Abandoned Tracks: Myrtle Beach Speedway 

Being a monster truck fan, Myrtle Beach Speedway was notable for a pretty gnarly crash in 1990 that saw the monster truck King Kong crash into the Unocal 76 sign and then rolling over on top of some vacant, brand new police cars and caught fire. That was the final crash shown on the 1998 VHS Crash Madness which was how I saw it as a kid.

Hooray, time to be sad and mad about a track being dead and gone✊🏼

This one is really sad to watch, especially as a Modified fan, much less an Earnhardt family fan. Seeing any track fade away from the spotlight, and eventually get demolished is depressing, but one as historic and important to NASCAR’s legacy and heritage as Myrtle Beach was/is will always be gut-wrenching. Rest in peace, Myrtle Beach Speedway. Gone, but NEVER forgotten.

It's a shame Myrtle Beach Speedway is history

I went on vacation to South Carolina and this track was one of the reasons why. They had a “Driving Experience” and I got to ride around the track for 5 laps. One of my favourite memories as a racing fan.

It seemed like a really cool track. Those stupid residents that decided to live near the track… They should’ve known that loud noises was going to happen…

Until 2020 this was my local short track and it's such a shame it's gone it makes me even more mad knowing the land isn't being used for now I am glad I got really into the sport around the tracks final years cause I actually think this is really enjoyable and working on the mechanics of the cars themselves.

I yoinked a peice of the track when I went to it demolition was complete and it was indeed sad

I would've loved to see a Cup series race at the Track if the plans to get a Top series back at the track again went through. Such a shame

I actually did see the track as a kid and it was cool when we drove past it on the way to Myrtle Beach. Now it's gone thanks to people who are nothing but complainers and it's in a "booming real estate market!"

that sucks to see that gone

Another track I wish were still on the schedule for the secondary series.

Myrtle Beach my home track less than 10 minutes away I was upset when they tore it down

If you fancy doing one on Brooklands, which claims to be the first purpose built race track for cars in the world when it opened in 1907, I'd love to get pictures of what's left of the track to help out. It shows it's early track design in its lack of safety features: not wall at the top of the 30° banks, the concrete track surface meant that it wasn't uncommon for cars to have no wheels in contact with the track surface and there was no separation of the garages from the track itself. Its downfall was the second World War. Although it closed and brought under military control in WW1 as well, in WW2 it suffered damage from bombing raids (as it was used as an aircraft manufacturing facility in both wars) and it was deemed too expensive to repair the track. As a result, the track closed for good in August 1939 and after the Second World War parts of the track was demolished to make way for new roads, a housing development and Industrial Estate, but the legacy remains in Brooklands Museum. The Former Club House, Test Hill and large parts of the banking are open to the public, there are various aircraft on display, including one of the Concordes (aircraft G-BBDG) and various cars (in 2004, I had the privilege of sitting in and having my photo taken in Ayrton Senna's 1991 Championship winning McLaren Honda MP4-6). There's no chance of Brooklands opening as a race track ever again, but in 2009, Grand Tour presenter James May set a record for longest scalextric track, by using the original layout of the track on a scale of 1:1 (not accounting for modern obstacles like houses or office buildings and floating bridges)

Been dreading this one. Myrtle Beach was the track I was born down the road from, always loved watching racing there. RIP Myrtle Beach Speedway, you'll never be forgotten.

Myrtle beach for me will always remind me of the first time I saw Dale jr race in the Busch series

This was my local short track, went to every race for years. I remember the neighborhoods surrounding the track would do noise complaints all the time. The demise felt inevitable when houses and development got closer and closer.

All people do now is hide and stare at screens! Almost all communities of our past are dying out, and unfortunately the racing community is just one of many.

If only Karen's never existed and NASCAR didn't go the cookie cutter route... The number of tracks that would have never died... Us younger fans got raw dogged out of some good/great tracks

So sad. We used to have golf trips to Myrtle Beach, and at night we'd go to the races. The golf trips died out with the track, and half the golf courses we played are shut down, too.

Was stationed at Myrtle Beach AFB in the early 90s. Was at the race Jimmy Spencer won , he came back from 3 laps down if I remember correctly. Good times !

