Beltsville Speedway
Baltimore-Washington Speedway

Aerial photograph of Beltsville Speedway (1972)
Location	9200 Powder Mill Road Laurel, Maryland 20708
Coordinates	39°02′N 76°50′W / 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)

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).

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