Abandoned NASCAR Race Track in the Forest: Occoneechee Speedway

so imagine this you purchase a lot of land like many many acres and it's only after you get a chance to walk the property that you realize it was the home of an old race car track that actually happened to someone and this is the story of the okunichi speedway you're going to want to check this out it's pretty amazing okanichi speedway is something of a well-known secret in its heyday it was massively popular and there are still people around who remember it but then it was abandoned for decades and was almost forgotten until it was rediscovered only in the last 20 years basically you have an old dirt racing track that was one of the very first in nascar it was left to nature for 30 years and now it's a beautiful park with an amazing story to tell this is a part for walking with some 44 acres and just over four miles of trails you can walk along the banks of the eno river or take a lap around the old dirt track you can really get a sense of its glory days when you visit now some of the buildings like the ticket office and refreshment stand have been restored and you can take in the scenery from the concrete stands on the hill there's some really nice touches like old walls and vintage race cars to help you imagine what it would have been like the story of the okunichi speedway goes way back let's acknowledge some history first long before europeans showed up the sioux speaking natives of the ino and okonichi lived along the banks of what is now known as the ino river in present-day hillsboro north carolina that's where the name okonichi comes in this land was taken over by europeans in the mid-1700s in 1794 a scottish immigrant named james hogg purchased the land and several generations later in 1891 a hog family descendant sold the land to julian shakespeare carr a powerful industrialist and namesake of the town of carrboro it's also worth pointing out that carr openly supported the ku klux klan and publicly argued african americans should not be allowed to vote we may take a closer look at that history in another video cars okanichi farm operation was huge raising sheep pigs and some fifteen hundred chickens as well as cultivating alfalfa carr built a half-mile horse racing track along the bend of the eno river his farm took massive damage in 1919 and never fully recovered by the 1920s carr was in failing health and the land was parceled and sold as smaller farmlands it wasn't until 1947 that a small propeller plane flew overhead piloting that plane was one william france an auto enthusiast from washington dc who often skipped school as a teenager so he could run laps in his family's model t ford before his father came home from work if bill france's name isn't familiar to you here's a bit of backstory he moved his family from dc to daytona florida in 1935 to escape the great depression he had a hundred dollars in his pocket but why daytona up until that time the fastest cars and drivers were in europe mainly france and belgium but new automobile land speed records were now being set in daytona and that was what drew bill france at first he found work painting houses then worked at a car dealership and later opened his own service shop you may be aware that in the 1920s under prohibition illegal moonshine and liquor distilling was huge in the appalachian mountains in particular operators would soup up cars for speed and handling and then use them to transport liquor across state lines and evade local and federal law enforcement in the 1930s after prohibition was repealed and bootlegging was no longer necessary many of these drivers turned to racing as a means to earn a buck bill france took up racing in daytona and he met and raced with many of these former bootleggers around that time france took up small aircraft aviation which brings us back to his 1947 flight over julian carr's land in hillsborough bill france saw the old horse track along the eno river and thought it would be a great place to race automobiles at the time racing was disorganized and track owners would often skip out on paying the drivers france wanted to change that and in 1947 he formed nascar the national association of stock car auto racing bill france purchased the hillsborough land in 1948 and just a few months later okonichi speedway saw its first automobile races this made the 0.9 mile dirt track in hillsborough north carolina one of the two very first nascar race tracks [Music] so [Music] for 20 years okonichi speedway later renamed orange speedway was a destination people would come from other states to watch races held on sundays an audience of fifteen thousand was considered average famous drivers who raced this clay track include fireball roberts ned jarrett junior johnson and richard petty by the late 1960s local ministers and church clergy were pretty frustrated with the large crowds forming at the racetrack instead of in their pews an effort was organized to put pressure on the track and in 1968 it was forced to close richard petty won the very last race held there [Music] for almost 30 years the speedway lay silent and a pine forest grew up inside it then in 1997 bill cruther and a group of preservationists purchased the land in order to protect the unspoiled view of air mount a historic plantation site nearby crother knew that races had occurred there at some point but he didn't realize exactly what was on the property until the group walked the site and discovered artifacts in 2002 the site was added to the national register of historic places and has since been established as one stop along north carolina's 1200 mile mountains to sea trail today the speedway is a beautiful secluded area to walk and take in nature thanks to the preservation work of crother and others several buildings and structures have been restored to give it a bit of the feel of its heyday in the 1950s and 60s [Music] [Music] imagine driving this dirt track at 100 miles per hour and not using your brakes on the turns [Music] before or after your hike you might be in the mood for the hillsborough barbecue company it's north carolina barbecue at its finest along with fried catfish and okra or even a helping of nanopudding you know you want some [Applause] if you like this video and want to see more like it help spread the word and share this with any friends you think might be interested thanks for watching [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: GEEKORMAN MEDIA

Views: 2,111

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Occoneechee, NASCAR, Hillsborough

Id: F_bbjeAf3RA

Length: 8min 22sec (502 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 21 2021