Visiting Occoneechee Speedway: One of NASCAR's First Tracks | S1ap on Location: Episode 4 

The actual Occoneechee tribe was smaller than the crowds at these races (the tribe had a population of 1160 people)

Lights were put up for the football games they had. Football games were held their for local high school until mid 1970's. After that the track was abandon. Never had any night races there.

Slap needs to interview the King and some of the other legends that ran on these forgotten tracks.

This is a great way to preserve an old speedway, turn it into a recreational path. You can get those people interested in racing history and those that want to walk or use other forms of conveyance to see a path.

I attended my first NASCAR races at this speedway, back when it was called Orange Speedway and Hillsborough was spelled Hillsboro. As someone has already pointed out, the lights were installed not for racing but for football games. After racing ceased there, I attended several hunter/jumper horse shows there as well. Worth noting, there were no guard rails used at this speedway, despite it being one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR circuit. That worried me as a kid, but I never saw anyone wind up in Cates Creek, which runs parallel with the back stretch. However, I did see Big John Sears flip his Ford Galaxy into "fish pond" that Occoneechee used as a source for the water used to recondition the red clay track for racing.

Nice that its now a nature trail. At least the history can be seen & enjoyed. Top video *SS* . Done it again Pal. Got a fella from the UK watching a NASCAR video !!

Pikes Peak would be cool to see in this series.

If I'm not mistaken, the "32 Ford coupe", is a 38 Chevrolet Special Deluxe!! But, WHO CARES!!! GREAT VIDEO!!! THANKS, SLAP, FOR KEEPING THE HISTORY ALIVE!!!

Amazing video Slap. is there a link to the Occoneechee song, anyone? I’m looking for songs like these to listen to.

Occoneechee is such a hard word to spell isn't it

I've actually got an idea for the name of the series: S1ap's Speedway Stories

Slap single handily got me back into NASCAR. I’m such a history buff so I love these on location videos. Good work man.

I'm not much of a NASCAR fan. But the history interests me. Great videos man. I look forward to these.

Honestly, i need to say that this channel is single hand making me a fan of nascar. Or at least the old nascar... It has so many good histories. As a Brazilian, i never had a major contact with the sport besides some times when some sports jornal talk about something that happened. So I'm really glad to find this channel and learn so much about it, from someone who really really loves nascar.

Amazing song at the beginning.

Please do a video about bringing back Rockingham, similar to the one you did about North Wilkesboro! ---> also, Texas World Speedway would be a great subject for a video.

Yes I loved every minute of the video great to know about this track. Great time and racing and the driver were awesome guys. Thank you buddy for the video

Another great video! I love seeing these old tracks expectially in as good condition as this!

I love hearing about these old tracks, your doing a great job...... keep it up s1aps!!!

Your videos are always top notch. Thanks, man and keep on doing what you do; it's epic!

putting pins in the map to visit. learning a ton from you. thanks for the great episode

Very very cool they turned this into a walking trail. Amazingly creative way to honor the track and put it to a good public use. Neat track I never heard of before. Almost sounds like a Barney Hall in the song but he was young back then so I'm probably just hearing what I want to hear lol. Great work again Slap!

You have to be a real man to rip it full throttle around this track much respect to the old timers that flew down that straight at probably 120 plus

Great video and NASCAR history. Thanks for sharing.

Video essays are getting more and more interesting. Loved seeing the old iron on display, my dad when i was 5 had an old coupe style local dirt track car sans tow bar, they just pulled it to the local tracks with a chain. Keep em' coming. I'll keep clicking.

So cool that this place is reserved as a nature trail so you can actually legally visit the track and walk around it.

Another ABSOLUTELY Superb Vid THANKS Slap 💚💚

So cool, I watched this video when you first uploaded it but I recently moved to Charlotte from Vegas. Today I drove up 2 hours to visit here, only knowing it because of this video. Walked it a few times & really cool to walk the track. Even on a Tuesday, there was a ton of people walking it with their kids & dogs.

A1. Love these old track hunts you do bro. Keep it up

hey s1ap im really glad you made this video, i love visiting this track i usually make the trip back when i need to clear my head and spend some moments to myself. Actually where you were sitting is the sides of the grandstand where my grandfathers ashes are spread because he loved nascar and was disappointed he could never visit when we moved down due to his battle with cancer. Thanks for the video dude i use to live there when they redid the alot of the stuff there i could totally tell you about the experience it was finding out the history they uncovered.

