The Story Behind The Fastest Dirt Late Model Track Of All Time
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- Watch more Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Golden Isles: bit.ly/3kLkyPI
Did you know that once upon a time Golden Isles Speedway used to be a hallowed 'black oil' dirt track, producing speeds in excess of 170+ mph?
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My dad raced there back in the late 60's and 70's he said the speed never bothered him there until they couldn't run windshields anymore. When they took away the windshield he could tell how fast he was going and how those cars had big Buick drum brakes which wasn't enough for the big block at a 3/8 mile track let alone golden isle speedway 😂.
I was fortunate enough to watch a race there when it was this way , it was amazing to watch these guys fly around this way
Wow, I’ve never heard of this track.
Sounds wild and fast
Kyle Bronson owns it I believe.
@@Living_EDventures yeah he owns it now (well his woman’s family does but his name is on it)
@@54raceman 👍
*leases
That track sound is from sega 🎮 games
It'd be nice if the current Late Models still looked as good as those old cars.
Kinda look like the srx cars
At least a symmetrical body. I like today's look only from one angle.
Modern cars are function over form
Run one every summer. The old ones still live just check out local small tracks. I race in alberta
Right
I ran that track several times when it was black top, in a limited late model. It was awesome! Some of the most fun I've ever had in a race car, and definitely the fastest I'd ever been in a dirt car! Also like several of the drivers mentioned, it got really slick if someone ran up on the berm and kicked sand up on the track. "Ask me how I know" Waycross motor speedway use to be the same way. Both tracks were awesome, and wicked fast!
Waycross, eh? My old man used to drag my butt all across GA and FL dirt track racing in the 80s and early 90s. Ernie McMillan Sr. We more often than not were in a gen-2 Camaro of some ilk. EDIT - I'm from Hahira, GA. McMillan Road, to be honest. Thunderbowl Speedway was our little dirt haunt back then.
@@mackmcmillan9905 I live near Waycross, its always nice seeing people talk about the small towns you grew up near. Reminds you how small the world really is.
@@kingandon4279 - The beauty of small town Georgia is really difficult to have folks understand! Another little hidden gem not racing related is Vidalia. Smells of it's namesake onion and just quaint. At least it was when I was a boy.
It's always been dirt
Reminds me of Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy Michigan, a 3/8 mile high banked dirt that use to spray crude oil on the track every week.
I've seen Butler straight hard as a chalkboard
I've been going there since 1968. There right now. Fast and good tight racing. Been to a lot of tracks and glad Butler isy home track. Love watching sprints and late models here
Jax Raceway in Jacksonville Florida used to be black oil as well.
Correct it was a half mile black oiled clay track. Sadly its long gone now
Y'all remember Putnam county where everybody used to get drunk and getting their cars and race
Golden Isles Speedway, an excellent Georgia track!
it definitely used to be
It still is. It's nicer today than it's ever been
Georgia has alot of nice tracks like Swainsboro Raceway which has some of the nicest facilities you'll find at a dirt track and some that have gone like OSP .
Love donnies response at the end, that’s why he’s one of the best ever.
Yep Donnies a racer thru and thru. One hell of a guy aswell
Right. I watched Donnie n the gang all through the 90s. Man they were badasses. I got my start in an old jack boggs car. The way them dudes made it look so easy is insane.
I thought it was Lernerville at first.....it's still a super fast track today....world of outlaw sprints run 160 plus into the corner
Thanks for the flashback. I miss those drivers and their cars.
I believe that’s Mile Carter at 2:39 that black five he was my hero throughout my childhood and a great friend as I’ve grown up. Superb guy and a damn good driver.
This is Amazing. I'd love to see some races from there. Especially big block modified's.
Was the best track I’ve ever been too golden isles and Waycross motor speedway were our home tracks and the clips you see here are of both tracks.
I wish the dirt late models ran on bigger faster tracks today racing at 170mph. Wild and fast!
Donnie Moran is a legend, he never complained, that's just racing!!
