Southside Speedway
Facility Statistics
Location	12800 Genito Road Midlothian, VA 23112
Promoter	Sue W. Clements
Former Names	Royall Speedway
Capacity	Est. 6,000
Dimensions
Surface	Asphalt
Shape	Oval
Distance	.333 mile
Banking/Turns	12°
Banking/Straights	10°

Southside Speedway (affectionately dubbed "The Toughest Short Track in the South") is a short track

Short track

Short track is a phrase with several meanings:* Short track motor racing, motor racing conducted on a track less than one mile in length* Short track speed skating, a form of competitive ice skating similar to speed skating...

 used for stock car auto racing

Auto racing

Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...

 located just South of Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

 in Chesterfield County

Chesterfield County, Virginia

Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...

. It is a .333 mile asphalt oval owned and operated by Sue Clements and Patsy Stargardt. The 2009 track champions were Chris Dodson (Late Model Sportsman), Billy Morris (Modifieds), Tommy Tatum (Grand Stock), Mike Chapman (U-Car) James Loving (Street Stock) and Stanley Holmes (Champ Kart).

The track originally canceled the 2011 racing season after announcing that owner Sue Clements was battling health problems. However, a shortened 11-week 2011 season is currently underway, which will see the return of the Lengends and Pro Six divisions.

History

Southside Speedway, which used to be known as Royall Speedway and Wack-A-Mole Speedway in the early 50's, first opened on April 15, 1959 with Modifieds as the feature division. For a few years, it was used as a part of NASCAR's early circuit. The first NASCAR race on Southside speedway happened on August 18, 1961. At that time, the track was a 1/4 mile dirt oval. At 58.86 mph, Junior Johnson

Junior Johnson

Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. , better known as Junior Johnson, is a retired moonshiner in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966...

 took the pole for the 150-lap race in his 1960 Pontiac. He led every lap of the race that took about 45 minutes to race. By the next year, Southside Speedway had become a 1/3 mile asphalt oval. At 71.145 mph, Rex White

Rex White

Rex White is a retired American auto racer and NASCAR champion. White was one of the drivers who competed for the original Chevrolet racing team. He began racing in 1956, grabbing fourteen top-ten finishes. After a part-time run in 1957, White won twice in 1958...

 took the pole, but would duck out on lap 134 with engine trouble, which would lead Jimmy Pardue

Jimmy Pardue

Jimmy Pardue is a former race car driver who lived in North Wilkesboro, North America, USA.-Summary:He made his debut in 1955 at Martinsville, where he finished 28th after suffering hub problems in his Chevrolet Bel Air vehicle. He made his first full-time attempt in 1960 where he had eleven top-tens...

 to win the 200-lap feature in his 1962 Pontiac. Richard Petty

Richard Petty

Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...

 would finish third in that race. Later that season, Rex White's bad luck would continue. After leading 276 laps of a 300 lap feature, he would lose his lead to Cliff Stewart, who would win the event in his 1962 Pontiac. The last main circuit race recorded at Southside Speedway was on May 19, 1963, in which Ned Jarrett

Ned Jarrett

Ned Jarrett is a retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR champion.Jarrett was best known for his calm demeanor, and he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett", yet he was an intense competitor when he put his two hands on the steering wheel of a NASCAR Grand National stock car...

 would lead the most laps and win the 300-lap feature in his 1963 Ford. Since this time, Southside Speedway has been used to house several NASCAR syndicated feature series, in which the track has seen great names such as Darrell Waltrip

Darrell Waltrip

Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...

 and Bobby Allison

Bobby Allison

Robert Arthur Allison is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. His two sons, Clifford Allison and Davey Allison followed him into racing, and both died within a year of each other....

 turn left at the 1/3 mile track.

