Developers seek demolition of historic SC racetrack, opponents rally. Here’s what will be built
A group that wants to save the Greenville Pickens Speedway from demolition is preparing to oppose a plan to build an industrial building on the site.
SC Speedway Hwy 124, LLC, the developer, has asked for the 24 acre site to be approved for a 376,380 square-foot industrial building and an undeveloped outparcel.
Also proposed is a 13-acre retail, gas station restaurant complex south of the speedway and 111 acres of woods north of the speedway for eight buildings covering about 918,480 square feet.
Several distribution centers with about 4 million square feet of space have already been built in the area immediately surrounding the speedway, replacing the parking area and undeveloped property where the Upper South Carolina State Fair was once held.
Speedway proponents have been posting information about how the site could be designated a historical landmark by the county even if it’s not reopened.
“The problem is the Pickens County council hasn’t ever had to do this before and haven’t been pushed ENOUGH to take the initiative to contact other counties with experience in the matter,” The Real Historic Greenville Pickens Speedway said in a Facebook post.
“It’s very crucial that everyone shows up to this meeting and votes NO to the destruction of The REAL Historic Greenville Pickens Speedway and the construction of an apartment complex or another building like it,” the group said.
“The Historic Speedway can still exist as a racetrack even if it doesn’t reopen as an active track,” Brandon Langston said on Facebook. “SHOW UP AND SPEAK AGAINST THE DEVELOPER that hates the racetrack!”
He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Planning Commission meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at Pickens County Administration Building Main Conference Room 222, McDaniel Avenue, Pickens.
Track proponents have been trying to save the historic Easley raceway from demolition for more than two years.
Most recently, Tasha Porter Kummer, the first woman to win a Late Model race — the prime event — at Greenville Pickens, has been trying to find a buyer, specifically within the NASCAR community.
She had hoped NASCAR would step up for the second oldest short track just as it did for the oldest. Last year, NASCAR bought Winston-Salem Speedway, Inc., the lessee of Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina, and intends to manage racing operations at the track that was built in 1939.
The lease runs through December 2050.
The property has been owned by car dealer Kevin Whitaker, who has not returned phone calls seeking comment about the track’s future or sale. He owned much of the land bought by RealtyLink as well. The new application says the owner is Ryan Whitaker.
Kummer said several offers in the $3 million range have been made for the track.
She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Her family has been associated with the speedway for 40 years. Her brother races, along with other family members.
Besides being the second oldest, it is different from all other tracks of its kind. It has a long straightaway and the corners are not banked, but flat, making driving harder and more interesting.
Kummer and others say the Upstate and racing would lose a piece of what makes the area and the sport special if races don’t resume. It’s already lost two seasons, but other tracks have been dark for years and reopened.
Greenville Pickens was the site of the first race aired on national TV, start to finish, broadcast in 1971 on ABC’s Wide World of Sports with Jim McKay doing lap by lap coverage.
Greenville Pickens Speedway opened in 1940 as a half-mile-long dirt track. When racing resumed after World War II on Independence Day, fans saw two horse races and a car race promoted by Bill France Sr., who two years later founded NASCAR.
The Blackwell family bought the track in 1955, the same year NASCAR began sanctioning races there. Mark Blackwell, son of the former owner, worked with driver Jackie Manley to lease the track. They could not reach an agreement.
The track was paved in 1970 and hosted various Winston Cup races through the years.
Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt and his son Dale Jr. raced there. Many of the legendary racers’ names remain painted on the walls surrounding the track.
The speedway ran on Saturday nights, drawing thousands of fans estimated between 22,000 to 35,000 seats. It was a family spot so popular people would come early just to get a parking space. A concession specialty was fried bologna sandwiches on hamburger buns.
This story was originally published January 28, 2026 at 6:00 AM.