I went to Syracuse for the modified's Super Dirt Week in the early 90's when the STARS latemodels were invited. That was a hard, black, 1 mile oval. They just kept burning tires off all weekend. I'm surprised Moran didn't mention that race, he won it ....and it was probably every bit as fast as Golden Isles 😉
Up here in N D we used to have one of the fastest half mile tracks.Good old black gumbo that would still be so sticky at the end of the night it would suck your shoes off when you walked across.They had to shorten it because the insurance got too expensive.
Yep, and in South Dakota they had an indoor place (Same venue used as the one for PRA Professional Rodo Association) they would put up an indoor track in Rapid City but due to noise issues of the area they had to take it down in the early to mid 2000's. They did Top Sprint Kart and Late Model dirt in them.
Must be same reason they don't race real late models anymore at viking speedway in Alexandria MN, 1/2 mile, insurance probably put an end to them
I raced there back at the turn of the century and it was fast in a hobby car. Won a race there once too.
Would love to see a video on West Virginia Motor Speedway. The old configuration of the track. It was big and fast.
I loved the Hillbilly 100....they called that track the motor eater
Yeah that race wasn’t the same after they changed tracks
Ran the black oil track in Lake city Florida a few times
Another fast track that is gone was Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge New York. Big Block modifieds we’re doing 150mph easy.
Looking at mylaps, the big Blocks only averaged around ~100mph. Its pretty unlikely they were hitting 150.
Waycross motor speedway back in the day was also black oil surface #27 was the best at Waycross and golden isles and Jacksonville speedway Rance Phillips love ya uncle!!!!
Please increase the music volume as the voices of the Drivers can still be barely heard.
Ah damn, seeing a hometown boy in random videos like this is always fun.
WOW!!! I LOVE THIS 💞🤗💞🙏 THANKS FOR SHARING THIS EXCITING BLESSING 🙏💞🙏 THERE'S NOTHING BETTER THAN GOD, FAMILY AND DIRT TRACK RACING 🙏💞🤗💞🏁🏆🏁 DIRT TRACK RACING IS THE BEST SPORT ON THE PLANET. NOTHING COMPARES TO HEARING THOSE POWERFUL ENGINES ROAR TO LIFE, FEELING THE GROUND RUMBLING UNDER MY FEET, WATCHING THE 4 WIDE SALUTE AND THEN WATCHING EVERY CAR THUNDERING DOWN THE FRONT STRETCH TOWARDS TURN ONE WIDE OPEN, SLICING AND DICING AND THROWING SLIDERS TO GAIN POSITIONS. IT'S AN EXCITEMENT THAT WORDS AREN'T ADEQUATE TO DESCRIBE AND IT'S BEYOND EPIC 💞🤗💞🏁🏆🏁🙏🙏🙏🙏 THE BIGGEST PLUS IS IT'S WHOLESOME WHOLE FAMILY FUN 💞🤗💞🙏 THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS EXCITING BLESSING 🙏💞🤗🙏
This is awesome
I was there in 2007 doing media work for Dirt Late Model Digest. I was standing in turn 3 with a local Sherriff that was clocking them at 145 entering turn 3. I have no clue on final speeds... It was damn fast back then.
It's pretty damn fast now !
They was clocking them at 160 at Rome Speedway in Northwest Georgia a few years ago and when Swainsboro Raceway was Banked they was turning laps at barely over 13 seconds in a Super and low to mid 14s in a 604 crate car
170mph at a 5/8mile dirt track😳!?! That’s unbelievable and stupid fast.
It wasn't 5/8 of a mile.
Exaggerated the size of the track.
More like a 1/2 mile track.
