In the 1950s and ‘60s, stock car engines roared at Starkey Speedway.
Photo above: This 1950s image shows one of the early races at the Starkey Speedway.
Photos courtesy Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries
In the fall of 1949, big plans were announced for Starkey, a small community nestled in southwestern Roanoke County. The Starkey Speedway and Amusement Company had been organized and purchased about 30 acres from William Smith. The company was issued a building permit for the construction of a $50,000 amusement park, including an auto racing track, opposite the Starkey railroad station. Homer Shropshire of City Auto Supply Company in Roanoke was the contractor.
The Starkey Speedway officially opened in November 1950 with an auto race that launched a decades-long attraction for racing enthusiasts. The speedway was more than just a quarter-mile track for stock cars and hot rods, as the speedway became a major event venue during the 1950s and ’60s. There were auto daredevil shows, rodeos, circuses and even horse racing. The main draw, however, was always the cars.
The racing season at Starkey was spring through fall with races typically occurring on Sunday afternoons. The speedway could seat 4,000, but crowds often swelled beyond that. For racing fans, Starkey hosted assorted divisions including jalopies, hobby cars, midgets and the always popular stock cars. Men who pooled resources and worked on cars in their garages began to develop local followings as statistics and standings were regularly reported in local newspapers. Some of the early, regional racers at Starkey included Buford Dillon, Jim Gillette, Gordon Snead, “Early Bird” Williams, Eddie Bennington, Andrew Eanes, Baldy Wilson, John Knowles, Harry Bratton, J. C. Cash, Carl Graham, Gerald Riley, Bobby Cook and Charlie Williamson.
The speedway grew quickly in popularity and what it could accommodate as entertainment. Joe Chitwood’s Auto Daredevil show came in May 1952 and was followed that summer with a rodeo that included bull riding and calf roping contests. In 1953, lights were added for night racing and by 1954 popular NASCAR drivers were testing their skills at Starkey. In July of that year, Jim Reed, Lee Petty and Dick Ratham competed in a 100-lap race. With NASCAR’s expanding fan base came a renewed interest in Starkey Speedway by investors who believed the track could become a regular stop on the stock car circuit. Thus, Starkey Racing Grounds Incorporated was formed and purchased the speedway in 1956 with the intent to invest $70,000 to improve the track for NASCAR … and horse racing! The latter proved the first to arrive with harness racing along with pony and mule races thrown in for fun.
The first NASCAR Grand National Series race at Starkey was held on May 14, 1958. Jim Reed won, beating Curtis Turner, Glen Wood, Lee Petty and 19 other drivers in the 150-lap race. Starkey was one of 51 NASCAR races that season. What many fans may not have known is that the week before the race the speedway had hosted the Cristiani Brothers Circus in the infield replete with elephants, lions and clowns all under a 5,000-seat big top.
The next two NASCAR races at Starkey were in 1961 and 1962. Junior Johnson won the 1961 race, held on June 23. The names running at Starkey that day read like what was to become the Who’s Who of stock car drivers – Richard Petty, Wendell Scott, Ned Jarrett, Buck Baker, Jimmy Pardue and Jim Paschal. Twenty drivers competed that day and then raced the next weekend at the Firecracker 250 at Daytona. The 1962 NASCAR race was held on August 14 with Richard Petty besting the field in his Plymouth, having overtaken Ned Jarrett, who had led for 152 of the 200 laps.
When NASCAR drivers were not competing at Starkey, track owners offered various forms of entertainment to promote races with regional drivers and help draw crowds. Western film actor and comedian Smiley Burnette came as did Gene Beame, who was billed as a “human bomb” due to his act of blowing himself up in a casket filled with dynamite.
The final NASCAR race held at Starkey was on August 22, 1964, billed as the Roanoke 250. Finishing first, second and third were Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett and Glen Wood respectively, all future NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees. Johnson had led for 195 laps and took home $850. That August race was bittersweet for the speedway, as the owners knew and had publicly announced it would be the last NASCAR Cup race at Starkey.
The owners (Lester Hall, Jesse Gilley and Bill Mason) had approached NASCAR executives about securing contracts for future races with the promise for more investment in the track and its amenities. They planned to spend $500,000 to make the speedway a half-mile, high-banked track with seating for 20,000, if NASCAR would commit to two races there per season. But NASCAR had moved on. Larger venues in more urban markets had already lured racing away from the smaller tracks. With NASCAR’s decline of their offer, the speedway grounds were sold for industrial development.
It would be several years before the land was converted to commercial use, so area drivers continued to compete in various categories much the same as they had when the speedway had opened in 1950. The speedway closed for good in 1971.
Today, behind Plastics One at Starkey are some athletic fields. Beneath the pitcher’s mounds, ball diamonds, soccer goals and turf lies what was once a hub of roaring engines where fans watched the future legends of NASCAR in pursuit of checkered flags.
The story above is from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
