Why is Pennsboro remembered so fondly?

[BIGSTEVE00]

Pennsboro's DTWC to me was always one of the races we waited for all season. It was more about the prestige than anything. I remember going to WVMS the night before the DTWC and staying all night in the truck out by the big tree in the middle of the parking field. Then we'd get up before day light when it was extremely foggy and head towards Pennsboro. On my first visit to Pennsboro I got the honor of seeing my favorite driver of all time Freddy Smith(1991) win his third DTWC. After that I got to see Ronnie Johnson(1992 & 1994), Freddy won it again(1993), Then Black Jack Boggs won it in the year of Boggs(1995 Black Jack won just about every crown jewel race, all that I went to), Billy Moyer won it the next year(1996) and then what I believe was the last DTWC @ Pennsboro saw an upset with Marshall Green winning with Freddy Smith on his tail almost the entire race(1997. I remember watching Marshall smoking his tire he was running it so hard to stay in front of the master of Pennsboro Freddy Smith). The following year the race got moved to the Thunder Ridge Entertainment Complex in Paintsville, Ky where Freddy won his last DTWC. The racing wasn't the greatest at Pennsboro, it was extremely hard to pass, not much banking at all. You knew you were going to get to see the best in the business when you pulled in there. I miss that weekend of racing, WVMS to Pennsboro and then back to WVMS. Good memories.

[bleedblue55]

I went in '94. I remember wondering where everyone parked. Then I heard that vehicles parked along the road to Hwy 150 were ticketed in the last year of the DTWC. That would have been a super bummer for those paying fans.
In response to the question, I get the whole nostalgia aspect (Eldora has that too), but I wish the ones making $$$$ from the event would have put some of it back in the racing surface.

I got a parking ticket that year. Called the county office (Magistrate???) that was listed. Was told to just send the ticket back in and forget it. As far as the racing surface they did put a little money back into it. Mostly in the form of calcium chloride and not new clay. That's how everyone did it years ago especially for day races.

[bleedblue55]

Pennsboro's DTWC to me was always one of the races we waited for all season. It was more about the prestige than anything. I remember going to WVMS the night before the DTWC and staying all night in the truck out by the big tree in the middle of the parking field. Then we'd get up before day light when it was extremely foggy and head towards Pennsboro. On my first visit to Pennsboro I got the honor of seeing my favorite driver of all time Freddy Smith(1991) win his third DTWC. After that I got to see Ronnie Johnson(1992 & 1994), Freddy won it again(1993), Then Black Jack Boggs won it in the year of Boggs(1995 Black Jack won just about every crown jewel race, all that I went to), Billy Moyer won it the next year(1996) and then what I believe was the last DTWC @ Pennsboro saw an upset with Marshall Green winning with Freddy Smith on his tail almost the entire race(1997. I remember watching Marshall smoking his tire he was running it so hard to stay in front of the master of Pennsboro Freddy Smith). The following year the race got moved to the Thunder Ridge Entertainment Complex in Paintsville, Ky where Freddy won his last DTWC. The racing wasn't the greatest at Pennsboro, it was extremely hard to pass, not much banking at all. You knew you were going to get to see the best in the business when you pulled in there. I miss that weekend of racing, WVMS to Pennsboro and then back to WVMS. Good memories.

I remember Marshall Green's win but that smoke was from an engine issue. I kept waiting for it to grenade but it made it somehow. Pretty sure Bart Hartman won the last DTWC ran at Pennsboro. Bloomer rode Bart's back bumper most of the race but never got by him.

[jlacey]

I always liked coming down 50 and when you got to the track it was a cool scene in the morning. You could just barely make out the track sitting between the mountains with fog covering everything

[bonz45]

The best cars always showed up there. One of the best memories that also goes along with that time period is getting there at 7:30 am and watching for all the cars to pull in. At that time most were open haulers and the ones that were enclosed were painted up with the team numbers and sponsors.

In today's world, all the transporters are similar, with no race team identity.

[mopar92]

What killed the track? Pretty sad. It seemed like a huge event.

[Raceready]

I attended just one race at Pennsboro. The Dirt Track World Championship. Freddy Smith won the year we were there. To this day it is the biggest $hithole we've ever seen. The restrooms (I use that term very cautiously) reeked so bad that you'd walk out smelling like raw sewage and the stench would hang on you for an hour. It didn't matter whether it was a porta-potty or the permanent facilities. Actually the permanent facilities were the worst. I'm pretty sure they didn't touch the track the whole weekend and over 80 to 100 cars were in the pits. You needed to be part mountain goat to get to a decent seat and parking was almost nonexistent. We came away with the attitude that it was worth attending once but vowed never to make the 8 1/2 hour one way trip again, and we never did. Anyone who has never been to Pennsboro can not remotely relate to the "magic" of the experience. Part of what made the one trip to Pennsboro worth it was the place gave us a renewed appreciation for the really enjoyable race tracks that we regularly attend.

