Given our recent annual meeting at the Classic Car Museum of St. Augustine and our upcoming visit to Daytona for the Florida History Con at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, it would only be appropriate to discuss cars and racing. Auto racing and Florida are intimately connected, with the Sunshine State hosting what has been and still is considered one of the premier motorsport races in the country: the Daytona 500. For over 100 years, Daytona Beach has hosted auto racing events of all types, though its most famous race dates back to 1959. While Daytona is famous for its deep racing roots and its well-known superspeedway, fewer know racing’s ties to the St. Augustine area, nor that it once was home to its own race track that even hosted NASCAR events.
As early the 1940s, St. Augustine Beach and nearby Vilano Beach were popular destinations for beach racing. Drivers would race modified cars, called “skeeters” on the beaches, hoping to secure victory and its spoils. This racing died down by the end of the 1950s, however, as beaches became more of a tourist draw than suitable racetrack. The 1960s saw the construction of the St. Augustine Raceway, which held dirt track races throughout the 1960s and 1970s. A dirt track half a mile long on US-1 South, this was the place to race for quite some time. 1992 saw the Oldest City gain a new raceway, the St. Augustine Speedway. Owned by V.J. and Gwendolyn Usina, the track was a half-mile long D-shaped circuit located at 900 Big Oak Road, west off of US-1 north of town by the airport. Operating from 1993 to 1997 as a dirt track, the speedway was paved in 1997, and remained in operation until December of 2001. It hosted varying divisions of races, including late-model stock, hobby stock, mini-stock, thunder trucks, open-wheel modified, and sportsman. During the mid-1990s, the wide array of events at the track began developing a following, attracting the eyes of some well-known racers.
Steve Allison, kin to the famed “Alabama Gang” NASCAR drivers Bobby, Davey, and Clifford Allison, participated in several races at the St. Augustine Speedway, according to the St. Augustine Record. Bobby Allison himself also raced at the track previously in 1995, as did former driver turned team owner Richard Childress. Other famous drivers such as Dick Trickle, Ken Schrader, and Bobby Labonte also visited the track to participate in events a year prior. St. Augustine local Scott Lagasse, an esteemed racer himself with a broad background that included NASCAR’s Winston Cup series, was also a regular fixture at the track, serving as his son Scotty Lagasse Jr.’s crew chief. Lagasse Jr. cut his teeth racing at the St. Augustine Speedway while attending St. Joseph’s Academy and Flagler College, before going on to race professionally after earning his degree. The Lagasses continue to be involved in motorsports, and currently have their racing headquarters in town, sharing space with Art ‘n Motion on San Marco Avenue.
All of this attention and a strong local following led to the St. Augustine Speedway being added to NASCAR’s Winston Racing Series following its paving in 1997. Soon enough, races like the Slim Jim Winn-Dixie 200, the Goody’s Dash, and the Hooters Cup series, all fairly significant events on NASCAR’s schedule, were held at the speedway during the late 1990s through to the racetrack’s closure. Some races, such as the ASARacing.com 300 in 2001, were even aired on live television, St. Augustine’s contribution to the 2001 American Speed Association racing season. Local interests were hoping to gain publicity for the Oldest City by being a part of Florida Speed Week, also hoping to capitalize on the upcoming Daytona 500, the very same that would be infamous in racing history for the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Despite local business interests and a good deal of public support for in having a racetrack in St. Augustine, many residents found it to be less than ideal. Noise from the cars during races as well as rowdy spectators made the speedway controversial, and ensured limits on the track’s hours of operation. The City of St. Augustine would eventually broaden the hours the track could be open, though these were still somewhat limited. Even with extended hours and all of the attention the St. Augustine Speedway was getting, 2001 would be the last year that it hosted events, closing in December unexpectedly. No reason is given in any of the files we have in our collections, but I suspect it may have had something to do with either the concerns of local residents about noise and fans, or else it was concerns about safety on behalf of the owners given the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. earlier that year. Whatever the cause, the track has not hosted a race since, but still remains out off of Big Oak Road north of the city.
Written by Robert Covert.
Articles Consulted:
“On the Fast Track” by Michael Reed, St. Augustine Record, February 16, 2001
“Lagasse is Racing for a Dream” by Stuart Korfhage, St. Augustine Record, February 16, 2001
“St. Augustine Speedway Closes its Doors” by Peter Guinta, St. Augustine Record, December 21, 2001
“The Last Allison” by Mike Fuhrman, St. Augustine Record, April 15, 1997
“St. Augustine Speedway’s Official Season Unveiling Asphalt ‘97” St. Augustine Record, January 31, 1997
“Tickets Going Fast for Slim Jim 200” by Mike Fuhrman, St. Augustine Record, April 10, 1997
“Taking on the Big Guys at Sebring” by Mike Grogan, St. Augustine Record, March 18, 1995
“Racetrack Receives Permanent Home” by Tiffany Merlo, St. Augustine Record, November 23, 1996
“Celebs Kick Off Dirt Trackin’ “95” by Jeanette Bradley, St. Augustine Record, February 14, 1995
“Dirt Trackin’ ’95 Resumes Tuesday” by Jeanette Bradley, St. Augustine Record, February 9, 1995
“Then and Now: St. Augustine Raceway and St. Augustine Speedway” by Mike Grogan, Supplement to The St. Augustine Record, April 16, 1994
“NASCAR Stars and Others Find Their Way to Speedway” by Jeanette Bradley, Supplement to The St. Augustine Record, April 16, 1994
Photo Credit:
St. Augustine Record May 19, 1995