Seekonk Speedway track profile: Everything to know about the ‘Action Track of the East’

A little more than eight miles East of downtown Providence, Rhode Island sits one of the top short tracks in the Northeast. Seekonk Speedway is a third-mile asphalt oval located in Seekonk, Massachusetts. A NASCAR Home Track, Seekonk hosts Pro Stock, Late Model, Sportsman and Sport Truck divisions on a weekly basis as part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series from late May through championship night in late September.

Known as the “Action Track of the East,” Seekonk Speedway opened in 1946 as a quarter-mile dirt track. Anthony Venditti owned and promoted the venue until he died in 1991. Amid Venditti’s tenure as track operator, Seekonk’s surface was paved and expanded to a third-mile oval in 1980. The turns feature roughly seven feet of banking with 420-foot straights.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour first visited Seekonk in 1987, the series’ third year of operation. Reggie Ruggiero led 135 of 200 laps en route to the checkered flag in a Modified owned by Mario Fiore. The Modified Tour didn’t return to Seekonk until 2000, which began a stretch of five consecutive annual events at the track each summer from 2000-05. Five different drivers — Jerry Marquis, Chris Kopec, Ed Flemke Jr., Chuck Hossfeld and Eric Beers — won those five races.

The Modified Tour took another hiatus from Seekonk beginning in 2006; the series returned in 2016. Timmy Solomito, Doug Coby (twice) and Justin Bonsignore won the four Modified Tour races at Seekonk from 2016-2019. The Tour is back at Seekonk in 2024.

Seekonk Speedway has also hosted eight races for what’s now the ARCA Menards Series East. The division started at Seekonk with a pair of races in 1987 and ended with a 150-lapper in 2004. Eight East Series races in that span of time produced eight different winners.

Today, Seekonk Speedway remains family operated, with Francis Venditti and grandson David Alburn running the show. In addition to the track’s weekly events on Saturday nights, Seekonk hosts Fast Friday Racing featuring upcoming talent (8 and up) in Legends, Pure Stocks, Sport Fours and Bandoleros. Five times a year, Seekonk also hosts a series of thrill shows with spectator drags, enduros, figure 8 races, fireworks and monster trucks. In late June, Seekonk hosts Open Wheel Wednesday, a $10,000-to-win Modified race.