Fairgrounds beginning of sport's history at Nashville

While the Sprint Cup teams take an Easter vacation this week, the Nationwide Series heads for Nashville, a place filled with racing history.

The Tennessee State Fairgrounds hosted events on the dirt horse track just after the turn of the century, with drivers like Barney Oldfield participating in speed trials. After World War II, local tracks began springing up in the area -- and by 1958, the state fair board had granted promoters a 10-year lease with a 20-year extension for a half-mile, high-banked paved oval at the fairgrounds.

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In August of that year, NASCAR ran its first race at Nashville -- a 200-lap affair with 32 cars in front of a packed house of 13,998. Rex White led 118 laps before crashing, handing the lead to eventual winner Joe Weatherly. White would get his revenge the following May when he won a caution-free race, with all 12 starters still running at the finish.

Nashville Speedway would undergo a variety of changes through the years. Lights were added in 1965. The track was lengthened to .596 miles before the 1970 season, making it an unusual 420 laps to run 250 miles. And in 1972, the banking was reduced from 35 to 18 degrees in order to slow the cars, as Bobby Allison turned a lap of 116.932 mph in qualifying that season.

A combination of factors -- mainly disagreements over track management and the size of the facility, which sat less than 25,000 -- forced NASCAR to eliminate Nashville's dates following the 1984 season. However, the Busch Series ran at the Fairgrounds sporadically through 2000, when Nashville Superspeedway was built.

Three drivers have combined to win more than half of the 42 races run at Nashville. Richard Petty won nine times there, Darrell Waltrip eight and Cale Yarborough seven.

After watching Petty Enterprises teammate Jim Paschal reel off three consecutive victories beginning in 1961, Petty finally broke into the win column, sweeping both Nashville races in 1964, including leading all 400 laps in the fall event. He would equal that feat in 1966, and win seven times during a seven-year span.

Yarborough's first win came in 1973 -- and he would add at least one victory a season there through the rest of the decade, with the exception of 1977. That year, Waltrip would record his second Nashville victory. Waltrip would later go on to win four consecutive races, beginning in 1981.

Nashville was always a good track for front-runners. The pole-sitter won 13 times -- and no winner ever came from farther back in the grid than 10th, when in 1961, Paschal took the lead after Petty's engine expired and was in front when rains came 97 laps short of the scheduled distance.

In addition to being Waltrip's adopted home track, father Coo Coo and son Sterling Marlin won multiple track championships at the fairgrounds. Other drivers with two or more Nashville Late Model championships include Mike Alexander, Flookie Buford, Joe Buford, Wade Buttrey, Chad Chaffin, Bobby Hamilton and Andy Kirby.

During the '60s, one or more members of the Alabama Gang -- Bobby and Donnie Allison, and Red Farmer -- might make the tow from Hueytown on a weekend. And several top Chattanooga talents, including Friday Hassler, Bob Burcham and Freddy Fryar, would also try their luck against the locals.

Following Petty's win in a Dodge in 1974, General Motors products were the dominant manufacturer at Nashville, winning 19 of the final 21 races there. The only exceptions came in 1981, when Benny Parsons' Ford edged Waltrip's Buick by a car-length -- and in 1983, when Dale Earnhardt scored one of his three rare non-Chevy wins while driving Fords for Bud Moore.

Five current drivers can claim ties to Nashville Speedway. Despite his previous success there, Sterling Marlin made nine Cup starts with a best of seventh in 1980. Bill Elliott posted three top-10s, including a best of fifth in 1983. Kyle Petty scored a pair of top-10s in his first season, then made six more starts without finishing on the lead lap. Mark Martin won the pole as a 22-year-old in 1981 -- and led 36 laps before fading to 11th. And Ken Schrader finished 19th in his only Nashville start.

The facility continues to operate as Music City Motorplex, and the lease, which was to end at the end of the current season, has now been extended until 2009. However, it's unclear whether the fair board will continue to lease the track, demolish it or sell the property.