West Virginia Motor Speedway

[BTExpress]

In reading the press release on the Hillbilly 100 moving back to Tyler County, it said the Hillbilly 100 was held in 2010 at WVMS. Being a fairly new DLM fan, can anyone give me some background information on the track?. I attended a race there in the 80's and thought it was one of the nicest dirt tracks I had ever seen at the time. If memory serves me I remember the track having a built in sprinkler system to water the track. I thought I read where they were making the track smaller a few years ago but lost track on the track reopening. Thanks.

[bonz45]

Went to the last race after the reconfiguration. Turns 3-4 was a disaster in that the guardrails were almost a 90° angle at the apex and theyou used the end of the track that rendered a good part of the seating useless. Nothing but a lesson in futility. Great racing, mgmt never worked.

[Dirt Frog]

It was a great track back in the day when it was the big track !!!

[chupp n bloomer fan]

Very good assessment. Was the track too big, I guess so if you wanted weekly racing or better car counts. But the issue there has always been management has freakin stunk. Awesome set up, great location, sh!t people running it. It could really be an awesome place. Facilities were good too.

[TerryM]

The original track was too big and too hard on equipment. I lived about 15 minutes from the track at one time. It was one of the most beautiful racing venues in the country. But the racing was sub-par and the place was ran by a series of incompetent crooks.

[Pennsboro23]

I use to love WVMS, I can remember going there as a kid all the time. They really screwed it up when they shortened it. The price to field a competitive dirt late model is the reason it just sits there now, along with horrible promoters. Local drivers just wouldn't support it recently, with the inflating costs in racing. I can remember back in the day when the DTWC and other big races were there they would have over 100 cars for some of those events.

[BTExpress]

Could the right owner/promoter bring it back to life even after they shorten it or are there too many bad feelings with the joint?

[snoduke88]

I remember one year we went to Pensburo for the hillbilly then to WVMS, very great track for fans and no bridges!

[chupp n bloomer fan]

I remember one year we went to Pensburo for the hillbilly then to WVMS, very great track for fans and no bridges!Yeah. Maybe they did both, but I remember the DTWC being at the Boro one last time then the Freedom 100 was at WVMS. For KC, it was the freedom of not paying the purse. Either way it was a cool deal. That could still work if it was tried again.

[chupp n bloomer fan]

In reading the press release on the Hillbilly 100 moving back to Tyler County, it said the Hillbilly 100 was held in 2010 at WVMS. Being a fairly new DLM fan, can anyone give me some background information on the track?. I attended a race there in the 80's and thought it was one of the nicest dirt tracks I had ever seen at the time. If memory serves me I remember the track having a built in sprinkler system to water the track. I thought I read where they were making the track smaller a few years ago but lost track on the track reopening. Thanks.Yes they had a sprinkler system, never got it working right I believe. If it was to reopen, I'd hire in a sprinkler guru to get it right and on timers.

[GEAR_HEAD]

Yes they had a sprinkler system, never got it working right I believe. If it was to reopen, I'd hire in a sprinkler guru to get it right and on timers.

Somebody left the water in the system over the winter months one year and the pipes burst inside the concrete wall. You'd need to rebuild the walls to get them working again.

The track could be reopened if somebody with some common sense would re-configure it. Whoever constructed turn 3 of the current configuration obviously had no idea what they were doing. The place seems to be cursed though, nobody can make money there and the crooks like KC Spurlock have given it a horrible reputation over the years. I always like the terraced seating but that limits the amount of people the track can seat, especially with a smaller track.

[chupp n bloomer fan]

Somebody left the water in the system over the winter months one year and the pipes burst inside the concrete wall. You'd need to rebuild the walls to get them working again.

The track could be reopened if somebody with some common sense would re-configure it. Whoever constructed turn 3 of the current configuration obviously had no idea what they were doing. The place seems to be cursed though, nobody can make money there and the crooks like KC Spurlock have given it a horrible reputation over the years. I always like the terraced seating but that limits the amount of people the track can seat, especially with a smaller track.Dummys, but doesn't surprise me. Drain the water and leave antifreeze in the lines.

