Occoneechee / Orange Speedway

The Background:

The Occoneechee (Orange) Speedway is situated on land once known as the Occoneechee Farm. The Occoneechee Farm had occupied the land into the late 1800′s. The farm was named after the Occaneechi Indians that thrived in the area.

The land owner, General Julian S. Carr, raced horses and had bulit a half-mile horse racing track.

Moving forward into the 1940′s, Bill France Sr. first noticed the horse racing track and the expanse of open land while flying his airplane over Orange County. Bill France Sr. purchased the land and started making plans to build a nine-tenth mile dirt surfaced automobile race track on the site of this earlier horse track.

On September 5, 1947, Bill France Sr. and his partners purchased (from Marion E. Holloway) the outlying fields of the old Occoneechee Farm so they could tuck their new dirt track into an oval bend along the Eno River where Carolina red clay was packed down over solid bedrock. They even used the straightaway of the horse track that stood on the site in days gone by. A lasting testament to the age old human need for speed that far outdates the invention of the automobile.

A few months later, NASCAR would become offically organized.

The Announcement:

It was in September, 1947 that the News of Orange County released a front page article announcing Bill France Sr. and four other promoters were planning to build a one-mile oval race track just outside of Hillsborough.

The new Hillsborough track would become the third one-mile oval on the east coast, just midway between the only other two tracks; in Atlanta, Georgia and Langhorne, Pennsylvania.

On the 19th of September, W.H.G. “Bill” France Sr., Ben R. Lowe, M.J. Dawson, C.F. Powell, and Enoch H. Staley signed the Certificate of Incorporation for Hillsborough Speedway, Inc.  The Occoneechee Speedway was built along the banks of the Eno River with its beautiful 216 acre grounds nestled by the surrounding Occoneechee Mountains.

By the summer of 1948, the speedway was ready to roll, and roll it did!

“Gentleman, Start Your Engines!”

The first Grand National race at the Occoneechee Speedway was held August 7, 1949. The 200 lap strictly stock race was held on the one-mile dirt banked speedplant for late model cars. This first event set the stage for action packed racing at the finest and newest speedway in the country.

This inaugural race at Occoneechee Speedway was only the third race for NASCAR which was incorporated in 1948. Bob Flock was the first Grand National winner in a 1948 Oldsmobile sponsored by Bob Flock’s garage and owned by Frank Christian. Occoneechee’s fabled history took itself until 1968, where it was Richard Petty who took the final checkered flag at the storied oval. It was a fitting conclusion to Occoneechee’s racing history that the King of Stock Car Racing won its final event.

1949 – Inaugural Race at Occoneechee Speedway

The inaugural race at Occoneechee Speedway was held on August 7th. 28 cars would make up starting grid for the first race. It was a highly competitive race. It was marked with a couple of wild mishaps. First off was one involving Sara Christian, Felix Wilkes and Red Byron coming out of Turn #4. And then the second was Bob Smith going over the embankment. After all was said and done Bob Flock scored the victory in front of 17,500 in attendance. He took home a $2,000 purse.