This is Good Ole days
Those were the days
you gotta love the comments from the "experts" about how a certain speed looks, kinda reminds me of the early days when the police officers could stand up in court and tell the judge he could tell by looking you were going 80 mph. the old pennsboro track has some scary fast speeds on the back straight, i think in 1985 someone said a radar gun show 130 mph, then you had to slow to about 40 to go over the creek, i put a huge crack in the old concrete wall on the outside of 3 and 4 where you cross the creek about half way through the 85 DTWC in my mastersbilt 90 in case anyone was watching. the old kilgore tx track was super fast too, extreme high banks and very wide and pretty slick, i forget the gear but last time i ran there my tell tale on the tach was just over 9200 rpm. lasted until last lap coming off turn 4. and for the guys that don't believe the speed on some of these tracks, think about it for a minute using common sense, it depends on where you are watching the cars, at the old texas world track in the late 60s you had to be in a seat in one of the turns or all you could see was a blur when they flew past at over 200 mph.
Lap time vs said mph does not compute is all he said. Math cannot lie nor does it claim to be an expert
"you gotta love the comments from the "experts" about how a certain speed looks"
"at the old texas world track in the late 60s you had to be in a seat in one of the turns or all you could see was a blur when they flew past at over 200 mph."
Gosh, its almost like you proved those "experts" right...
I miss black oil surface I ran modified there once and we brought my asphalt modified as a back up if that tells you anything about it, my dirt modified went from being a dirt car to a full blown asphalt setup we put in it sway bar and all and man it was fast fastest I ever been on a dirt track mods we was running 140-150 mph it was nuts you better had some strong body braces and no lose rivets cuse it will come apart
We had a oil track around here it was stupid fast but one the best eras of that track
All fun and games until the land gets contaminated and the government deems it an environmental hazard and seizes the property. Happened to a historical track in my hometown that got taken over by the worst promoter in history.
Meanwhile it’s okay for them to dump sewage and other contaminants into the water ways and land fills.
I'm in what I would call the heart and soul of dirt track racing country IE the state of Iowa we got some fast tracks up here Knoxville, Oskaloosa, Eldon Maybe. A lot of the guys around here stop running there and modifieds because they were blowing Motors cuz they were too fast and too big of tracks. I'm a huge fan of going to Knoxville and watching sprint cars there. I would love to have gone to Oswego Speedway. And I'm not from New York but I have a feeling that Rolling Wheels Speedway would have been fun to go to
I heard the same about the high banks at Belleville, Kansas, too fast and blew engines. They took some banking out of it, but still a fast dirt track. I saw a midget I saw a midget fly out of turn 3 once cartwheeling.
I'm from Davenport, Iowa
@@tomtibbits4423 nobody told him he shouldn’t be out there during a race?
Big race fan the.only other track I know of that would be all black by the end of the night was thunderhill speedway in mayetta ks
that banking was real!
AWESOME!!
I remember it well, it was bad fast. The video doesn’t really show how fast they were running, you had to see it in person.
I raced a late model for 8 seasons, that's pretty damn fast however you look at it!
I miss.the good old days where they built tracks on accident and nailed it
Lexington, Kentucky has the Red Mile, which, would be cool to see the late model's on a mile flat track...imo
I live near Louisville and I didn't know that existed lol
Just looked it up and its a horse track
they ran them at DuQuion's magic mile years ago, was kinda boring honestly
@@coondoggin78 yeah the tracks meant for horses suck for cars
Yeah they have a casino there now as well
There is a small town in Kansas called Belleville that boasts having the fastest half mile dirt track. I've seen a few races there but its been a long time since I've been up there. Does anyone know about that track and how it compares? Just curious.
It’s a half mile. We ran midgets there a few times. Really fast.
There's about 10 tracks that claim that "worlds fastest half mile" title
Good historical track, high banked oval with wide turns, high banking and wide open racing. Hard on motors in unlimited classes like Supers. 1/4 mile bullring inside the larger 1/2 mile. You can go to their website and check it out, not an every week track, event racing including midget nationals (Jeff Gordon won it a couple of times when he ran midgets in the day), and 305 winged sprint nationals. It's worth a trip if you're close, been around awhile.
Having said that, I dunno if its the fastest, its pretty good and banked for speed though.
Sidenote, if they put black oil on that track it would be a mini Daytona with that banking! Hmmmmmmm.... LOL
Anywhere I can find some footage from when this track was like this?
