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Among the Pines
The Occoneechee Speedway lives on through historic preservation Photos and story by Anne Puetzer
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rowing up in North Carolina, I’ve seen my fair share of NASCAR tracks. But this one was different. The secluded Occoneechee Speedway, tucked in a cedar and pine forest along the Eno River, was an unplanned stop during a family day trip to Hillsborough. When the shady, tranquil walk brought us to an opening in a tall, rusty fence originally intended to keep unticketed on-lookers from catching a glimpse of a race, what we saw completely surprised us all. As we stared down at the dirt track my family reacted: “Wow!” “That looks fun!” And most unexpected, from my teenage son: “Hey, cool! I’m pretty sure this is the race track from [Disney/Pixar’s] ‘Cars 3’!”
A rowdy past
As we sat in the grandstands (well, the younger children happily ran up and down pretending to serve us snacks from the old concession stand nearby) it was easy to imagine the roar of 10,000 fans, and cars racing past at speeds up to 90 mph in large clouds of dust. A few old cars stationed along the track further enthused my children, and again the conversation turned to the movie,
“Cars 3” (I’ll come back to that). Occoneechee Speedway is one of NASCAR’s original tracks — and the only surviving dirt track from its inaugural 1949 season. Drivers raced 100 laps at its first race in 1949, and the track went on to host 31 additional NASCAR races. Richard Petty won the final race at this location on September 15, 1968. He drove a ’68 Plymouth 167 laps with an average speed of 87.6 mph, winning $1,600. The Eno River is located only a few yards off the far side of the track, opposite the grandstands. A curve at the bottom of the track closely
follows a bend in the river. Standing on the bank we had to wonder: could a car spinning out of control end up in the river? Apparently, they did.
From track to trail
Named for the Occaneechi, a tribe of Native American Indians who lived near the location 300 years ago, the 0.9-mile track is seamlessly incorporated into other trails that run along the Eno River in Hillsborough. The speedway was untouched for many years, but in the 1990s, volunteers from the Historic Speedway Group restored several of the
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