Gone, but not forgotten

Remembering five tracks from the Busch Series' inaugural season

The Busch Series currently competes at 26 tracks, and will add Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal to the list in 2007. However, there are several tracks from the series' inaugural season worth remembering:

Inaugural 200 June 11, 1982 * Pos. Driver 1. Jack Ingram 2. Tommy Ellis 3. Sam Ard 4. Ronnie Silver 5. Morgan Shepherd * -- Only Busch Series race at Asheville Speedway

Asheville Speedway

It was called "going down to the river" by race fans in western North Carolina.

Asheville Speedway (or New Asheville Motor Speedway, as it was sometimes called) existed from 1962 -- when it was built over the former Owen Field airport runway -- until 1999, when the track closed for good.

During that span, the speedway -- which began as a four-tenths-mile paved oval and wound up as a one-third mile -- hosted some of NASCAR's greatest names, and was a true test of champions.

Georgia's Jack Smith scored the last of his 21 NASCAR victories in the first Grand National race held at Asheville, a 250-lapper in 1962 that paid $1,000 to win. Smith lapped the entire field, which included Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty, Buck Baker and Ned Jarrett -- all of whom would go on to win at least one NASCAR championship.

Jarrett, from nearby Hickory, would win the next two races at Asheville. He was followed into Victory Lane by another North Carolina native -- Ronda's Junior Johnson -- in 1965.

One of David Pearson's 15 victories in 1966 came at Asheville. Jim Paschal took the checkers in 1967 and Petty followed in 1968.

The track hosted its final Cup race in 1971, when Petty drove a Plymouth to a four-lap victory over Elmo Langley in the Asheville 300.

However, Asheville's legacy can't be confined to NASCAR's premier series. The weekly action was just as intense, producing some great stock car drivers: Jack Ingram, Tommy Houston and the entire Pressley clan -- Bob, Robert and Mike.

In fact, it was Ingram who used that local knowledge to his advantage in winning the track's only Busch Series event in 1982, besting a 21-car field which included a young Dale Jarrett.

In addition, top drivers from around the state would show up to take on the local boys -- like Ralph Earnhardt, who won the track championship in 1963.

According to one anecdote about the track's history, founder Max Wilson had several jobs, one of those being a babysitter for a future seven-time NASCAR champion.

"I told Ralph Earnhardt that I'd give him $80 show money to come up from Kannapolis to race here in Asheville," Wilson was quoted as saying. "You know, if we got rained out, Ralph would give the money back. And he needed it, but that was the kind of guy he was.

"Anyways, Ralph didn't have no crew -- he was everything: mechanic, driver, tire changer -- the only person he'd travel with was his boy. Dale was only 6 or 7, but was he fascinated by cars!

"Ralph was scared he'd get killed roaming around the track while he was racing. So I'd watch him with my wife in the office while the race was on. Dale was real bad about minding me. I'd turn around and he'd be gone -- off wandering around those cars.

"You couldn't tell him nothin'!"

Budweiser 200 April 23, 1982 * Pos. Driver 1. Dale Earnhardt 2. Jimmy Hensley 3. Sam Ard 4. Tommy Houston 5. Bob Shreeves * -- First Busch Series race at Caraway Speedway Goody's 200 July 6, 1983 * Pos. Driver 1. Butch Lindley 2. Jack Ingram 3. Jimmy Hensley 4. Tommy Houston 5. Dale Jarrett * -- Last Busch Series race at Caraway Speedway

Caraway Speedway

Caraway Speedway holds a brief but important place in the history of the Busch Series.

Only three series races were run on the .455-mile oval that was built in 1966 as a dirt track but changed to asphalt in 1972 when it became a part of the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series.

In 1982 the eighth Busch Grand National race was held at Caraway, the Budweiser 200. The 1980 Winston Cup champion would win that day in just his fourth Busch start. But it was already the second Busch victory for Dale Earnhardt, who opened the series with a win at Daytona. It marked Earnhardt's only appearance at Caraway.

