sitting there unused ever since.
I don't understand it, they could've been making money this entire time. Then when the developer, or whomever had their stuff together and was ready to build, then close them...
They STILL haven't developed the land where Second Creek is/ was?? That awesome little track has been closed forever due to impending construction. What a shame, we used to head out there frequently in the middle- to late 90's.
Second Creek closed at a bad time - not long after it went down, the housing market imploded so new construction stopped. Denver's ramped back up now, though, so it may be developed soon. Google Street View from 2016 shows an excavator and flagger on the property.
I think the encroachment of subdivisions was as much of a problem as the actual value of the land. I never drove it, only crewed there.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8599507,-104.7895844,1482m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
You're assuming that a racetrack makes money, of course 
From what I remember seeing, it needed some money spent on it to continue operations. The surface was looking a little rough when I was there.
You know, a "ran when parked" for race tracks would be a fun monthly addition to Classic Motorsports.
PMRacing said:Adrian_Thompson said:We've had this conversation a few times over the years about different tracks, but never a general thread I can think of. This is one that came up before. It's actually an old Kart track I belive so a bit small for anything other than autocross, or maybe rallycross in it's current state. It's abandoned but now part of 'Greenwood acres family campground' about 7-8 miles east of Jackson Mi, just south of I94. I grabbed this off Google maps back then, but it's still visible on Google maps if you look for Greenwood acres.
I posted about this one a few years ago. I have never been able to find any history about it. I even emailed the campground with no reply. I drove buy it one time and it has a ton of elevation and you can't really see much of it from the street on the right side of the picture. I'd love to know more about it.
I posted some information about the track in that thread not much but some
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/old-kart-track-in-mi/58860/page1/
Or for those too lazy to click the link
Can't find any information about there ever being a track there. But what I did find out is this property was the location of Michigan's Woodstock. Goose Lake international Music Festival
Newspaper Article about the event https://web.archive.org/web/20110116002929/http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=13036
After doing some further reading it appears the previous owner tried to hold a snowmobile race there.
He renamed the facility Wonderland Park and promoted it as a family-friendly destination, but even an attempt to stage a snowmobile race there was stopped by local officials. While Songer was eventually exonerated, Goose Lake was destined to be a one-off.
Does the Rausch Creek road course count? Was ready for paving then the local permits or something never worked out.
Another local track that closed just about a 1 1/2 years ago is Illianna Speedway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiana_Motor_Speedway
The local town bought the property and plans on developing the track property into a parkand recreational area.
Only went there twice, once for an autocross and once to watch a race that ended up being rained out.
The biggest thing I remember about them was they did school bus races a few times each year.
stroker said:Dr. Hess said:Mid-America was renamed Raceway Park of the Midlands. I ride by it on the way to Sturgis and there has been plenty of activity there since 2005. Linky.
The one I was referencing is in Wentzville, MO near St. Louis... Closed in the mid-60's as a road racing course but I think the drag strip ran for a while after that.
I"m pretty sure I did a a 2-day HPDE there in 1976 in a Camaro with the St Louis BMWCCA..
stroker said:I doubt this will go anywhere, but I was wondering if we could do a thread on racetracks that are currently closed or unused? I can think of I-70 raceway down the highway and I see that Mid-America raceway was finally destroyed and developed (into farmland?) back in 2005. I suspect there are zillions of various dirt ovals that are closed, too.
[Edit: I see my point here is not news to most, lol. That's what I get for posting to a 3 page long thread after reading only the opening post.]
I was told (20+ years ago) by what seemed to be a reliable source that the old Mid-America Raceway (Wentzville, MO), popularly known for its drag strip, had a functioning roadcourse at one time. I'm also very intrigued by this stuff. Google Earth is dangerous for guys like us.
Yakima Speedway in Yakima WA just closed permanently this last winter :(. Hotel, convention center, ice rink and mini mall.
There is a go-kart track near me on the site of a former dirt oval. I'm told that the cars could be heard in the small town I grew up in, 7 miles away. 
Just remembered another one. This one was a go kart track but on Sundays car clubs used it to run auto-crosses on it.
Part of the track is still there in the Google Earth pic here: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3617069,-89.0081971,346m/data=!3m1!1e3
When I lived in Michigan I lived across the street of the old Motor City Dragway. It was just shuttered so we would go around the gates and use it, It got to a point where we had some pretty fast cars and bikes running on the old surface. The neighbors started calling the cops so they brought in some heavy equipment and tore it up and pushed us back to racing on the streets.
I will have to dig up some of the pictures from back in the day.
The old Go Cart track at Paramount Ranch in Calabassas Ca. We used to film Medicine Woman there along with a lot of videos and smaller productions.
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