View source for Dayton Speedway

{{short description|Motorsport track in the United States}}{{Not to be confused with|Daytona International Speedway}}{{multiple issues|
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{{Motorsport venue
| Name             = Dayton Speedway 
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| Location         = [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], [[Ohio]], [[United States]]
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|Coordinates=39°43'26"N 84°15'25"W}}

'''Dayton Speedway''' was a [[race track]] in [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], [[Ohio]], [[United States]]. 
It has been called the "Fastest 1/2 mile (plus 210 feet) in the world".

The track held events for [[NASCAR]], AAA, MARC, [[Automobile Racing Club of America|ARCA]], ASA, and [[United States Auto Club|USAC]].

==History==
The track was opened in June 1934 as a flat "D shaped" 5/8 mile dirt track. The original track was a "copy" of the [[Legion Ascot Speedway]].<ref name="DL">
  "Dayton Speedway Lives", 2009, webpage:
  [http://www.DaytonSpeedwayLives.com Dayton Speedway Lives].
</ref>

<br>'''Timeline''' - The following is a timeline of events from 1933 to the present:
<ref name=DL/>
* 1933 - A "Kids Race" was held in September 1933.
* 1934 - The Official opening of the track was Sunday, June 3, 1934.
:: The first race was won by Ken Fowler of Paterson, New Jersey. Future Indy 500 winner [[Mauri Rose]] of Dayton was second.
* 1934-1935 - The Speedway Manager was Paul Ackerman.
* 1936 - On June 4, 1936, the entire track was repaved with [[Asphalt concrete|asphalt]] and promised to be the fastest track of its design in the world.
* 1937 - Track was purchased by Frank Funk.
* 1939 - The track was converted to a high-banked 1/2 mile.
::Funk also raised the banking, twice.
::May have buried old Trolley cars to help fill the space.
::Added an "oil substance" that "made the track as hard as pavement" (on hot days the stuff would get soapy and rain over the cars and drivers).
* late 1930s - 1970 - Covered grandstands were added.
* 1940s - Billboards on the backstretch began to be displayed.
* 1941-1945 - Closed during [[World War II|WWII]].
* 1946 - Reopened after World War II on Friday, June 29, 1946, with the first “Big Car” race ever held
::at night on the East Coast (Ascot was first in the world).
* 1947-1954 - The track infield was 1/4 mile.
* 1949 - Sold in 1949.
* 1949-1958 - It had a single white guardrail.
* 1949?-1954? - The track had a wooden scoring / announcers stand.
* 1950 - It had a single "Strap" Guardrail (from 1950 Sprint Car Start on Home Page).
* 1951/52 - Track was converted to (corrugated/extruded)  rounded guardrails.
*1952 - Sprint car driver Gordon Ried was killed in a gruesome crash on the frontstretch that also killed three spectators and injured many others.
*Later that year, Jim Rigsby was killed when his car made contact with another car and was launched off the turn 3 banking over 20 feet in the air, landing in a cabbage field 200 feet from the track.
* 1953 - First Dayton 500 was won by Iggy Katona.
* 1954 - Track site was used for a concert by "[[The Drifters]]" on August 7, 1954.
* 1955 - The infield track was 3/8 mile.
* 1955 - Jim Romine Olds photo shows bridge (No bridge after 1955?)
* 1960s - [[Harlan Fengler]] era (chief steward of the Indy 500)
::He removed 6 feet off the banked turns.
::For 3 years, Earl Baltes ran the track (and several other tracks until 1979).
* 1969 - Black and white stripes were used on the guardrails.
::Infield scoring stand was built (Benny Parsons Photo).

* 1970 - Covered grandstands in photos.
* 1971-1974 - Closed but the track was used for testing.
* 1975 - A new grandstand was built with new owner
:: Black and gold stripes were on the guardrails.

* 1976-1978 - Closed but the track was used for testing.
* 1979 - Don Thompson era.
::Red-white-blue trim was applied to guardrails.
::Track re-named "Greater Dayton Speedway" and was painted on infield scorers stand.
::The surface was repaved twice.

* 1982 - Front of the Concession Stand near turn one nearly collapsed between races one Sunday.
::Guardrails and restrooms were in disrepair.
* 1982 - Closed at the end of season due to no liability insurance.
* 1984 - Still for sale.
::Guardrails needed to be replaced.
::Grandstands needed repair.
::One groove left in turns 1+2 and huge potholes in 3+4.
::Straights were surprisingly good but banking needed attention.

* 1986 - Still for sale.
::The Flagman stand floor had rusted out.
::The top section of infield scoring stand was gone.
::Scales were gone from in front of infield scoring stand.

* 1986-1994 - The track began use as a landfill, eventually refuse filled the infield to the pavement on the straights. The site was then filled with clay and the track no longer exists.

==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
*Quotes from "The Hills, Going, Going...." article in the October 1986 edition of [[Stock Car Racing Magazine]].

{{AAA tracks}}
{{ASA National Tour racetracks}}
{{NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racetracks}}
{{USAC tracks}}
{{USAC Stock Car racetracks}}

[[Category:Motorsport venues in Ohio]]
[[Category:Sports venues in Dayton, Ohio]]
[[Category:1934 establishments in Ohio]]
[[Category:Sports venues completed in 1934]]