That’s incredible only 3 dislikes. But 3 is a staggering number for a quality video like this. Who would dislike this quality of a video?

Thank you for all of this information . You have gave me so much info since i have seen your channel thank you

Omg this is so cool! I live in Hillsborough and I sometimes take walks at that trail, it’s really cool

AMAZING Production ! ty for doing what you do!

I hiked this speedway a couple of years ago, it's pretty cool. It links with a nearby hiking trail.

The original Watkins Glen Road course through the town which was the first road race in America after the war, would be a great location to visit.

great video as always s1ap

Fascinating stuff, great job

Theres a photo of me around 10-11 years old in 2005 or 2006 cleaning my dads '57 Chevy that was put in the local paper when the track was opened back up as a trail. I remember going to grand stands and concession stand, they hadnt been rebuilt yet and were still crumbling in the woods, man I wish I had gotten some photos of those........ I still have that paper somewhere too

The way you go in depth about these tracks is awesome! It would be cool if you did history videos on some fan favorites still around today . Anyway i like the channel!

I've been there and the coupe is actually a 1940 Chevrolet, which is sort of an odd choice since they were six cylinder cars. The other is a mid 50s Dodge that still has the engine and transmission in it! Edit: with the headlights removed the 40 Chevy looks a lot like a 38 Ford, but the dashboard gives it away. Also if you ever make it back look behind the ticket box, there's a giant pile of old bottles and things from when they raced there!

I am not a NASCAR watcher.... but I always find myself always watching your videos.

1. Kind of wish you went up to the main entrance which is still in tact with its outside wooden fence, a cool metal Pepsi-Cola sign, ticket offices and a couple of other cars. As well as the back gate for the cars. You can still get the feeling of pulling up and about to enter a very noisy junkyard. 2. In regards to going into the Eno River, I'm not sure if she did but NASCAR pioneer Louise Smith had some pretty spectacular crashes at this track. There's even a few iconic photographs of her posing for a picture inside her destroyed car, smiling as crews are still trying to cut her out of it. (Robinson, Crocker and Patrick have nothing on that woman) I don't think she went into the river but she came pretty close to it.

just in your video you can tell that cars went off track and towards the river. if you look at 10:05 you can see the bark missing on at least 2 trees where something had hit them many years before but are still standing.

Supercool - great to see it reused as a nature trail. I wish you would have spent some time describing the 50’s race car.

I wish there were other channels distributing their knowledge of all the different forms of motorsport the same way you are.

Visited the track last weekend!

Thanks for the historic race video, too.

Another great video, thank you.

I've added this place to my bucket list

Great video

Awesome find I love the history

Nice. I live in Hillsborough and run round there all the time it’s a cool place 🤙🏻

Cool that they didnt just forget about it. Would be a nice stroll in the woods now. But to imagine guys pulling down 90 mile an hour laps is breathtaking

Would love to see you come up here to Langley. I wouldn’t put it past Bill Mullis (the track owner) to even be willing to do an interview about it. Keep up the awesome content you make.

love this series keep it up :]

Next video on Desoto speedway maybe? The track that Cleetus McFarland just bought. That'd be interesting. Try get in contact with him, I'm sure he'd be down to have you go out there and do history breakdown of the track. 👍

WOW THIS IS A SUPER COOL TRACK & HISTORY OF MORE TRACK'S SO VERY GLAD U GOT IT ON VIDEO & TOLD OF SOME OF THE VERY COOL HISTORY EVEN THE COOL OLDER CAR'S U WOULD THING SOME ONE WOULD PUT SOME SORT OF TIN ROOF OVER THESE RIDES TO PROTECT 'EM A BIT........................ i always wonder where u'll go to find the next cool older track.....!!!!!! SO HOW MANY HAVE U FOUND THAT WAS JUST ABOUT FORGOTTEN ABOUT......???? & how many more u plan to go after & re-find & video..... like any goal's in finding so many.......???? WE KNOW U HAVE DEEP PASSION'S IN ALL THIS BUT WHAT U DO FOR A LIVING THERE WHEN NOT TRYING TO RE-FIND AN OLDER TRACK SOME WHERE........... & WHAT GOT U ALL FIRED UP IN GOING AFTER THESE AWESOME COOL OLDER TRACK'S ...... GUESSING ALL OR MOST OF THEM SO FAR R AROUND WHERE U LIVE & WORK & PLAY as a kid & now as an adult........ !!!!!!!! KEEP UP THE AWESOME JOB'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ALL LIVE A BIT MORE THREW THESE COOL & AWESOME VIDEO'S w/ SOUND !!!!!!!!!!!!! SOME TIME'S I SWEAR U CAN ALMOST SMELL THE COOL AREA TRACK'S THREW THE VIDEO'S ................ ALMOST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something about reclaimed but not forgotten places like this always give me a slight shiver, especially those goalposts. Or maybe that's just because it's October.