Yeah I seen video of that turn situation. Must have been smoking some good sh!t when they did that. Many drivers live decently close, before you went and finalized it, how about getting their opinion? The seating is awesome. I'd go back to the original configuration and run about 4-5 times a year or so to start with. Or a more sensible configuration than what they have now.

[Hovlane]

Take a look at the airel veiw of the track on google maps... They must have been drunk when the made that new configuration geez lol

[GEAR_HEAD]

Dummys, but doesn't surprise me. Drain the water and leave antifreeze in the lines.

Yeah I seen video of that turn situation. Must have been smoking some good sh!t when they did that. Many drivers live decently close, before you went and finalized it, how about getting their opinion? The seating is awesome. I'd go back to the original configuration and run about 4-5 times a year or so to start with. Or a more sensible configuration than what they have now.

The original configuration is too big for the late models nowadays. Not to mention the racing sucked. Sure it was fast, but nowadays big, fast tracks rarely produce good racing. A 1/4 to 3/8 mile track could be contructed there for specials only and probably have healthy crowds if the track prep is done right. If somebody would copy Fairbury and put it on the grounds it would be a huge success. It could be a future home of the DTWC as it's time for that race to find a new home. PRP just isn't a very good racetrack.

[zyoung25]

http://i64.tinypic.com/wlc1s8.png

For those of you that hadn't seen the reconstruction....here ya go.

If they can make Knoxville work nowadays, they could make the old speed plant work.

[old fan]

Knoxville has a long reputation of great racing and great crowds

[jlacey]

I remember watching Shaver and Moyer running wide open and lapping the field somewhere between 95-97 during the DTWC weekend. Watching those 2 work lapped traffic was about the only excitement, but Pennsboro got rained out that weekend so that was the only feature we got to see. Always liked that place tho with the "grandstands" carved into the mountain

[wimpyrox]

I thought I remembered reading that the work redoing the track was going to be done by apprentices, or guys in the operating trade being supervised by an older, experienced person who was supposed to be pretty good at that type of work. Maybe all that cheap labor paid off,it looks like it. I was there a time or two, saw some pretty good racing.

[GEAR_HEAD]

I thought I remembered reading that the work redoing the track was going to be done by apprentices, or guys in the operating trade being supervised by an older, experienced person who was supposed to be pretty good at that type of work. Maybe all that cheap labor paid off,it looks like it. I was there a time or two, saw some pretty good racing.

Poor weather prohibited them from completing the work. Those folks were also going to build a new turn 1 and 2 as well but the terrible weather that spring ruined those plans. So it looks like they found some dude off the street that could run heavy equipment but knew nothing about racing and told him to go to town on turns 3 and 4. He may have been drunk and/or high as well judging by the way he built turn 3.

The people that ran the show after the reconfiguratuon didn't have a clue either. The water truck driver only watered random parts of the track the day of their first show and the dust was causing issues on I-77. Then he got the truck stuck in the pond and they couldn't water the track before the feature. What a cluster.

[BIGSTEVE00]

I seen some really good races at WVMS back in the day when it was the big track. Yes it had its own sprinkler system built into the walls to help water the track. I really wish they didn't butcher it up. I remember going there the night before the DTWC @ Pennsboro which made for one heck of a great weekend. You couldn't beat the terrace seating on the hillside. They'd let you build fires or do pretty much whatever you wanna do. A lot of good memories at that track!!

[J. Steve Davis]

I went to every race at WVMS in 2013, which was the last year they ran and I thought the racing was pretty good. Most wrecks in turn three and four were on the first or second lap. Everyone wanting to get the lead asap. After the first couple laps the racing was good.The track was still awesome fast though. I wish someone would open it back up!