Later that year in early July, Jack Ingram celebrated independence from Sam Ard, beating the pole-sitter in a battle of would-be legends in the Goody's 200. Ingram's fourth of a series-high seven victories that year also helped him edge Ard for the first Busch title by 47 points. No other driver was within 600 of the leader.

Only one race was held at Caraway in 1983. Butch Lindley won the Goody's 200, the third consecutive Pontiac to find Victory Lane there. Defending victor Ingram was second.

In all, three drivers accounting for five Busch championships would tackle the short track. Ingram won a second title in 1985. Ard, who won all three poles at Caraway, won back-to-back titles in 1983-84. And Tommy Ellis won the 1988 championship.

Another driver who went on to Cup success also cut his teeth on tracks such as Caraway in his native North Carolina. Dale Jarrett, the 1999 Winston Cup champion, had a top-five and three top-10s in his Caraway starts.

The track has been plenty busy since the Busch Series left following the 1983 season. A sanctioning body of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series, $1.5 million has been spent since 1998 to resurface the track, reconstruct the retaining walls and upgrade the amenities.

Located in Asheboro, N.C., Caraway Speedway is centrally located to several tourism sites, such as The Richard Petty Museum and The American Classic Motorcycle Museum that can be found a mere 20 minutes from the track.

Mountain Dew 300 April 10, 1982 * Pos. Driver 1. Jack Ingram 2. Sam Ard 3. Phil Parsons 4. Tommy Houston 5. Geoffrey Bodine * -- First Busch Series race at Hickory Speedway Galaxy Food Centers 300 April 11, 1998 * Pos. Driver 1. Ed Berrier 2. Hermie Sadler 3. Tim Fedewa 4. Mike Dillon 5. Matt Kenseth * -- Last race Busch race at Hickory Speedway

Hickory Motor Speedway

Compared to today's NASCAR, when some tracks are fortunate to get two race dates, consider Hickory Motor Speedway in 1982, when it was home to no fewer than six Busch Series races.

In all, the .363 mile paved oval -- still a part of the NASCAR Weekly Series -- hosted 35 Cup and 42 Busch races from 1953-1998.

"The Birthplace of NASCAR Stars" can boast of many local drivers who made good in NASCAR's upper divisions: Jack Ingram, Harry Gant, Bob Pressley, Dennis Setzer, Robert Huffman, Larry Caudill and the entire Houston family -- Tommy, Andy and Marty -- all won track championships there.

The track, which is actually located in Newton, opened in 1951 as a half-mile dirt oval. Two years later, Tim Flock captured the first Grand National event -- a 100-lapper that paid $1,000 to win.

Hickory was always good to drivers from the Tar Heel State. Junior Johnson won seven times at Hickory, while Richard Petty added five victories -- two on the dirt and three after the track was paved in 1967 -- and Bobby Isaac four in a row in 1969 and 1970.

Gwyn Staley won the first race -- and the first track championship -- while Tiny Lund captured the final Cup event in 1971. Both drivers would later lose their lives in racing accidents.

Ralph Earnhardt became the first driver to win five track championships, a feat that was matched by John Settlemyre, who scored his only Busch Series victory at Hickory in 1982.

It was Settlemyre who gave local kid Andy Petree his first job as a mechanic.

"An uncle took me to my first race at Hickory," Petree said. "I loved it before I ever saw the racecars going around the track. Just hearing the motors as we approached the gates was a thrill. I couldn't wait to get inside.

"I set my first goal that night. I was going to drive racecars, or work on them or both. Watching the races was great, but I knew I had to get where the action was."

Petree then decided to build his own car with friend Jimmy Newsome. However, they found they needed a little help.

"We ran out of money before we could buy a motor," Petree said. "Ned Jarrett gave us a motor on the condition that his son would drive the car."

While Newsome left to run his family's business, Jarrett and Petree remained in the racing business -- Jarrett as a three-time Daytona 500 winner and 1999 NASCAR champion, Petree as a team owner and crew chief.

