Charlotte loses another Ghost

[djSNUFFY]

This morning I was in Charlotte running an erand and to do some scouting for later this week. I was going to go to the Southern States Fairgrounds Saturday and take some pics of this grand old track. But as I got to the site, I was greeted by the horrible sight of progress, a industrial park. :09Crazy: I just found out that this track existed this week. Such greats as Ralph Earnhardt, Ned Jarret, Buddy Shuman, Cotton Owens, Bunk Moore, Tommy Boger, Termite Moose, "Wild" Bill Widenhouse, Mut Simpson, Joe Weatherly and Lee Petty were a few of the long list of greats that graced this 1/2 mile gem of speed and clay.
The 1st link below has a couple of stories and pics of the track, aerial, and #42 leading the field from the green @ the lst GN race heald there. The second link is for race stats for all the GN ans NASCAR Convertible divison ran there.
So if you have a favorite ghost get out and take a few shots to help preserve its history!!
http://www.webprosolutions.com/ghosts/frgrnds.php
http://www.racing-reference.info/tracks?id=107

[mod90fan]

man i feel all the more stupid, i never knew that gem was there. I have travelled eastway drive a million times, shopped at the old northpark mall. Hell that area back in my high school days was my stomping grounds........ but skirts or checkerd flag ghost tracks.? there used to be a 'lil mexico' housing project just near there.......... man i hate i missed that visit......... to the race track. sick.

[mod90fan]

part of my not knowing of it, was misinformation. I was always told it was on the corner of tryon an suger creek. were the park-n-shop grocery store was. In fact its tryon an eastway.......... charlotte needs to at least place a marker or something there...

[djSNUFFY]

I am going to try and get out there tomorrow and see if anything remains. There should be something, they have the roads and underground utilities in.

[capefear01]

I don't care what local government says...PROGRESS SUCKS!!!!

[mod90fan]

....maybe we will see each other there, as i plan to get down there myself. Even the book "ghost tracks of the carolina's" has its location wrong. Old timers i know also said were the park an shop is/was....... i guess over time they just forgot as was a long time ago an alot has changed down there......... just sad i missed out walking the track before it was bull dozed under........... hope i can atleast see something.

[DoubleZero]

mod90 and dj, good luck, hope y'all find something still there, take some photos, if possible, and if there's anything left to photograph.

[mod90fan]

Just got back from hunting the old ghost of southern states speedway. I was shocked to find some traces still left, in fact a good deal amount. I parked my car in line of the old grandstand an walked across the railroad tracks.....the new park uses the front stretch as the main road, even turns 3 an 4 are paved..... from looking at google earth an whats now paved i would say they are dead on location...... makes sense to use the old race track a foundation for a road. Turns 1 an 2 are still there as well......an if you look at the old postcard the embankment off the turns down toward the parked cars is still present. as i stood there i could almost here the annoucer an see the cars stacked 2 wide waiting on the green flag............. a piece of history is still somewhat been saved, someone maybe did have some sense of history!!!

[mod90fan]

50 years later, picture of the cars coming into turn 1 in an early post an picture number 3.

[DoubleZero]

Mod90, thank you for the research and the field trip! It's better, I think, than what we feared, there IS something left of the old speedway. Such visits are bittersweet, for sure, but it's good to see the remains of the old track.

[djSNUFFY]

After meeting Perry Allen Wood at the Columbia reunion and chatting about this track along with a new pic surfacing the track was lost along time ago. The site I located was NOT Southern States. What I found turned out to be a track used for horse training. Perry talked to a man that carried hay to the track to feed the horses. I showed the pic to Perry this morning and we agree that the correct location for Southern States ghost is the Southeastern quadrant of the Sugar Creek Rd. & Tryon St. interection. Turns 1&2 were behind the Park and shop and the head of the back stretch was just in front of Hardee's.

Photo courtesy of http://www.cmhpf.org/