They used to fly around gaffney too, def not this fast but they would be bringing the mail into the corners. Too bad the track isn’t half of what it was. I wanted to go watch a race up there then I saw how small the track is and said nah. I will just wait until pennsboro opens back up.
Not only did they screw up cherokee speedway by shortening it, they flattened the turns too. Back in the 70s and early 80s you had to climb up the track if you crossed it.
Is there anywere to get videos of the old track
Damion Gardner set the land speed record in a VERY heavily modified non wing sprint car @ 211mph on the salt flats in 2014. He broke his previous record set the year before @194 mph.
It also took a 2 speed powerglide and over 5 miles to even get to that point. Heck, it took 3 miles just to get to 163mph...
None of you can sit here with a straight face and say these late models were doing 170mph...
Obviously you have never been there 🤡
@@WilliamsStacy Obviously you have no idea what 150+MPH looks like 🤡
my home track
I watched a many a race on the old track it was definitely fast as f
When did they put the wall up around the track? Or is the current track a completely different track then the old one?
Is this Golden isle back in theDay
I wish they ask them how it was to run the springfield mile
100% the fastest Ive ever seen a late model run
@@walleye14 Sammy Swindell had a lap average of 145.637mph there. The UMP late model record for a lap was Darren Miller at 130.525mph in 2006.
@M Wiggins yep I was there in 2002 when a racer unfortunately crashed and passed away
@M Wiggins I recommend it as a bucket list race. Nothing compares to Flat Track there. Some of the most exciting racing you will ever see. Another I recommend is the Peoria TT. Especially since they are run the v-twins there again.
@@jeromyh8096 I raced AMA Flat Track Motorcycle Racing and a ex multi time national champion. I raced Springfield, IL. Mile track and it's always well prepared and without a doubt the fastest mile track I've ever raced on which they've always claimed Springfield is the fastest 1 mile dirt track in the world. Peoria, IL. TT track is of course a totally different track with a dog leg on the backstretch before the jump but it's also a super fast track.
Someone should build the thing they talked about at the end. Just for testing purposes.
I say bring it back
Can someone please explain how oil makes dirt fast? I haven't found anything yet.
I've never been there but I'm guessing when they say "oil-based" they mean the dirt was mixed in with an oil like would be used as a binder for paving asphalt. So it's not really asphalt, but it's dirt mixed with something sticky that can hold the dirt together well.
This gives a lot of traction because there's two main ways that a tire makes grip: from digging into/conforming around the surface (which is why softer tires tend to give more grip, and why dirt tires have grooves), but also through adhesion, which is chemically bonding the tire to the surface. The same reason duct tape is sticky. On pavement, adhesion is actually the main method through which tires produce their grip. That's also why it's so much worse for them when sand or fluids get on top of the track, because that barrier means their tires can't stick to the pavement, in the same way that a piece of duct tape doesn't stick well to a wet surface.
My guess is that the "oil" they used isn't the same as like crude oil or engine oil, but something that held the dirt together really well, set well once hardened (like an oil-top road), and provided a really sticky surface for tires.
Peanut oil
How fast did they run at Cherokee speedway back then?
I would say that they would be going as fast if not faster at Syracuse when they raced there
Syracuse is about 140, close.
@Cody Cummings 150 and the drivers definitely overexagerated the speeds
Yeah... I'd have to see that radar. Doesn't look anywhere near 150+mph out there.
Believe me...they were hitting 150mph plus seen many races there before they shortened it. I remember some of the drivers meetings they were telling them to use hand signals when getting off throttle etc. They created a wind like at Daytona they were running that fast.
@@topmech71 Maybe 130-140 TOPS. But definitely not 150+...
Case in point. Damion Gardner has the land speed record at the salt flats in a heavily modified sprint car with a 2 speed powerglide transmission. took him over 5 miles miles to hit 211mph. Took 3 miles just to get up to 163mph....There's just no way.
Lmfao. You people with these silly comments.
Plenty of way. Gearing matters and surface and track shape.
@@zacharyradford5552 It took Damion Gardner a 2 speed powerglide and 3 miles of going straight at the Salt Flats to do 163mph in a heavily modified sprint car.
