Myrtle Beach Speedway (originally named Rambi Raceway), was built in 1958 and was located on U.S. Route 501 near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The speedway was a semi-banked asphalt oval track that spans 0.538miles.The NASCAR Cup Series competed at the Speedway from 1958 through 1965. The NASCAR Busch Series (now the Xfinity Series) raced at Myrtle Beach Speedway from 1988 to 2000.
Over the years, Myrtle Beach Speedway has been the training grounds for some of NASCAR's biggest stars including Jeff Gordon (former Busch Series track record holder). All four generations of Pettys (Lee, Richard, Kyle, and Adam) and three generations of Earnhardts (Ralph, Dale Sr., Dale Jr., and Kelley[1]) have taken a green flag around the asphalt oval that spans 0.538miles.
Rambi Raceway opened as a dirt track in 1958.
The track hosted one NASCAR Convertible Series event in 1958 and one NASCAR Grand National East Series race in 1972.
Nick Lucas bought the track in 1968, paving it in 1974. Billy Hardee became a co-owner in 1987.
NASCAR Southeast Series had run 17 races at the facility between 1991 and 2004, with the Myrtle Beach 400 Late Model race (originally an All Pro event) beginning in 1993. Originally a 400-lap touring race, the race settled to NASCAR-specification Late Models of 250 laps with heat races and support races combined for 400 laps, originally set for Thanksgiving weekend, but later moved to the week before Thanksgiving in order to allow competitors to participate in the NASCAR Late Model Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucana, North Carolina.
The Busch Series race (the Myrtle Beach 250) in 2000 was the last major NASCAR event at the track.
The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series raced on Saturday nights from late February through November. The track also runs various other classes of racing including Late Model Charger, Super Trucks and Mini Stocks. The speedway is home of the Myrtle Beach 400, IceBreaker 200, NASCAR Racing Experience, Monster Jam, NOPI Nationals and Horry County Fair with recent additions of Wheels of Destruction Thrill Show and the Myrtle Beach BikeFest.[2]
In a deal that closed April 2012, Speedway Group Inc. bought the facility, including 48 acres. Robert J. Lutz, one of the new owners, said Lt. Gov. André Bauer arranged for the deal to take place. Bauer said he wanted the track to help improve Myrtle Beach's economy with new events. Upgrades to the track were planned, and plans called for the NASCAR Racing Experience to attract drivers and tourists. One goal was another top-level race.[3]
The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour had one race at the speedway in 2009. After merging the two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tours at the end of the 2016 season, beginning in 2017, the newly unified tour hosted three events at the track from 2017 through 2019.
CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series had 24 races at Myrtle Beach between 1998 and 2014. CARS Super Late Model Tour and CARS Late Model Stock Tour had 3 events each at the facility, between 2015 and 2018.
In 2016, Myrtle Beach Speedway began opening the season in February with the Late Models in the IceBreaker.
In May 2020, it was announced the track would close its doors for good in August, before the season could be finished as the result of a sale to a land developer.[4] Meanwhile, track promoter Steve Zacharias worked immediately to preserve Myrtle Beach's major races and upon the track's closure, worked to finish the 2020 racing season.
The final race at Myrtle Beach Speedway was held in August 2020. Sam Yarbrough won the final Late Model race[5] while Carmen Odum and Carsyn Gillikin won their respective races in the final feature race ever held at the track.[6] In September 2020, the Myrtle Beach season would officially conclude at Florence Motor Speedway in Timmonsville, which Zacharias would take over promotion of the track.
Originally, the land owners' plan was to demolish the facility and build hotels and condos on the property, but it was announced in early July 2021 that the company will not use the land for the original purpose, and the concept for the area fell through. Although it kept the track safe from demolition for the time being, photos taken on July 6, 2021 showed weeds and grass slowly taking over the racetrack. In December 2021, most of the track, including the track itself, most of the outside walls, and pit road were demolished, as now all that remains (as of December 31, 2021), is the frontstretch and backstretch walls which show the name of the former racetrack.
In preparation for the last race, in July 2020, track promoter Steve Zacharias and business partners Brian Vause and Savannah Brotherton formed Speedway Plus Promotion LLC, becoming the promoters for the Florence Motor Speedway, a .400 mile (644 metre) oval located at 836 East Smith Street in Timmonsville, 75 miles from the track but in the same metropolitan region owned by Charlie Powell, Jr., whose family has raced in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (son Robert was the 1988 national champion). Built in 1982 as a dirt track, it was paved in 1988. The Powell family and Zacharias' group signed a lease to own agreement that lasted from July 2020 to the end of the 2023 season. At the end of the 2023 season, Zacharias acquired full ownership.[7]
NASCAR and CARS helped with the transition by transferring the track's sanctions for both NASCAR weekly racing and the CARS Tour to Florence Motor Speedway. The 2020 Myrtle Beach season continued in Florence with a new event, the Prelude to the Southern 500, held on the weekend of Darlington's second race meeting. Sam Yarbrough, who won the last Myrtle Beach Late Model feature, won the 100 lap feature. While Myrtle Beach was traditionally silent during the Darlington weekend, the promoters allowed the new venue to hold races because of the short distance between the two circuits, and to promote NASCAR's local racing initiative. In 2021, the Prelude to Darlington was added on Goodyear 400 weekend, designed so fans can travel between Darlington and Timmonsville after the support race at Darlington finishes.