Throughout the track's history, there has often been one or two single divisions that brought the fans to the track, and several other novelty divisions that have been used by drivers as a stepping stone to the more prominent divisions. Usually, the more prominent division has been any variety of Late Model

Late model

A "late model car" is a car which has been recently designed or manufactured, often the latest model. The term is broadly used in car racing, and often appears in common use, as in "The officer was driving an unmarked, late model sedan."There is no precise...

 cars or Modifieds, and its immediate predecessor division has been the Grand Stock class, or something similar, such as Pure Stocks.

During the 70s, three names emerged that would plant the seed for future generations of competition at Southside Speedway. Ray Hendrick, Cal Johnson and Ted Hairfield were older drivers whose sons and grandsons have become competitive forces throughout the decades.

The Hendricks

Ray Hendrick

Ray Hendrick

Ray Hendrick , was known as "Mr. Modified" during his 36-year career in motorsports mainly in the modified stock car racing class....

 raced his burgundy Modified car during the 60's and 70's, and quickly planted the seed for the Hendrick dynasty. In 1974 and 1975, he placed 8th and 9th respectively in the National Late Model Sportsman Points, which would later become known as the Busch Grand National Series. At Martinsville Speedway, Ray Hendrick is 1st in all-time wins after he won 20 collective races between 1963 and 1975. He sits atop this list of great drivers including Richard Petty and Geoff Bodine. Ray Hendrick is best known for his philosophy of racing anywhere and everywhere. He participated in 17 NASCAR Winston Cup races, of which he captured 6 career top fives. Cancer claimed Ray Hendrick's life on September 28, 1990.

Later down the road, his son Roy Hendrick would enter the Late Model Stock Car division in a Pontiac whose paint scheme would become identical to his father's modified car. These cars were burgundy, whose white number 11 was encased in a white circle with a wing coming from the side. Roy Hendrick also made a name for himself and neighboring short tracks that feature Late Model-type racing including Langley Speedway

Langley Speedway

Langley Speedway may refer to a number of racetracks:*Langley Speedway , Langley, British Columbia...

 in Hampton, Virginia and South Boston Speedway. Roy Hendrick dominated Southside Speedway for years, because of which he is commonly referred to as "Rapid" Roy Hendrick. Because of his and his father's reign at these tracks, the "Flying Eleven" logo has become as common among the Virginia short track circuit as Dale Earnhardt's number Three has become an iconic symbol among the NASCAR circuit. Over the past few years, Roy's son, Brandon Hendrick has peeked his head into the Late Model Sportsman and Modified divisions. Brandon currently races the number 55 car in Southside Speedway's Late Model Sportsman division. Roy Hendrick currently races the number 39 car in the Late Model Sportsman division at Southside Speedway. Also Roy Hendrick has of late mentored a driver named Mark Simpson #36 driving a car in the Grand Stock division maintained by Roy and won in only his 6th race and has finished 2nd in points in 2009 and 3rd in 2010 and has numerous heat and feature wins and also won the 2008 Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Speedway, in keeping with the Hendrick tradition.

The 80's

During the mid to late 80s, the three prominent divisions at Southside Speedway were the Late Model Stock Cars, Grand Stocks and Mini Stocks. The elite of Southside Speedway's limelight through the 80s was shared by the rivalry between Wayne Patterson and Roy Hendrick, but Bugs Hairfield, Roger Sawyer, David Blankenship and Eddie Johnson was always in competition, and passed the track championship around throughout the decade. On Saturdays in the late 80s and early 90s, the track would often feature an Enduro Race that would include upwards of 80 cars racing in a 100-lap melee. These races were incredibly hard to keep up with, as the track was constantly completely congested with cars. The track would also feature a number of other divisions on certain occasions, including Modifieds, Pure Stocks, Factory Stocks, Go-Karts, and many others.

In the early 90s, Southside Speedway created an Enduro-type division that would race every week with the rest of the Friday night racing activity. Originally, these cars were called Street Stocks, but the name was changed the next year or two years later to "Southside Chargers."