There's just no way...
FLO RACING !?! When you broadcast why don't you Say how fast these Super Lates are going into the Corner at each track ? That would be a nice touch During the Feature of Every race in My Opinion.....
Amazing
If you ever feel dumb, someone genuinely thought a late model was a boat. Sometimes my dad calls them pontoon boats (and it makes the drivers mad for some reason), but my sister's boyfriend ACTUALLY THOUGHT IT WAS A BOAT.
That’s hilarious 😂 I can see somebody getting mad if a guy said “hey look at that pontoon”
Pretty cool, wonder what latemodels would do there today. The latemodels were at Belleville recently and cancelled the 2nd day on the big track. Heard they couldnt keep the engines cool.
Yep, Belleville is quite an experience.
One might not understand until it's seen.
Big speed!
They still race at Golden Isles they just cut it down to 3/8 . It's a stop by the Lucas oil late models during speed weeks.
@@michaelarrington988 there are yearly rumors of doing that to Belleville.
Bad idea, then it's just another 3/8.
@@michaelarrington988 oiled versions of tracks and normal dirt versions of tracks race so different they might as well be different tracks
good vid guys
Is this GIS back in the day?
Yep
Golden isles lol the old race track is Jacksonville Florida was oil sand mixture and they say it was bad fast to
As a drag racer I have to ask what's the difference between a modified and a late model? When I see these cars I always think of Modifieds 🤷♂️ which to me is a way cooler name lol
motor size,tire size,and chassis are the differences
Modifieds have a stock front clip and narrow tires. Late Models are all tube chassis with rack and pinion steering and wider tires. Modifieds are also a little heavier. You will see similar rear suspension configurations on both cars. Super Late Models engines can make 900+ HP. There's spec and crate engine series as well. Modifieds have several different sanctioning bodies as well. In IMCA Modifieds crate engines are popular. UMP and USMTS modifieds have significantly more HP. USMTS engines aren't far off super late model engines really.
Thanks for the thorough awnser that paints a pretty good picture for me
My Dad used to talk about this track all the time.
138 top speed
Me and my dad took our modified there one night and when we drove across the track we saw white lines painted on the track and we both looked at each other and said is this dirt ????We got rained out that night and never went back.
It looks like Golden Isles Speedway in Waynesville, Ga. (Brunswick)
I'm surprised it didn't end up one of those super fund sites.
It is an active race track as of 2023. They shortened the track to a 3/8ths mile.
peanut oil, not oil oil
that track doesn't need any help with funding at all they functioning just fine
@@coreymacqueen4802 Actually, it doesn't matter. The EPA regulates all oils the same way, at least nowadays they do. I'm sure it was a lot different back then. Nowadays there are much stricter rules for everything.
@@stefanl5183 epa regulations are one the biggest reasons so many tracks are so dusty now days you’re no longer allowed to put alot of the chemicals on tracks that was used back in the day.
If people put some the chemicals on todays tracks that we put on the tracks in the 80s 90s early 2000s the epa clowns heads would explode
Great !
Idk. Oswego super modified one of the fastest 5/8ths in the world. 900 hp offset engine only reach 160 on the back straight. Idk.
Yeah, these late models definitely weren't hitting 170mph....
You're in the northeast, so you may have heard of Mahoning Valley. Circular Hockey rink sized track with 9-10 second lap times but the cars are totally doing 100+mph. Lol, yeah ok...
@@trevor4533 lol. Had to look it up. It’s so cute though.
@@terryatpi haha yeah. It’s a pretty racey track, but no way theyre doing the speeds mylaps says they’re going lol.
I was thinking 150 to 160 MPH was more close to what they were running, with a few in the upper 150 MPH range.
@@caseysmith544 true that
R.I.P Scott bloomquist
Is that Andy Wood from Unity Motorsports garage?
Did Ol' Buford C. run that track Jimmy?
Looks like another high speed parade single file big track.
Interesting
You never mention the name or location.
Golden Isles Speedway
Waynesville, Ga. Just west of Brunswick,Ga. About 15minutes off 95.
