The Beltsville Speedway, formerly the Baltimore-Washington Speedway was an asphalt oval track in Prince George's County, Maryland; it spanned 0.500 miles (0.805 km).

Beltsville Speedway
Baltimore-Washington Speedway

Aerial photograph of Beltsville Speedway (1972)
Location	9200 Powder Mill Road Laurel, Maryland 20708
Coordinates	39.04°N 76.84°W / 39.04; -76.84
Capacity	~7,000
Broke ground	1964
Opened	1965
Closed	1978
Major events	None (defunct)
Pavement oval track
Length	0.500 miles (0.805 km)

Near Beltsville, it was on land now occupied by Capitol Technology University,[1] in the South Laurel census-designated place.[2][3]

Summary

The track was specially designed with banked turns for stock car racing. Originally known as the "Baltimore-Washington Speedway", the track received its final name in its 19th month of operation.[4] The track hosted modified stock car racing vehicles alongside the other NASCAR series.[4] Wednesday nights were the original night for racing but the schedule eventually added Friday night racing.[4] Ten Grand National races were raced there including the popular Beltsville 300 series of races.[5] Strict noise restrictions were given out in its final year of operation and the county started monitoring the events.[4] Eventually, a sound wall was built surrounding the speedways. Cars had to begin running mufflers in order to stifle the noise from the increasing RPMs from the vehicles themselves.[4] The track was eventually shut down, demolished, and replaced with a local university.[4]

Famous race car drivers like Richard Petty, Tiny Lund, and David Pearson participated in legendary races there.[5] The 1968 Beltsville 300 was an example of some of the classic NASCAR Grand National races that were run on the track.[5]

NASCAR Grand National Results

Reference:[6]

References