Greetings from Hagerstown, Maryland
From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Hagerstown Speedway
Lifetime track #125
First visit – 1982.
The Hagerstown Speedway is officially listed as my 125th-lifetime racetrack to see. This venue was the first track I ever saw in Maryland. I went there on Sunday night October 24, 1982. Jerry Inmon, a late model driver from Mississippi, won the feature in the famous #D7.
From Hagerstown to Hawaii?
My next trackchasing attempt in 1982 following Hagerstown had me trying to see a race in Hawaii. When Carol and I arrived on the island of Oahu the weather was perfect. However, Hurricane Iwa had hit the island earlier in the week. This caused the electricity to be out all over the island including at the Hawaii Raceway Park itself. That made my visit to Hagerstown the last race I attended in 1982. During that year I made it to 18 tracks for the very first time.
I didn’t begin writing my famous Trackchaser Reports until about track #425. Therefore all I have to go on is my memory of the afternoon and evening activity. I also didn’t begin doing much in the way of photos or videos at that time either. It was “pre-technology time”.
My return to Hagerstown was not without its challenges.
I returned to Hagerstown in 2007. Just like in 1982 the oval track’s dirt surface was as smooth as glass. The track also has a huge grandstand for the convenience of the fans. This is definitely a top 10% short track racing facility.
This doesn’t look like the Hagerstown Speedway!
I live and die by my GPS units. The one and only time my GPS has failed me in a major way was when Carol and I were trying to find the Hagerstown Speedway. Here is what I wrote about that situation in 2007.
Our portable GPS unit is absolutely indispensable. We can be in the heart of a major city trying to leave, the GPS unit painlessly takes us on a series of rights and lefts, and soon the city is in our rearview mirror. I don’t think the non-user can fully appreciate its value until it has been used for a day or two.
When we want to drive to a certain location, there are three ways to enter the info. The best way is to use the exact address. However, if you don’t know the exact address, you can enter the city location. That will at least get you near enough to the location that you can use your own intuition or some local knowledge to get you the rest of the way.
There is a third way to find some locations. We can go into the machine and enter a location by name, such as “Jimmy Carter Presidential Library”. If the attraction is big enough or well known, it is likely to be in the GPS database.
Today we used this third option and plugged in the name, “Hagerstown Speedway”. In hindsight, this was not a good idea. I had a problem using this approach earlier in the year and now I know it’s some sort of systemic issue that will have to be monitored closely in the future.
We were on a tight time schedule. We had just left the Hunterstown (not Hagerstown) Speedway following their countable racing. We had just enough time to get Carol to the Hagerstown Speedway for their scheduled start at 7 p.m. After dropping Carol off, I would continue on to the Shippensburg Speedway in Pennsylvania. If everything went according to plan, I would arrive there at 8 p.m. The Shippensburg program started at 6 p.m., but the plan would still get me there in time for most or all of their feature events.
I was driving and Carol was reading off the directions as we went along. We were closing in on the Hagerstown Speedway or so we thought. The plan had us perfectly on our time schedule. By the way, when I follow GPS directions, I don’t pay much attention to where I’m at. I never bring paper maps with me anymore.
Soon the GPS told us we were arriving at the Hagerstown Speedway. Things didn’t look right unless the Hagerstown Speedway was now located in the heart of a residential neighborhood where kids were jumping on a trampoline and splashing around in an above ground pool!
We were NOT at the speedway. As a matter of fact, it was nearly 7 p.m. and we were 57 MILES from the Hagerstown Speedway!! Oh my! I pulled over to the side of the road and used my laptop’s Rand McNally mapping software to get us back on track. I’m not going to use the GPS’ “enter an attraction’s name” feature again until I can assure myself of its reliability. Peters family……what up?
To put it politely, it was now panic time. I could certainly get Carol to her Maryland track on time, but my trip to the Shippensburg Speedway was now in jeopardy. Carol offered to bypass her new track in Maryland so we could go directly to Pennsylvania. I wouldn’t hear any of that. She was on this trip to get a new track in a new state and she would.
Carol was making trackchasing history tonight.
