The Beltsville Speedway, formerly the Baltimore-Washington Speedway was an asphalt oval track in Prince George's County, Maryland; it spanned 0.5miles.
Near Beltsville, it was on land now occupied by Capitol Technology University,[1] in the South Laurel census-designated place.[2] [3]
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]
| Date | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| August 25, 1965 | Ned Jarrett | |
| June 15, 1966 | Tiny Lund | |
| August 24, 1966 | Bobby Allison | |
| May 19, 1967 | Jim Paschal | |
| September 15, 1967 | Richard Petty | |
| May 17, 1968 | David Pearson | |
| September 13, 1968 | Bobby Isaac | |
| May 16, 1969 | Bobby Isaac | |
| July 15, 1969 | Richard Petty | |
| May 15, 1970 | Bobby Isaac |