170? I call bs. 100mph is a bristol or eldora speed. This track is slightly longer and less banked. This track is proabably about the same.
Totally different surface.
GIS was my home track growing up and I can totally vouch for the speeds that they are saying. It was to the point that the Havatampa drivers and series approached Jessy Guy (the owner at the time) and said if you do not do something to slow the track down they would not come back. After that what little banking that was in turns 1 & 3 was taken out to slow the cars for corner entry. Trust me, even the local lates were well over 100 MPH and the local street stocks were running speeds that most other tracks late model division were running at. That black oil (bunker c fuel oil) surface was just as hard as asphalt on the road leading into the track. No wheel packing was ever needed back in the day!
Where is this track and the name of it?
What about West Virginia motor speedway
Isle be damned.
Don't coat the track with oil & stuff to make it like asphalt & then call it a dirt track. Asphalt tracks are dirt underneath.
The thought of fear in racing doesn't exist because men don't fear driving a car.
Wow
What and where was tis track thanks
What track is this?
Add 20° of banking and hold on!
What is name of track ..don’t think they said!??!?!
This video is a couple yrs old...
Was this the old track in PA?
GA
The goal build a track that B riders can compete on. In circle track racing the equivalent would be a track that the speedo reads 105--->mph the needle lay on the orange peg.
I enjoy hearing the drivers talk about the speeds. Too many comments like "oh they wasn't going that fast".
I'm like this... Who cares about the scientific comments. It don't matter to me how fast they was going. It sure was fun to watch em go around that place. Way I see it, ALOT of folks telling their stories "might put a little more butter on their bread ". Point is, they might have been running 130 mph, but it sure sounds better hearing 150 mph.
They weren't running 130 or 150. Closer to 170 guy. My home track.
What is that track
I always have to laugh at videos like this. First off,that’s NOT a 5/8 mile track. Not even close. I wouldn’t even call it a 1/2 mile. Tracks are supposed to be measured on the inside and not the outside. Secondly, top speed there is probably more like 125 mph tops! Even Bristol with a true 1/2 mile and concrete surface hosted sprint cars trying to break the world record and they were MUCH faster than the super lates and they were turning lap times in the high 11 second range I believe it was which is absolutely flying and they weren’t even close to 170! A track has to be at least a mile in length to sniff 170!
Yep, all these guys are lying
I would hope a sprint car would be faster than a super late model lol. While they are round the same horsepower a sprint car is around 900 or so pounds lighter 😆 🤣 😂
Track length is measured 10 ft in from the outside wall....
@@regdor8187 Yes sir it is.
Even at the measurements you stated that track is still nowhere near a 5/8 mile track.
THAT LOOKS LIKE IT'S A FAST TRACK
GOT THAT RITE HOSS! CRANKIN THAT BBC ALL DAY LONG GOBBLESS
I have to see those speeds in a jegs gun to actually believe it! I base my life on facts and physics not Myths or what it feels like to somebody 🤔
I grew up there and they definitely AREN'T exaggerated speeds. They were clocked several times in the 160's. Even today they are in the high 130's which is fast considering they are carrying around 15-20 < in corners.
Moody Mile had top be faster ?
No way in hell they are going that fast.
These dirt track cars are built to accelerate and turn, they never run enough gear for that kind of speed, nor is the track long enough.
I grew up around dirt tracks and learned a lot from those guys.
The guy in the interview said upwards of 160...
Yeah kilometers maybe 🤦
When my family and a family friend had one the local tracks that was 1/2mile up against the infield wall back before the epa got so grouchy about what you could and couldn’t do to the track latemodels were hitting 150 at end of straights on the state boys radar on typical nights and that was on a non oil track so it’s 100% possible (if you’ve never been on a oil track picture a drag strip with corners they’ll hold every drop of power you’ve got you not limited by amount of power the rear wheels will hook your limited by the amount you can use and still turn when you get to the corner )
What happened to this track?
So what track was it?
Golden Isle Speedway. Brunswick GA