I hustled us along. We arrived at Hagerstown at 8:07 p.m. I bade farewell to Carol as she disappeared behind the admission gate to the track. Yes, she was on her adventure. She was making trackchasing history. She was the first woman to ever see a new track in a new state while unaccompanied.
I was lucky in one respect. The Hagerstown Speedway is located just 3-4 miles off Interstate 81. It’s a quick 35-40 miles up that interstate to the exit for the Shippensburg Speedway. That track is located just 0.2 miles off exit 29. The entire trip took me just 40 minutes or so while traveling at the equivalent of a Chevy Impala’s mach one speed.
She did it! The first woman to ever do this!!
What did she do? Carol became the first woman to ever see a new track in a new state while unaccompanied. All of the women in trackchasing are wives of leading male trackchasers. In the entire history of trackchasing dating back to the very first race in the early 1900s, a woman has never ventured out on her own, into the wilderness if you will, to see a new track in a new state until Carol did today.”
Carol’s comments.
Carol had these comments about her adventure with the Hagerstown Speedway:
“I was glad the Hagerstown Speedway has a large seating area. This way I could grab a seat and not feel like anyone was staring at me. (Editor’s note: When I arrived at Hagerstown to join Carol much later in the evening, I noticed several predators positioned near Carol waiting for an opportunity to introduce themselves to Trackchasing’s First Mother.)
It’s hard to believe I’m the first woman to see a new track in a new state by myself. It was good to get Maryland out of the way. I may have to do this more often. (Editor’s note: Of course, Carol would have to establish her own trackchasing expense budget in order to go trackchasing solo.) “
Randy’s comments.
This is what I had to say about my 2007 visit to Hagerstown:
I’ll give my impression of the Hagerstown Speedway and Carol’s comments will appear in, where else, “Carol’s comments”. This is an impressive track with excellent car counts and quality racing.
I pulled into the parking lot at about 10:15 p.m. It looked like the ticket booth was still selling tickets, but fans were already starting to leave. I walked past the man at the track’s entrance as if I owned the place. Either he was intimidated by me or asleep. After having been to two tracks already today, it didn’t seem right that I should have to buy a ticket after 10 p.m.
The straights are long at this half-mile dirt oval. I’m guessing the late models get up to speeds of 130-140 M.P.H. on this track. Whatever they do, I know they are fast. I was disappointed the track’s P.A. system was not any better than it was.
The lighting is state of the art. The track’s organization is outstanding. Hagerstown Speedway is definitely one of those “top 40” U.S. tracks. Yes, it’s a good one.
I was most pleased for Carol. She had been the first woman, earlier in the evening, to ever get a new track in a new state while unaccompanied. She may be small in stature, but she can hold her own. Congrats to Carol on her 47th state.
The facility.
I had these comments about the Hagerstown racing facility:
Track details
Website: http://www.hagerstownspeedway.com/
Weather: It was a most comfortable summer evening in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Track type: oval
Length/Surface: ½-mile, dirt
Grandstands: This is a big-time high-quality dirt oval. Their seating capabilities are huge. The place probably seats between five and ten thousand.
P.A.: Surprisingly the P.A. system was really bad.
Announcer: Could barely hear the announcer.
On-time: I assume so. Carol showed up at 8:07 p.m. for the scheduled 7 p.m. start. I joined here at about 10:15 p.m.
Pit area: Located the infield of the track. I like it this way. None of the infield traffic blocked our view of the backstretch.
Classes: Several classes of stock cars including late models (35), late model sportsman (24) and pure stocks (30). It was difficult to tell the late model class from the late model sportsman class. The only difference was that the late model class had bigger trailers!
Radio Frequency: I normally don’t use my scanner when I am trackchasing with Carol and didn’t today.
Concessions: Carol had a chicken sandwich and a bottle of water. (Editor’s note: What fun is it to eat like that?) She also said the funnel cake with apple filling looked good. I asked her why she didn’t get one. She told me, “It was enough for four people. But the fat guy next to me had one!”
Scoreboard: Yes
Extras: The lighting was fantastic and the seating area gave everyone lots of room to enjoy the races.
You might have remembrances about the Hagerstown Speedway. If so, please feel free to share them in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here.