Went to the ‘98 and 2000 Busch races. In 98, a bunch of the drivers showed up at NASCAR Speedpark in Myrtle, including Elliott Sadler, Buckshot Jones, Tim Fedewa, Randy LaJoie and Tony Stewart. Got all of their autographs, and there’s a picture my dad took of me spinning out Sadler in a go kart lol. Btw, Buckshot was the nicest guy you’ll ever meet

I missed this part, the tracks around Myrtle Beach within 35 miles. We had Conway, Andrews, Hemingway of course Myrtle Beach , Wednesday thru Sat. nights. A little further down the road we had Florence, Summerville, Little River, Timmonsville. That is all that I remember right now. It was not unusal for 40 or 50 cars to show up each night. Have you ever seen a track lined up from the starting line to the middle of the back straight double file. Those were the days, there was a race car in every neighborhood.

This and SOBO were my 2 fav tracks on N3 back in the day. So sad that historic landmarks can just be taken away.

I saw Earnhardt Jr run 5th or so in late models at Myrtle Beach Speedway in the early 90's...lol They just had the Winchester 400 at Winchester Motor Speedway in Indiana, keep the historic tracks alive! Salem too!

I like myrtle beach in Nr2003

I remember seeing my first motoring event, a demolition derby, here when I was a little kid.

Thank you for doing my home track the Myrtle Beach Speedway. i grow up here and went to a lot of races. you left out that the old Hooters Pro Cup races at the track. i wave the flag for two Bl-Lo 250 pro cups races when i for Bi-lo and i wave the flag also for the st pro cup race in 1998 at the track. there video on youtube for 2 of them races. and also the NASCAR all pro and NASCAR dash series race at the track to.

A suggestion for a future video in this series could be Devil's Bowl Speedway in Texas. It's a historic track in the dirt racing community, and is closing down after this year, with the World of Outlaws sprint car races this weekend being the final races at the track.

A couple of points to add. 1. There was also a ton of drifting at the track with an entire organization based out of Myrtle that now utilizes Rockingham speedway. (MB Drift for those interested in them) and 2. The track and land it sits on has already been re-zoned so it will never have the potential of being a racetrack again even though the original agreement fell through.

Great to learn the history of the track. Only critic, you show monster truck races there, but not the thing that old school Monster Truck fans know Myrtle Beach Speedway for, the King Kong crash in 1990.

after growing up on this track with my dad racing, breaks my heart to see it dead.

My memories of it are watching the USAR Hooters ProCup series there... Amazing series..great drivers...and sadly so many of the wonderful short tracks they raced on are gone now..😢

I appreciate the work put into the research and video presentation. Always enjoy these vids 👍

I've been there!!

This track was so unique-miss it and other short tracks on the Busch series schedule

NASCAR next year: _lets have the All Star Race there!_

its a disgrace that these small and top notch home tracks are being closed after many years of service. The worst part is that they are either sold off to snotty developers who want to build their million dollar housing communities or the tracks them selves are demolished and the site is left a patch of sand

For anyone wondering track is completely gone and townhomes being built as of June 2024

Losing this track sucks. Very unique layout and look to it and this track has quite the history in the monster truck community. It's the site of King Kong's famous crash

If I was a NASCAR fan a few years earlier I might've gotten to visit Myrtle Beach. I'm from the Charleston area and it would've been my closest track (pretty sure Darlington is farther). On another note, who in their right mind builds houses near a racetrack and complains about noise? Don't they know what a racetrack is?

Its a shame, now when I go past there everyday I see dirt and construction vehicles over what should still be there today

I had the absolute honor to go to the final race there while I was living in Connecticut, now I live 10 minutes to where the track was and every time I go by it on US-501 I try to look and see what they’ve done to it so far the only thing they have done is flattened the land. Nothing has been built there at all

Here's another thing to consider: That area and Myrtle Beach has garnered a reputation for illegal drugs and illegal prostitution. Nobody wants to go to a track where you can easily find used needles and used condoms in the parking lots. But as expected, after the track went away, they saw an increase in illegal street racing. You take away a track and the racers take the streets basically

This was my favorite track on NR99 and NR3.

I think it's funny how everyone blames the person who bought the track instead of the people who sold it... That's how it is with nearly every beloved construction being demolished

This is one of my favorites in Iracing with a modified.