Hampton Chevy 200 May 8, 1982 * Pos. Driver 1. Jack Ingram 2. Sam Ard 3. Phil Parsons 4. Ray Hendrick 5. Pete Silva * -- First Busch Series race at Langley Speedway Busch 200 July 30, 1988 * Pos. Driver 1. Tommy Ellis 2. Jack Ingram 3. Jimmy Hensley 4. Tommy Houston 5. Rick Mast * -- Last Busch Series race at Langley Speedway

Langley Speedway

Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., hosted two Busch Series races each year from 1982-88, but was dropped from the schedule prior to the '89 season.

In 14 Busch Series races, 1988 champion Tommy Ellis won five times in nine starts and two-time series champ Jack Ingram won four times with an average finish of 3.0 at the .395-mile flat oval.

Nearly 20 years later, Denny Hamlin is the track's star graduate, having won the 1997 mini-stock track championship. But he hasn't forgotten his roots. Hamlin's FedEx commercial in which he calls his mother from the racecar was filmed at Langley.

"It certainly brings a lot of credibility to the track to have a list of big names who have competed here," said Neil Sipe, the track's vice president and promoter who was also track champion in 2004.

Past winners include Richard Petty, David Pearson and Ned Jarrett. They swept the first seven races held at Langley when the Cup Series ran nine dirt races there from 1964-1970. Langley's final Cup race was the last event under the Grand National name, as the series title was changed to Winston Cup for the 1971 season.

The 6,500-seat speedway is now home to NASCAR's Dodge Weekly Series, as well as eight other racing divisions, including Late Models, Legends and Modifieds. The track also hosts Extreme Sports Wednesday each week during the summer months, providing one-on-one drag racing, solo drags against the clock and burnout competitions open to the public.

"We attempt to pull kids off the streets," said Sipe, who noted as many as 83 cars may show up for an event. "There's a tendency to drag race here, and we're giving them a place to do it."

Busch 200 April 18, 1982 * Pos. Driver 1. Sam Ard 2. Jack Ingram 3. Jimmy Hensley 4. Ray Hendrick 5. Bob Shreeves * -- First Busch Series race at South Boston Speedway Textilease / Medique 300 June 10, 2000 * Pos. Driver 1. Jeff Green 2. Tony Raines 3. Elton Sawyer 4. Ron Hornaday 5. Rich Bickle * -- Last Busch Series race at South Boston Speedway

South Boston Speedway

South Boston Speedway played host to the Busch Series on 35 occasions between 1982-2000. In fact, the track hosted eight events in just the first two seasons of the series' existence.

Sam Ard, a one-time winner on the Cup circuit, showed an early love for South Boston, winning two of the first three NBS events there. Streaks were prevalent at the then-.357-mile oval (it's since been expanded to .4 miles), as Tommy Ellis won four of the five races held there in 1983 and Ard followed that up with three in a row between late 1983 and early '84. Jack Ingram also won five in a row there between '84 and '85.

Ellis is the all-time Busch Series winner at South Boston, as seven of his 22 series wins came there.

South Boston has plenty of more recent history, as well. Hometown hero Jeff Burton won the first of two NBS events held there in 1991, beating Joe Nemechek to the stripe by more than three seconds to win the Carquest 300.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. edged Jeff Green to the line to win the 1999 Texilease/Medique 300. Green would taste sweet revenge a year later when he beat Tony Raines to win the most recent Busch race at South Boston.

In 2001, after the Busch Series left the track, the Craftsman Truck Series ran one event per year there until 2003. Ted Musgrave, Mike Bliss and Mike Skinner each visited Victory Lane at South Boston. Bliss beat Dennis Setzer in a green-white-checkered finish in 2002 that helped propel Bliss to the series championship.

South Boston Speedway is perhaps better known as a cradle to future NASCAR talent. Jeff and Ward Burton ran Late Models there, as did Hermie and Elliott Sadler, Stacy Compton and Geoffrey Bodine.

These days, South Boston Speedway is still going strong. The track was purchased by the Joe Mattioli III, whose family owns Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. It still plays host to NASCAR Weekly Series, Hooters Pro Cup Series and USAC Midget Series racing as well as its own Late Model Series.

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• NASCAR.COM -- Gone, but not forgotten
• NASCAR.COM -- Busch Series Firsts & Records