Hickory Motor Speedway is a short track located in Hickory, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most storied venues, and is often referred to as "The World's Most Famous Short Track" and the "Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars". Short track is an usual abbreviation of Short track motor racing Short track speed skating This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Hickory is a city located in Catawba County, North Carolina. ... This article is about the sport of stock car racing. ... The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ...

The track first opened in 1951 as a half mile dirt track. Gwyn Staley won the first race at the speedway and later became the first track champion. Drivers such as Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, and Ralph Earnhardt would also become track champions in the 1950's, Earnhardt alone winning 5 of them. Robert Glen Johnson, Jr. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Ralph Earnhardt (died 1973) was a NASCAR racing legend and father of Dale Earnhardt. ...

In 1953, NASCAR's Grand National Series (now the Nextel Cup) paid visit to the track for the first time. Tim Flock won the first race at the speedway, which became a regular part of the Grand National Schedule. After winning his track championship in 1952, Junior Johnson became the most successful Grand National driver at Hickory, winning there 7 times. The Nextel Cup Series is NASCARs premier stock car racing series. ... Tim Flock was one of NASCARs early pioneers. ...

The track has been re-configured 3 times in its history. The track became a .4-mile dirt track in 1955, which was paved for the first time during the 1967 season. In 1970, Hickory was shortened a second time to its present length of .363 miles.

Hickory was dropped from the Grand National schedule after the 1971 season when R.J. Reynolds began sponsoring the series and dropped all races under 250 miles from the schedule. It remained in use, however, as a popular NASCAR Sportsman's Series venue. When the series was reformed as the Budweiser Late Model Series (now known as the Busch Series) in 1982, Hickory played a prominent part of its first season, hosting 6 of the series' 28 races. Drivers Jack Ingram and Tommy Houston, two former track champions, would each win 8 times at the track in the Busch Series. Reynolds American Inc. ... NASCAR Busch Series logo The Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCARs second division, and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organizations top level, the Nextel Cup. ...

As more tracks began hosting Busch series races, Hickory's involvement was progressively reduced to 2 races a year by 1987, and then just 1 by 1995. By 1998, the Busch Series began adding more races at Winston Cup tracks, and Hickory was dropped from the schedule after 17 years. The NASCAR Championship is the championship held in NASCARs top stock car racing series. ...

Hickory is still used as a venue for NASCAR's Dodge Weekly Series and its Southern Modifieds series. The USAR Pro Cup also features a race at the track.

Related Links

• Official Site