Beltsville Speedway, sports venue
Beltsville Speedway was a motorsport racing track in Prince George's County, Maryland, built as a half-mile (about 800 m) oval with banked turns on an asphalt surface. The track was set up mainly for Modified Stock Car racing and drew drivers from across the eastern US.
The track opened under the name Baltimore-Washington Speedway and soon took on its lasting name. It closed in 1978 following persistent noise complaints from nearby residents and was later torn down to make way for a university campus.
The name comes from the surrounding community of Beltsville, which gave the site its local identity. Today, nothing visible remains of the grandstands or the crowds that once gathered to cheer on drivers from the region.
The site no longer functions as a racing track and has been repurposed for decades, so there is nothing of the original facility left to see on the ground. Those curious about its history can visit the area around the current university campus to get a sense of where the track once stood.
Among the drivers who raced here were Richard Petty, David Pearson, and Bobby Allison, all of them among the biggest names in American motorsport history. The track also hosted a NASCAR Grand National event called the Beltsville 300, which still appears in motorsport record books today.
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