I visited there earlier this month while I was in Hillsborough. Cool place

Bro your voice is so soothing, you should narrate like a nature documentary or something

I visited Occoneechee a few years ago during one of their reunions. There was a car show in the industrial park next to the track site with 100's of show and restored/recreated race cars. The highlight was when a parade of race cars drove onto the dirt trail, lined up during some ceremonies and proceded to do laps for half an hour. The grandstand was packed for that. If you get out to New Jersey, you could do a story on Pine Brook Speedway. It was a 1/10 mile paved oval surrounded by US46, Bloomfield Ave. and the Passaic River. There is a Home Depot on the site now.

Love the video!!

Been there once to walk around, one of the reason I started liking racing

Good job I like these videos. Best one though was airbase speedway

Great video.

Smart townsfolk to recertify it as a nature trail. Sort of a NASCAR Gettysburg. Sad places like Riverside get paved over. Roosevelt Field on Long Island New York for Lindbergh take off and Vanderbilt Cup races was taken over by a mall at one point.

The '32 / '38 Ford coupe is actually a Chevrolet. At 8:28 those cars in the still shot are Fords. Note the vertical "B" pillar. Chevrolets of that era have a "B" pillar that's angled forward. Fords had a Deluxe model, Chevrolets had Special Deluxe.

North wilkesboro speedway is going to make its come back hopefully this year

Nice keep them coming

I know it's a small and pretty insignificant track but id love to see you do a video on Powell Motor Speedway since it's so close to my hometown

Great Keselowski sweatshirt!

Hey a Slapshoes, did you see that Cleetus just bought Desoto!

There was once a track known as Asheville-Weaverville Speedway in Weaverville, NC. Sadly, according to Wikipedia, the track closed down in 1987 due to noise ordinances. The land the track was on is now home to North Buncombe High School.

Who thumbsed down this? Ban them from viewing all future videos!

#44 is a '37 or '38 Chevy Nice video and thank you.

Chilling on a dirt road with Daisy Duke bruh

Good video

great video liked 🏎🏆

Wish they were all preserved as such.

Great video. If you find yourself in Central Ohio I’d be happy to take you to the location of Powell Motor Speedway. Now grown over with houses and strip malls. But in May of 1953 Herb Thomas won a NASCAR race there.

Gone yet preserved 👍

A suggestion from me would be Gainesville/Looper speedway here in Georgia

Epic

That cricket

If you ever plan on coming to Canada you should do Citidel Hill Circuit in Halifax, it hosted F2, Indycar and IMSA for a few races

You’re a Keselowski fan too!? Nice!

I went to look at that track after vacation but we had been in the car for 5 hours and wanted tok get home and even when we looked we could not find it but it's only about an hour away from where I live.

God, those Old Stockcars rotting there should definity get restored! Sad to see them just rotting away.

You should include Portland Speedway that was in Portland, Oregon. Home track of Greg Biffle. I announced the last pavement race before it turned to dirt then closed. Contact Fred Armstrong at MRN. He and his brother ran it for many years. He's got loads of history on it.

I bet those tree's make the best pass blockers.

So I am guessing with this post but where I live we had a similar issue with track length, I am guessing they measured the length of the track around the outside wall, similar to how race city was built. however NASCAR measured from they inside wall and measured the bottom of the track. That is how you get the difference of 1 mile to 9/10 of a mile. Anyone who was wondering Race city in Calgary was built to 1/2 mile around the outside of the track where as NASCAR measures from the inside of the track.

Lost interest in NASCAR few years ago but your videos making me wanna watch the sport again. Keep up the good work!

I would love to camp in that area

Historic Race Track

Do North Wilkesboro when you hit 100K Subs.

Damn I've been here!

You need a Broadcasting Job man, keep up with the good content

I haven't cared about NASCAR since Dale died but I've just spent several hours binging your videos and I really enjoy what you're doing, keep up the good work

it was a local high school football field. i think in about the lete 60s and then 70s if what i remember and what i’m told is right. last time i ran a “mile” was on this track