I was there as well and the year was 1993.The fans were left asking who in the hell was the guy in 2nd place. Chub Frank came from deep in the field and may have won it if there had only been 1 more lap left in the race. He had an old rusted out Chevy Suburban with a small open trailer parked in the middle of the long row of high dollar totorhomes and trailers. The place was a sh-thole of epic proportions. 1 lane, dust bowl, other than a couple of street lights there weren't any lights, the porta poopers would be so full that the pile of poop would be 3 or 4 inches above the top of the seats, no concessions to speak of, and a host of other unbelievable things. It was in a holler with high mountains on both sides making it the loudest track ever, even louder than Bristol. The people in the infield would plug their ears and grimace with the pain. If a person wanted to eat good the best option was buying something at the IGA grocery store across the road. The store would almost sell completely out before the weekend was done. parking sucked and many people were trapped inside and may have had to stay an extra day before they were able to get out. Race rigs and motorhomes would get sink in the swamp of an infield and log skidders would have to winch them out. 1 fellow who was a recovering alcoholic and his family had driven 10 hours to get there turned right around and headed home because he couldn't deal with all of the people that were falling drunk at 8 0'clock in the morning with the stench of burning porta potties lingering in the air. The partiers stacked 6 porta potties in a pile, threw discarded racing tires on them, doused them with Turbo Blue and lit the whole kit and caboodle afire! Always a unique experience!

[edavis71]

The Pennsboro experience, wow. I was there for the Hillbilly and the DTWC every year growing up. pretty much the only time that I got to see all the big boys together all year. Get there at 8:00 in the morning and there were people already drunk, bleachers were frosted over, urinals overflowing and the smell of Italian sausage cooking. Racing sucked but hell, I would go back again for old times sake!!!

[edavis71]

I remember Marshall Green's win but that smoke was from an engine issue. I kept waiting for it to grenade but it made it somehow. Pretty sure Bart Hartman won the last DTWC ran at Pennsboro. Bloomer rode Bart's back bumper most of the race but never got by him.

Yes sir you are correct, Bart did win that race, it was the night after Birky won the Freedom 100 at WV Motor. It was cold as hell that weekend!!! back to back 50 grand's!!!

[MontanaMagic1619*]

The Pennsboro experience, wow. I was there for the Hillbilly and the DTWC every year growing up. pretty much the only time that I got to see all the big boys together all year. Get there at 8:00 in the morning and there were people already drunk, bleachers were frosted over, urinals overflowing and the smell of Italian sausage cooking. Racing sucked but hell, I would go back again for old times sake!!!

You're spot on Eric with everything you wrote above, my compadres and I camped out the night before usually up in the sticks in turn one, but the smell was mostly rancid as you said, we always made sure we had plenty of our own food and of course plenty ( and I do mean plenty ) of beverage on hand to get us through the two days and one night. I can remember parking our pickups at a friend's house about three miles away because of the unbelievable traffic jams before and after the race. I've been reading all of these comments and can recall most all of them, and by the way, I only missed one of these races ( 1991 ), the year Fast Freddy won, but I saw it the other day on YouTube and it rekindled a great deal of memories for me. Ya know, seeing future Hall of Famers like RJ, Blackjack, Flintstone Flyer, Moore, Moran, Freddy, Buck, Wearing, and Rodney Franklin ( dam ) I could go on all day with the most famous late model drivers of all time, but these are just a few off the top of my head; and I can recall Bloomer in his first six to eight years here just couldn't get out of his own way if he tried, but wow, something must have kinda tonked him on the head in around '96 because his talent suddenly started to skyrocket into the legend he is today.

I always made sure that no matter where I was in the world whether it was in Shanghai, Rio, Paris, or London, I always made it a strict point to be back in West Virginia by the third week in October. I've read on here about the racing not being that great, but I didn't give a "sh*t", I was in Pennsboro and I was watching the greatest late model drivers to EVER live.

And yes PennDirt, I stick to my original thought, this place was without question the " Woodstock " for any diehard late model racing fanatic, no matter how putrid some things were, the magical Pennsboro always brought me back to America on that wild and wacked out weekend in October.

[Pennsboro23]

Love hearing all of these stories about my hometown track.