Wayne Patterson lost his sponsorship with Pabst Blue Ribbon during the late 80s, giving way for Roy Hendrick to dominate the Late Model Stock Cars throughout the early 90s. The battle for second was almost always fought between Bugs Hairfield, Eddie Johnson and Shayne Lockhart. This continued until Wayne Patterson made his return during the mid 90s and resurged the Hendrick / Patterson rivalry. During the mid-90s, Shayne Lockart was the dominant force, and Eddie Johnson fell into the limelight during the late 90s.

Denny Hamlin

In the early 2000s, a face appeared out of the Go-Kart ranks that would become an icon in the world of stock car racing. Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin

James Dennis Alan "Denny" Hamlin is an American race car driver. Though originally born in Tampa, Florida, Hamlin was raised for most of his life in Chesterfield, Virginia. After racing in go-karts for a number of years, he worked his way up to Late Models by 2004 and signed a development contract...

 first started racing in the Mini Stock division at Southside Speedway in 1997. Within the next 5 years, he would see his share of wins and track records at Southside Speedway, as well as in neighboring tracks in Southampton, Langley and South Boston. After racing in the Craftsman Truck Series and the Busch series, Denny Hamlin was adopted by Joe Gibbs and ran his first full-time Nextel Cup season in 2006. That year, he swept both races at Pocono International Raceway, earned the Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year title, and qualified for the Chase for the Championship. It should also be noted that Curtis Markham, former Southside Speedway track champion, is currently Denny Hamlin's spotter.

The Present

During the mid 2000s, Southside Speedway vastly expanded its horizons by offering up to 8 divisions of racing. The two main attractions, the Late Model Sportsman division and the Modified

Modified

Modified may refer to:*Modified , the second full-length album by Save Ferris*Modified racing, or "Modifieds", an American automobile racing genre...

 division, typically alternate between their respected Friday nights. Chris Dodson was the 2007 track champion in the Late Model Sportsman division and Thomas Stinson was the 2007 Modified track Champion. To keep the three family traditions going, Brandon Hendrick and Chris Hairfield, grandsons of Ray Hendrick and Ted Hairfield and sons of Roy Hendrick and Bug's Hairfield, have become contenders in the Late Model Sportsman division. Chris Johnson, grandson of Cal Johnson and son of Eddie Johnson, also races the #36 car in the Modified division and won his first feature event on opening night of 2008. During the 2007 season the two feature divisions were dominated by Chris Dodson in the Late Model Sportsman Division and Thomas Stinson in the Modified

Modified

Modified may refer to:*Modified , the second full-length album by Save Ferris*Modified racing, or "Modifieds", an American automobile racing genre...

 Division. Rudy was the only driver other than Stinson to win in the Modified

Modified

Modified may refer to:*Modified , the second full-length album by Save Ferris*Modified racing, or "Modifieds", an American automobile racing genre...

 division in 2007.

In 2008 that would change. The 7-car invert before each race has made winning a bigger challenge for Stinson, which has allowed other drivers such as Chris Johnson and Billy Morris to capture wins, but consistency still keeps Stinson in a generous points lead. Thomas Stinson has proven to be a class by himself. An unparallelled financial devotion to his car and race team has made him the obvious front-runner in the Modified division. In clean air, it is obvious to any spectator that Stinson's car is blatantly unmatched. Despite the 7-car invert and shortening modified races to 33 laps, current Modified events at Southside are often viewed as Stinson's struggle against the clock to gain the lead. It isn't a question of whether Stinson can gain the lead, rather a question of whether he has enough time. This is a contrast to the Late Model Sportsman division where, though many races may be decided upon qualifying, you never know who that driver will be walking into the gate. In the modified division, if Stinson's car is in the pit stall, chances are it'll be in victory lane. Since 2006, Stinson has won 48 out of 76 (63%) Modified events, including 9 out of 12 in 2007.

