Martinsville Speedway - History

History

The first NASCAR sanctioned event was held on July 4, 1948. In 1951, only 4 cars were running at the finish, the fewest of any race held at the speedway. In 1960, Richard Petty became the youngest winner at Martinsville, at 700122000000000000022 years, 7002283000000000000283 days; to date Petty has the most wins (15). In 1991, Harry Gant became the oldest winner at 700151000000000000051 years, 7002255000000000000255 days. It was Gant's fourth win in a row, earning him the nickname Mr. September.

Ownership of the track was a joint venture of brothers Jim and Bill France, Jr., and H. Clay Earles, the majority owner, along with daughters Dorothy Campbell and Mary Weatherford, and Dorothy Campbell's children, Sarah Fain and Clay Campbell. In 2004, the track was sold exclusively to the France family for $192 million as a result of an estate sale following the death of Weatherford.

Plans had existed to add an additional 20,000 seats along the back stretch, boosting capacity to over 85,000 seats. In 2005-2006 the Norfolk Southern Railway behind the track was moved 200 feet to make way for the added seats, but nothing more has been officially mentioned regarding this by track management since the sale of the track to ISC.

From 1982 until 1994, and again in 2006, the speedway hosted Busch Series events. This occurred first with 200- and 150-lap features (200 laps for the two races with Whelen Modifieds, 150 laps with the September Winston/Nextel Cup race), then 300 laps from 1992 until 1994 as part of a Late Model/Busch Series doubleheader, and 250 laps in the one-off in 2006. The venue was dropped from the Busch Series schedule for 2007 and a race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal was run on the open date.

Currently, Martinsville hosts two Sprint Cup Series races - the Goody's Fast Relief 500 in April and the TUMS Fast Relief 500 (race seven in the Chase for the Sprint Cup) in October - along with Camping World Truck Series, Whelen Modified Tour which is held on Labor Day weekend under the lights, and Late Model races.

Winners of the Sprint Cup, Truck Series, and Whelen Modified events receive a longcase clock as a trophy, a nod to Martinsville's famous furniture industry. This tradition started in 1964, when Earles decided he wanted to present a trophy that would reflect the Martinsville area. He chose clocks made by a local company, Ridgeway Clocks (now a subsidiary of Michigan-based Howard Miller). The clocks presented as trophies are currently (2009) valued at around $10,000.