[Raceready]

Lol Sometimes after parking off of the gas lease road where you were blocked in for the weekend a person was limited on what they could do when the racing was over. We walked down the road to a bar named Margies for liquid refreshments. A wild place indeed! One of the crew chiefs that shall remain nameless "borrowed" a riding lawn mower from a local residents yard and was using it to shuttle people sitting on the hood and standing on the running boards to and from the track. It worked well until the W.V. State troopers put an end to all of the ATVs on the road. Golf carts weren't very efficient there because of the mud, blood, and the beer. They tended to get stuck in the mud holes and in the various creek crossings. After being there every time the song [Bubba shot the jukebox] would start playing I would say " I've been there" !!

[jlacey]

I was only 14-16 the years my uncle and i went. I was working/driving in the area about a year ago and noticed things started looking kinda familiar. Saw the plant at the bottom of the mountain and almost put the box truck on its side trying to make that turn so fast. Stopped to take pics and everything but so many memories came back just standing there looking at the track. I wanna experience it as an adult now, the way it was back then. Him and I always say out of all the sh1tholes weve been to that 1 is by far our favorite

[slide-skill]

The porta crappers getting torched , but the track was locked down one lane ,!

[jlacey]

I forgot about the annual lighting of the porta crappers

[edavis71]

You're spot on Eric with everything you wrote above, my compadres and I camped out the night before usually up in the sticks in turn one, but the smell was mostly rancid as you said, we always made sure we had plenty of our own food and of course plenty ( and I do mean plenty ) of beverage on hand to get us through the two days and one night. I can remember parking our pickups at a friend's house about three miles away because of the unbelievable traffic jams before and after the race. I've been reading all of these comments and can recall most all of them, and by the way, I only missed one of these races ( 1991 ), the year Fast Freddy won, but I saw it the other day on YouTube and it rekindled a great deal of memories for me. Ya know, seeing future Hall of Famers like RJ, Blackjack, Flintstone Flyer, Moore, Moran, Freddy, Buck, Wearing, and Rodney Franklin ( dam ) I could go on all day with the most famous late model drivers of all time, but these are just a few off the top of my head; and I can recall Bloomer in his first six to eight years here just couldn't get out of his own way if he tried, but wow, something must have kinda tonked him on the head in around '96 because his talent suddenly started to skyrocket into the legend he is today.

I always made sure that no matter where I was in the world whether it was in Shanghai, Rio, Paris, or London, I always made it a strict point to be back in West Virginia by the third week in October. I've read on here about the racing not being that great, but I didn't give a "sh*t", I was in Pennsboro and I was watching the greatest late model drivers to EVER live.

And yes PennDirt, I stick to my original thought, this place was without question the " Woodstock " for any diehard late model racing fanatic, no matter how putrid some things were, the magical Pennsboro always brought me back to America on that wild and wacked out weekend in October.

Excellent post my friend!!!

[weatherman85]

What killed the track? Pretty sad. It seemed like a huge event.

I 2nd this question. Sounds like the track didn't have any trouble pulling in the cars or crowds of people so why did it shut down? Development in the area? Bad Promoting? Silly politics?

[raburke23]

I 2nd this question. Sounds like the track didn't have any trouble pulling in the cars or crowds of people so why did it shut down? Development in the area? Bad Promoting? Silly politics?

Track was run by the fair board and since they didnt have weekly racing, the fair board politics made it impossible for Carl Short to come to any further leasing agreements. The place had long outlived its life. Everyone will tell you it was a sh!thole, but they loved it...well, it was a sh!thole and was declining. The lack of lights and increase in dust made it a safety issue. I went a handful of times and would never ever go back. Ive got enough nostalgia in my head. I want the opportunity to see good racing and you just wouldnt see it at the Boro. I once saw a 24 car pile up in a street stock feature on the front stretch. The dust was so bad, the 2 leaders spun off four and the whole field piled in at full speed, completely unable to see. The scheduling was so bad. They ran a support class for some dumb reason and had no time limit. If you had never been, consider yourself lucky.

[Raceready]

I 2nd this question. Sounds like the track didn't have any trouble pulling in the cars or crowds of people so why did it shut down? Development in the area? Bad Promoting? Silly politics?

I believe that it may have had something to do with the local water company. They had some sort of spring house below the third turn. Another thing I now recall is that during the last year or so a couple of officials from the W.V. Tax department were harassing the crews about them selling t-shirts out of the back of their haulers. We took ours down until they left and then moved them to just inside the ramp so that fans could still see and purchase them.

[Pennsboro23]

I 2nd this question. Sounds like the track didn't have any trouble pulling in the cars or crowds of people so why did it shut down? Development in the area? Bad Promoting? Silly politics?

Flood, they eventually ran again but had a poor promoter. By that time Carl Short had already taken his two races elsewhere.