Greenville-Pickens Speedway was once home to electric Saturday nights, with packed grandstands watching classic short track stock car racing week after week. Now, the historic racetrack sits vacant, with its condition deteriorating each passing day as its future remains uncertain.
The speedway first opened as a dirt track in 1940 and was paved in 1970. Rich in motorsports history, the track hosted the first-ever live televised NASCAR race on April 10, 1971.
Throughout its history, the speedway hosted 28 NASCAR Cup Series races, with notable race winners such as Richard Petty and David Pearson. The track last hosted races in 2022 and helped launch the careers of multiple current NASCAR drivers, including Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and William Byron.
Today, the track is owned by Spartanburg car dealership mogul Kevin Whitaker, who purchased the property back in 2003. In early 2023, Whitaker contracted parts of the speedway property to be purchased and developed into an industrial park. That decision has faced pushback from locals ever since.
Since the development was first contracted, the proposal’s first phase was approved a year later in 2024, and four industrial buildings were constructed on the original site of the fairgrounds, according to Greenville News. Phase 2 was approved in January 2025 and included the construction of four additional buildings.
Following the second phase’s approval, residents of the Upstate began to realize that their historic racetrack was facing certain destruction, potentially leaving decades of history in the hotbed of NASCAR country to be turned to rubble. Rather than standing aside and watching their track be destroyed, locals began showing up at Pickens County council meetings to make their voices heard.
Those voices ultimately led to results, as phases three, four and five of the industrial development project were denied at a March 9 Pickens County Planning Commission meeting, according to WSPA 7 News. The development and destruction of the racetrack was successfully halted — for now.
If the track remains unpurchased, the developers will be able to reapply for approval of the project. To raise awareness of the dire situation the track faces, a rally to save the speedway was held on April 4.
Several high-profile individuals attended the rally, which drew hundreds of locals. One individual in attendance was none other than legendary Clemson football head coach, Danny Ford.
“It’s gonna be odd and sad not to see and hear that noise from going around that track,” Ford told The Tiger at the rally. “It’s been a part of this community for a long, long time. We don’t want to miss this racetrack.”
Also in attendance at the event was South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is currently running for governor. Appearing before the crowd, he explained why he felt it was important to speak out and support the preservation of the speedway.
“I support more dollars coming into our local communities, but not at the cost of the character of the communities that we all live in,” Wilson said. “We need to preserve our heritage.”
Ford and Wilson are among the various high-profile voices that have spoken out in favor of preserving the speedway in recent weeks. NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. posted on X in early March that if the speedway could survive, the CARS Tour — a late-model stock car series he co-owns — would schedule a race at the track, and he would participate.
The CARS Tour last raced at the track back in 2022, prior to Earnhardt’s involvement in the series. Currently, the series already has a race in the Upstate at Anderson Motor Speedway in Williamston, South Carolina and another in the state at Florence Motor Speedway.
Later in the month, during the Fox Sports broadcast of the NASCAR Cup Series race in Darlington, South Carolina, on March 22, commentator Mike Joy mentioned the speedway’s uncertain future.
“You need to get involved, and you need to go to these government meetings, because racetracks don’t vote,” Joy said as the broadcast panned to a fan in the stands holding a sign that read “Save Greenville-Pickens Speedway.”
“If you’re gonna save the site of the first live televised NASCAR race in full, you need to help out,” he continued.
Supporters of the speedway took Joy’s words to heart. Following the April 4 rally, dozens of residents attended the April 6 Pickens County council meeting to further voice their concerns and advocate for the speedway. Despite the racetrack not being on the meeting agenda, a resolution was passed recognizing Greenville-Pickens Speedway as a historic landmark, according to WSPA.
With the resolution passed, the first step has been taken to preserve the site. The resolution encourages the current owner of the property to take steps to protect it themselves.
Despite its deteriorating condition, the racetrack has not yet waved the white flag. While there are still several steps to take, it appears there may just be truth to that old adage that legends never die.