I used to live in Florence , SC Just 35min inland from Myrtle Beach Had lots of fun at Myrtle Beach during My few years in SC I remember the track being there Just right off the highway just before the main stretch of carnival boardwalk fun

I was there at the first race. The first wreck on the track was Dink Windenhouse from Daytona Beach. He was on the track by himself before the race trying to find the way he wanted to enter turn 3. There was a soft spot before entering turn 3 and he drifted the B-29 race car number/37 ford I think and caught the hole sideways and rolled the car 13 times all the way to the middle of the turn. He was back the next weekend with what looked like the same car. The old race track was on HWY 17 where the Myrtle Square Mall used to be, an old horse race track. I forget it was I think 1/8 mile, for me this was like 70 years ago. Curtis Turner, Crawfish Crider, Ralfh Earnhart, Lee Petty, a lot of the old timers showed up there even Red Farmer used to come every weekend back in the day. I have pretty much given up on NASCAR races anymore, they have destroyed what racing should be.

Have a massive chunk of asphalt from the Finish Line before they demolished it ❤️

This Track needs the North Wilkesboro treatment

My grandparents were lucky enough to see some races there

Future uploads: Revisiting Frankie Muniz and Championship Seasons: Jesse Love 2023.

Don't forget the monster truck history here also. The famous king Kong flipped on top of two police cars

I didn't know it was abandoned I thought they were still weekly licensed and ran arca and modified races

Ironically, I used to live in Myrtle Beach from like first grade to third grade

Another abundant speedway. Is I 30 in Benton Arkansas

Really sad, it was a great track!

I rode in a nascar at that track in 2019

Luckily sim racing allows us to preserve and race these tracks in some form. Safe and far away from those nefarious property developers.

RIP MBS.

#supportyourlocalshorttrack

My home track. Such a shame to see it torn down for houses.... People moving down from up north need a place to live, so they destroy our history and traditions.

All due to homeowners complaining about the noise! While the track was there before anything!

Gone Too Soon: Richie Evans

I Wish They Didn't Let This Track Go Because I Enjoyed It So Much.

This is somewhat long (below), but relevant, as I heard the lack of revenue into MB over the past few decades is what caused the track shutdown. I got one race in there, in the 90's, and will miss it dearly. aka "Thanks Clinton!" MB was once a bustling town, with the speedway, the pavilion, the carnival, and the boardwalk, the beaches, one of the biggest video arcade and go kart places on the east coast right outside the AFB front gate, etc, etc. The AFB supported the town. One of the most beautiful AFB's I ever had the pleasure to serve at (left in 1989). But the Clinton Admin shut it down for absolutely no valid reason. After the shutdown, the town had no money. Loss of revenue from all the AFB personnel leaving. Now it's nothing but druggies and prostitutes. The Hell's Angels don't even rally there anymore. (They were pumping even more money into the town, legit or not.) Sure the PR and tourism people still try to get people to visit the boardwalk. But every time I passed through since the mid-1990's, the pavilion and carnival is always closed. (My last visit was 2012.) So IDK what they're trying to sell on. It seems this is going to just be yet another retirement village for people that enjoy golfing, not really intended for the younger generations. What used to be the grounds of the AFB is a bunch of new houses and condos that nobody buys. The AFB half of the runway was absorbed in to what is now known as MB Int'l Airport. But nobody flies in there except golfers. And the last thing for non-golfers and younger people to enjoy, the speedway, is gone as well. It's just sad. Such a beautiful place gone to waste.

Oh, no! I wish to have Myrtle Beach Speedway/ race again, But Oh, sad/ races / Interview to Drivers/ angry Drivers who hit their cars( different time) I wish to see Cup/ Truck/ Xfinity races in Myrtle Beach Speedway!?! It Would be nice to see them in there race and Good/ enjoy/ sad to watch everything in there video

Still intact ed on Google maps

Two people Ik won the track championship there

7:34 bros forehead is suffocating

No way this one took to long

There needs to be laws that protect tracks from this shit. More than just becoming a state landmark. Land developers that do this are disgusting

Someone buy it from the land developers and rebuild it

I know the old owners of the track

Call me dumb but I never knew myrtle beach speedway was abandoned.

Marty Robbins

Karen: Let's move to this house that's right next to an active racetrack. Also Karen: They are too loud!

F

1st?

Damn Yankees took our speedway. I’m sick of it, let us Carolina boys do our stuff and go back home!

Sad just sad