Orange County Speedway is a 3/8 mile (0.6 km) asphalt oval in Orange County, North Carolina, near Rougemont. It first opened in 1966 as 1/4 mile (0.4 km) and 5/8 mile (1.6 km) dirt ovals, which operated until 1967 and 1973, respectively. With a slogan of "the fastest 3/8-mile race track in America," the oval features 19 degree banking through the turns and 16 degrees on the straightaways creating four distinct grooves making for very fast turns. The grandstands stretch from Turn 4 all the way down the front straightaway to Turn 1. The speedway closed in 2003, but reopened on March 11, 2006 as an American Speed Association member track.
Some of the most famous names in stock car racing have raced at the Orange County Speedway, including Dale Jarrett, Jeff and Ward Burton, Elliott and Hermie Sadler, Scott Riggs, Todd Bodine and Bobby Labonte. Notable drivers David Pearson and Glen Wood raced at the speedway the while it was a dirt track.
Famous quotes containing the words orange, county and/or speedway:
“the great orange bed where we lie
like two frozen paintings in a field of poppies.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Jack: A politician, huh?
Editor: Oh, county treasurer or something like that.
Jack: What’s so special about him?
Editor: They say he’s an honest man.”
—Robert Rossen (1908–1966)
“The improved American highway system ... isolated the American-in-transit. On his speedway ... he had no contact with the towns which he by-passed. If he stopped for food or gas, he was served no local fare or local fuel, but had one of Howard Johnson’s nationally branded ice cream flavors, and so many gallons of Exxon. This vast ocean of superhighways was nearly as free of culture as the sea traversed by the Mayflower Pilgrims.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)