Abandoned - Nazareth Speedway

Throughout the history of American racing and Nascar, there have always been legendary tracks. However in some incredible cases, track facilities that were left behind for one reason or another are left completely abandoned in modern time. Today let's take a look at how a legendary, Nascar race track met its current fate.

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BrightSunFilms 2019

[Typhooon]

Fun fact: Not only did the Busch series race move to Watkins Glen, but that's also where Nazareth's grandstands ended up.

[morenofranco]

These "Abandoned" videos are great at showing how great ideas fall apart, and why. Thanks Jake.

[scottsylvainus]

I have lived my whole life in Nazareth. I remember the race growing up. You could hear the roar of the engines and the announcers from miles away. I have been to a few races. It was a great small town event.

The biggest problem was no major roads going to for from made traffic a nightmare. It’s 4 or 5 miles to the closest highway on-ramp. and at the time almost no hotel rooms with in few miles.

I miss the track.

[vegaserik]

It's crazy that in less than 20 years it looks like it's been abandoned for 50. It's a shame these tracks are disappearing.

[Rinku]

When you mentioned how they can’t use Nazareth as a speedway because it may compete with Pocono reminds me of one of the video games, NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup. They (EA), couldn’t make a deal with the owner of Pocono, so they added Nazareth instead

[amodernphoenix]

I grew up in the neighborhood just behind the track and spent my childhood there. Wonderful memories and while the pictures and history were great, please consider an edit that mentions Roger Penske, who paved the track and took it on an international stage.

As others have mentioned, the stands from our track did end up at Watkins Glen in that striking yellow and red. What many folks might not know is that they were not the bleachers in place when Roger Penske rebuilt the track. He added them later, sometime in the mid to late 1990s. I'll never forget driving by the track and those bright red and yellow seats sticking out like a sore thumb. They grew on us over time and now, I miss them.

That track sat empty most of the year, but is was a comforting sight and a source of pride for those of us who live locally. It's hard to see it in its current shape. Our community has deep roots in racing, between the tracks and the Andretti family (some of the nicest people you could ever want to know).

In Nazareth, the Andrettis have always been like any other neighbor and never sought or accepted special attention. Jeff, Michael, and Barbie attended the same local school as us, Mario and Dee frequented our small social clubs and worshipped at a local church. Sure, Mario's lamborghini is a sharp sight cruising around town, but the man inside, smiling and offering a friendly wave to everyone is the real treasure.

[JackMoynihanOfficial]

Honestly you could do a whole season on just Nascar tracks, being here in NC we have a lot of Nascar history floating around without a lot of people knowing

[AlisonCreech]

I'm surprised there was no mention of Nazareth, PA's most famous residents: the Andretti Family.

[brandonkruse]

This was NASCAR's biggest mistake, build 1 to 1 1/2 mile tracks and race on boring oval tracks with grandstands everywhere and not on small, fun tracks that attracted people to them because the racing was interesting.

[shamehairmetal]

These old tracks were so much better than a lot of the current ones

[joebrown]

Nazareth PA is the home of Mario Andretti. He raced there.

[dcaseng]

Nazareth, North Wilkesboro and Rockingham were some of the best tracks ever. They had unique layouts that provided great racing, and it's not surprising that their departure and replacement with cookie cutter tracks with oversized grandstands has led to a drop in attendance.
These tracks had more than just history, they had character.

[whatincarnation]

A track like this is so unique and interesting. I wish I got to see a race on it, wether on TV or in person, wether it be a NASCAR or Indycar event.
Being a younger motorsports fan is kinda sad knowing these legendary places might never see tire rubber on them again.

[DudeWithThePoop]

Christmas 2006. My uncle gave me a PC game and a Logitech USB wheel/pedals as a gift. The game was NASCAR SimRacing (aka NASCAR 05: Chase for the Cup). One of the tracks featured in that game was Nazareth, which later became one of my favorites. You could easily tell that the track's aesthetics had a lot of IndyCar influence with the red & yellow grandstands, the rumble strips in the turns, the catch fencing curved over the track and the Air Products bridge over Turn 1. When I started watching NASCAR in 2008, I couldn't help but notice that Nazareth was missing from the NNS schedule. I just assumed the track had closed due to slumping ticket sales but still continued to host other events. Ah well, no biggie. It wasn't until two or three years later I discovered what really happened to the track. I loved to watch old NASCAR races when I had a lot more time on my hands, but it's always pained me to watch any sort of Busch Nazareth race. Watching a Nazareth race for a few minutes has a hell of a lot more action than sitting through a race at Iowa Speedway. The track was very unique, but for some bullshit reason it's always the cool tracks (the ones that the Cup series won't touch with a ten-foot pole) that always have to die. It's times like these that make me glad that the Gateway Motorsports Park got a second chance. It hosted lots of Busch & Truck races in the late 90s and 2000s, until the track closed in 2010. It sat abandoned for four years until the Truck Series returned in 2014, and IndyCar returned in 2016.

[kylecriscuolo]

Ive seen many races there when I was a kid. It was such a great experience. Parking in the grass lots, the smell of stale beer and cigarettes as you walk under the grandstands. You knew a race was that weekend when you could hear them practice just a few miles away. It was a big deal for such a small town. Wouldnt be surprised if they turn it into a distribution center as they have done with just about every piece of land in the Lehigh Valley

[StevieWonder]

Richard Conole was a prime mover behind the development of Pocono International. He was VP, Chairman, CFO and director over the period 1964-1974. Upon the sale of Pocono, he moved to Texas where he purchased the Texas World Speedway out of bankruptcy from Japanese investors. He owned TWS until his death in 2007. His wife, Sharon, had little to no interest in the track and she immediately sold it into a partnership which began to develop it into a residential community. In its heyday, TWS hosted NASCAR, IndyCar, the original IMSA along with Porsche Club, BMW Club, SCCA and Corinthian Vintage racing programs. It was Texas's only true road course for sports car racing until smaller and less impressive private "club" tracks appeared in Cresson and the Houston area.

Richard was a brilliant, funny and wonderful man. I worked with him closely managing racing schools and various track events up to his death. I miss him and I miss TWS.

[harnesshouse]

Interestingly enough, the Nashville Superspeedway (where Nazareth's IRL race was moved to), shut down after the 2011 season.

[ianbrewer_]

Hey jake if you’re looking for a similar story, look up “Texas World Speedway” in College Station, Texas. It’s one of the few 2 mile ovals in the world and its been totally abandoned because of hurricane Harvey. It’s used to store flooded cars in now I believe. Used to host Cart, IRL, and NASCAR races. Love your channel!

[singletona]

'A hot spot for arson.'

I see what you did there.

[TheMcIke]

I'm a local (mom grew up 3 miles away and I used to help my grandmother grocery shop at the [now] Giant next door to the track). I loved having the track there as a fan of IndyCar. I attended every CART, ChampCar, and IRL (collectively, IndyCar) race from 1987 until they stopped in 2004 (including the make-up race for the one that was SNOWED OUT!)... It was a great "roval" course for the open-wheel cars with fast action and great passing opportunities.

The best part of being local was (1) we got to know someone who's house was on the entrance to one of the gates and we'd park at her house on race day, and (2) we knew the back roads out of town after the race... It was sad when a track where the Andretti's could wake up on race day in their own homes left the series...

As for plans, the Jaindl (pronounced "JAN-dl") family hasn't done anything with the property in the 4-years since this video... I'd love to see the track turned into cycling/running/walking track for public use, with the infield turned into a sports area (ubiquitous soccer fields...)... sadly, I suspect it will end up just like a lot of Jaindl owned land: a few warehouses...