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Beltsville Speedway

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Beltsville Speedway
Baltimore-Washington Speedway
Aerial photograph of Beltsville Speedway (1972)
Location9200 Powder Mill Road Laurel, Maryland 20708
Coordinates39°02′N 76°50′W / 39.04°N 76.84°W / 39.04; -76.84
Capacity~7,000
Broke ground1964
Opened1965
Closed1978
Major eventsNone (defunct)
Pavement oval track
Length0.500 miles (0.805 km)

The Beltsville Speedway, formerly the Baltimore-Washington Speedway was an asphalt oval track in Prince George's County, Maryland; it spanned 0.500 miles (0.805 km).

Near Beltsville, it was on land now occupied by Capitol Technology University,[1] in the South Laurel census-designated place.[2][3]

Summary

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The track was specially designed with banked turns for stock car racing. Originally known as the "Baltimore-Washington Speedway", the track received its final name in its 19th month of operation.[4] The track hosted modified stock car racing vehicles alongside the other NASCAR series.[4] Wednesday nights were the original night for racing but the schedule eventually added Friday night racing.[4] Ten Grand National races were raced there including the popular Beltsville 300 series of races.[5] Strict noise restrictions were given out in its final year of operation and the county started monitoring the events.[4] Eventually, a sound wall was built surrounding the speedways. Cars had to begin running mufflers in order to stifle the noise from the increasing RPMs from the vehicles themselves.[4] The track was eventually shut down, demolished, and replaced with a local university.[4]

Famous race car drivers like Richard Petty, Tiny Lund, and David Pearson participated in legendary races there.[5] The 1968 Beltsville 300 was an example of some of the classic NASCAR Grand National races that were run on the track.[5]

NASCAR Grand National Results

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Date Winner
August 25, 1965 Ned Jarrett
June 15, 1966 Tiny Lund
August 24, 1966 Bobby Allison
May 19, 1967 Jim Paschal
September 15, 1967 Richard Petty
May 17, 1968 David Pearson
September 13, 1968 Bobby Isaac
May 16, 1969 Bobby Isaac
July 15, 1969 Richard Petty
May 15, 1970 Bobby Isaac

Reference:[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Capitol History." Capitol Technology University. Retrieved on August 26, 2018. "In 1980 the college found its home in Laurel, Maryland. Within three years, Capitol purchased the 52-acre former site of the Beltsville Speedway, [...]"
  2. ^ Campus map. Capitol Technology University. Retrieved on August 26, 2018. "Capitol Technology University 11301 Springfield Road Laurel, MD 20708"
  3. ^ "2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP (INDEX): South Laurel CDP, MD." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 26, 2018. Pages: 1, 2, and 3. Note that the census-designated place was previously smaller: 2000 Index Map and pages 1 and 2. In the 1990 map of Prince George's County (see index), South Laurel is on pages 2 and 5.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Complete history of the Beltsville Speedway Archived 2010-02-07 at the Wayback Machine at The Vintage Racer
  5. ^ a b c Beltsville Speedway event history Archived 2010-07-28 at the Wayback Machine at Everything Stock Car
  6. ^ "NASCAR Race Results at Beltsville Speedway". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
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