Like most dirt tracks that have been around a while, Lancaster Motor Speedway isn't easy to find. Just north of Lancaster, South Carolina, and just over an hour's drive from the stock car hub of Charlotte, North Carolina, you might say that the track most locals simply refer to as Lancaster is a little off the beaten path. But that's OK with the racers who have been competing there for generations. For them, the track's familiar confines are simply home.
Lancaster is, in fact, one of the oldest surviving dirt tracks in the South. The first race at the facility was held in 1954, and by all accounts, a large crowd was on hand to see this "new" sport of stock car racing. In 1957 Lancaster made history when it hosted two NASCAR races, which were won by Paul Goldsmith and local hero Speedy Thompson. (Thompson, who also won Darlington's Southern 500 in 1957, grew up and ran his race shop for a time out of Monroe, North Carolina, just 20 miles from Lancaster.)
Since then the facility has seen some difficult financial times, but from 1963 various owners have found a way to open the gates to racers every spring. Lancaster's second renaissance came in 1974 when Jim Mahaffey, who owned a used auto parts business, purchased the track and dropped the V-8 Late Model Sportsman Division-which by far had the most popular cars. It was an early effort to reduce costs for the racers, and in place of the V-8 cars, Mahaffey ran only six-cylinders.
Many fans and racers alike proclaimed Mahaffey's changes were the beginning of the end at Lancaster, but instead it reinvigorated the track. Car counts increased and more fans than ever packed the stands. "Lancaster had some of the fastest six-cylinder cars in the country at that time," says current General Manager William "Hook" Plyler. "When those guys would travel, they would really put a hurtin' on the racers at different tracks."
These days, V-6 racing is a thing of the past, and Lancaster brought back the powerful V-8 Late Models many years ago. Since then, many famous dirt track racers such as Freddy Smith and Mike Duvall have raced and won at the track.
Today, Lancaster Motor Speedway is owned by Doug McManus and his wife, Sharon. Together, they have made many changes to make Lancaster a family-friendly track so that entire families can enjoy racing together and kids can find real-life heroes to root for every Saturday night. They even installed a playground with a clear view of the track so that kids can burn energy (and parents can get a break). In addition, they eliminated alcohol sales in the infield and have law enforcement on hand for every event.
The track celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2004, and its weekly show included seven classes, so there is a class for just about every level of ability and budget. Plyler says that the largest car counts are in the least expensive classes: the Pure Street and Rookie Four. The crowd, however, gets charged up for the V-8 full-bodied classes-Super Stock and Street Stock-where the competi-tion is often the most intense. These two classes seem to be the place where several long-time Lancaster racers have settled in. They've raced each other year after year, and the friendly rivalries are "heated," to say the least.