CARS moved the Myrtle Beach race to Florence for October 2020. The Myrtle Beach 400 was renamed the South Carolina 400 Charlie Powell Memorial and continued in its traditional mid-November date in 2020, held the week before the Southern National Motorsports Park Thanksgiving Classic. Held in February since 2016, the season-opening IceBreaker retained its traditional start of season date in February 2021 as the first race for the Florence track championship. Zacharias had successfully retained Myrtle Beach's traditional dates. The IceBreaker is the traditional start of season for the southeastern Late Model scene, and pays points for the track, state, and national Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series races. Both races kept their Myrtle Beach lineages.
For the 30th edition of the Charlie Powell Memorial 400 in 2022, both NASCAR and the promoters recognised the Myrtle Beach 400 as part of the Charlie Powell Memorial lineage. NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who raced at Myrtle Beach in his early career, entered a Late Model for himself and one of his Late Model drivers.[8] Numerous winners of the Powell Memorial have won at NASCAR's national level. Earnhardt continues to both drive and field cars for the major Florence races, with participation in the season-ending Powell and the season-opening IceBreaker since the 2022 season finale. Brenden "Butterbean" Queen won the 2022 edition, leapfrogging him to stardom where he finished fourth in a 2024 North Wilkesboro Speedway Craftsman Truck Series race. Carson Kvapil, who drives for JR Motorsports, won the 2024 IceBreaker in a season which led to him making starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series that including a podium finish at Dover Motor Speedway.
The Myrtle Beach 400 was originally a NASCAR All Pro / Southeast Series Late Model event from 1993 to 1995 before becoming a NASCAR-spec Late Model division race in 1996 where any Weekly Series track that runs a NASCAR Late Model class car can participate (primarily in the Carolinas now, perimeter chassis). Originally a 400-lap All Pro race, the race has become 250 laps as a NASCAR Late Model with other weekly features combining for the 400 laps. The race was not held in 2012 because of weather, after which there were two features in 2013, one to start the season and one to end the season.
After the transfer of sanction by NASCAR, the race moved to Florence for the 2020 season. The 2023 format for the Saturday event is two 25-lap features for non-qualified cars that send top finishers to the feature, then a 50-lap feature for four-cylinder race cars, a 50-lap feature for Street Stocks, and a 250-lap feature for NASCAR-specification Late Models. The race is currently run in two parts, with a ten-minute halftime break after 125 laps (or earlier if a safety car happens within five laps of the prescribed break). The halftime break is the only time teams can change four tires (during the race, teams can only change tires if they are damaged).
As of 2023, qualifying only gives positions second and beyond. Pole position is guaranteed to the winner of the Marty Ward 150, a Late Model race part of the Prelude to the Southern 500 held during the weekend of the Cook Out Southern 500.
| Year | Driver | |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Jody Ridley | |
| 1994 | Gary St. Amant | |
| 1995 | Freddie Query | |
| 1996 | Jay Fogleman | |
| 1997 | David Blankenship | |
| 1998 | Stephen Grimes | |
| 1999 | Scott Riggs | |
| 2000 | Greg Edwards | |
| 2001 | Robert Powell | |
| 2002 | Robert Powell | |
| 2003 | Timothy Peters | |
| 2004 | Frank Deiny Jnr | |
| 2005 | Frank Deiny Jnr | |
| 2006 | Frank Deiny Jnr | |
| 2007 | Sam Yarbrough | |
| 2008 | Jamey Caudill | |
| 2009 | Lucas Ransone | |
| 2010 | Frank Deiny Jnr | |
| 2011 | Garrett Campbell | |
| 2013 | Anthony Anders (March) Race cancelled in 2012 because of weather. Two Myrtle Beach 400 races were held in 2013. | |
| Lee Pulliam (November) | ||
| 2014 | Travis Swaim | |
| 2015 | Myatt Snider | |
| 2016 | Christian Eckes | |
| 2017 | Josh Berry | |
| 2018 | Chad McCumbee | |
| 2019 | Will Burns | |
| 2020 | Ty Majeski | |
| 2021 | Ty Majeski | |
| 2022 | Brenden Queen | |
| 2023 | Kade Brown |
Sources: Third Turn |Short Track Scene |Racing America