Wake County Speedway Claimed

Wake County Speedway was built during the spring of 1962 by cousins, Glenn, Marvin, and Talmadge Simpkins, on family land located at 2109 Simpkins Road, about fifteen minutes south of downtown Raleigh. Glenn’s father, Oscar Simpkins, owned the property and permitted the cousins to start construction.

The first race was held on Friday, May 4th, 1962, and cost $1.50 a ticket. John Matthews, a cousin of Glenn, Marvin, and Talmadge Simpkins, won the 1962 opening race. Talmadge and Glenn Simpkins managed the track over the next three decades.

Wake County Speedway, like most race tracks of that era, was made of good ol’ North Carolina red clay, the kind that is plentiful across Wake County. The speedway operated as a successful clay dirt track for the next twenty-four years.