Air Base Speedway

Textile Speedway opened for motorsport racing for the first time on July 3, 1949, with two days of motorcycle racing.[1] The track was originally owned and operated by L. C. Hicks, who owned Hicks Auto & Indian Sales in Greenville. Hicks renamed the complex Air Base Speedway, giving the track a grand re-opening on April 14, 1951.[2] Many sources continued to refer to the track as Textile Speedway, even after this date.

Hicks was eventually able to get a sanctioned NASCAR Grand National race hosted at the track, which was held on August 25, 1951.

One week after the NASCAR race, Air Base Speedway was reported to have been leased to Buck Baker, Ike Kiser, and Roby Combs.[3] This was not the trio's first foray into motorsport racing promotion: in 1950, they leased Charlotte Speedway to promote races, before selling that lease to Bruton Smith a year later.[4]

On September 26, 1951, L. C. Hicks was charged with obtaining money relating to Air Base Speedway under false pretenses; specifically, that he had solicited $2,000 having given the impression that the Speedway property had no liens against it. Two individuals who held liens of more than $4,000 against the Speedway confirmed that this was not so, and a warrant was issued against Hicks.[5]

Media references to Air Base Speedway diminish after this date.

In 1964, the whole circuit was still visible in satellite imagery, and in 1976, showing trees growing around the calcium-treated dirt, only two turns remained in any known images.

The site today is covered by three different buildings, a railroad spur, and dozens of trees, some affected by the calcium-treated surface. Very few images of the track exist today. One photograph in a newspaper advertisement for a race on April 14, 1951 has been found, showing an aerial shot of the circuit and displaying a few drivers' names, Buck Baker, Bob Flock (the only winner of a cup race held there), Red Byron and Gober Sosebee.[6]

Many newspaper articles regarding the Cup Series race also exist online. However, many sources listed the 1951 NASCAR race as a Greenville-Pickens Speedway event because the track was so obscure. It wasn't until 2015 in a SpeedSport Magazine article when two editors, John Nelson and Tom Schmeh, denoted that the 1951 event was on a different racetrack. In 2019, YouTuber S1apSh0es (a Greenville, SC native) went viral after uploading a three-part series documenting the history and demise of Air Base Speedway after finding the track on RacingReference.[7] A Getty Images photo of a flat surface dirt track exists, which is what he and many others speculate to be Air Base Speedway, from the lamp posts on the inside of the track to the wooden walls on the outside. This photo was said to be of Greenville-Pickens Speedway, which the track is frequently confused with.

1. Ballenger, Frank (July 3, 1949). "'Cycle Races at Textile Speedway Open Colorful Fourth of July Week End". The Greenville News. Retrieved September 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Hicks, L. C. (April 14, 1951). "Grand Opening: Air Base Speedway (Advertisement)". The Greenville News. Retrieved September 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Car Races Set For Air Base Track Tonight". The Greenville News. September 1, 1951. Retrieved September 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Jones, Anne B.; White, Rex (March 18, 2015). All Around the Track: Oral Histories of Drivers, Mechanics, Officials, Owners, Journalists and Others in Motorsports Past and Present. McFarland. p. 44. ISBN 9780786482436.
5. "Hicks Charged in $2,000 Case". The Greenville News. September 27, 1951. Retrieved September 6, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Grand Opening TODAY! - of the South's fastest ½ mile RACE TRACK". The Greenville News. April 14, 1951. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
7. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "The Search for NASCAR's Ghost Track: Air Base Speedway". YouTube.

• Air Base Speedway Trilogy by S1apShoes on Youtube
• Air Base Speedway race results at Racing-Reference