Late Model Sportsman

The Late Model Sportsman division essentially entails cars built for racing that are modeled after modern 4-door sedans. The cars are typically badged as Chevrolet Monte Carlos, Dodge Chargers, Toyota Camrys, or Ford Fusions, but are built ground-up for racing. Like cars featured in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, they are "stock" cars in theory. Aside from being shaped similar to the street model cars they represent, they are essentially fabricated and built identically, and for the sole purpose of stock car racing. Parts may be built by different manufacturers and may come from a differing manufacturing process, however the differences between the cars themselves are negligible. This is opposed to other divisions like Grand Stocks or Street Stocks in which actual street cars are gutted and fitted with the necessary modifications for the race track. It is a common misconception that the Late Model Stock Car division was renamed to Late Model Sportsman at some point. According to track ownership, the current Late Model Sportsman division is a result of the 2003 migration from the old Grand Stock division. Technically, the current Grand Stock division is a new division, and the Late Model Stock Cars are now defunct. The older Late Model Stock Cars were highly modified street cars, but the new Late Model Sportsman cars are actual racing cars with fabricated bodies and contain mostly racing parts. The current Late Model Sportsman division qualifies via time trials and runs features of 150 laps, 100 laps, 75 laps, or 50 laps.

Modifieds

"Modifieds" are open-wheel cars that behave similarly to the Late Model Sportsman cars. Most modern Modifieds are built as if they will be raced on dirt, and the suspension is designed to drift into turns on dirt tracks as opposed to "sticking" on pavement. Though modifications are made, Modifieds are typically harder to handle on the pavement, and are still driven to glide into turns as opposed to railing around them. The Modified class was the original feature class at Southside Speedway, though by comparison, the original Modifieds and the modern class of Modifieds have opposite theories. In the early days of short track racing, all stock cars were modified street cars. From there, further modifications would be necessary for them to qualify as a part of a "Modified" class. Today, since most premier stock car racing series' feature cars built specifically for their destined racing purpose, current Modifieds are built with the premise of becoming "Modifieds." Thus, they are being used for their essential conceived purpose, and are "modified" in name-only. These cars, which are now one of the premier classes at Southside Speedway alternate with the Late Model Sportsman division, running every other Friday night. In past years they have run 100-lap features, but in 2008 they are only slated for one 100-lap feature, and most other nights they are scheduled to run twin 50-lap races.

Grand Stock

The Grand Stock class as seen as the first level under the Late Model Sportsman and the Modifieds. While Southside Speedway has historically almost always had a Grand Stock division, this is seen as a "new" division as of a few years ago. This class is the more premier class of actual street cars. While the front-end may be customized, the rest of the body is mainly stock. Almost always 90% of a Grand Stock field will consist of the Monte Carlo of the late 80's. The Grand Stock division runs 30-lap races and qualifies via 10-lap heat races.

U-Cars

The U-Cars were debuted in 2003. While Southside Speedway features a karting division, the U-Cars are seen as the beginning class. U-Car is an acronym meaning "U Can Afford to Race", and encompasses American-made 4-cylinder cars. The U-Car race is seen as a "new" division, but is practically a recycled version of the Mini Stock class of the 80's and 90's.

Street Stock

The Street Stock division is the evolution of the old Enduro Races on Saturdays brought to Southside Speedway by Joe Kelly in the mid-80's. During the late 80's, Southside began experimenting with an Enduro-type class on Friday nights by bringing the Factory Stocks to Southside once or twice a year. When the Enduro races became a Friday night feature at Southside, they were brought on as Street Stocks and eventually became the Southside Chargers. After the series was changed back to Street Stock for several years, they were disbanded for a few years. They were brought back in the mid-2000s, being known as the "Enduro" division and was meant as a no-holds-barred, anything-goes division. After the apparent need for some safety considerations were met, the Enduro cars were fitted with roll cages, the rules were changed and the division became known as Street Stocks again.

Attendance

Southside Speedway has gone through a roller coaster of variations in attendance over the years. At times, Southside Speedway has struggled and survived many years of near shut-down, and at other times Southside Speedway packs the stands every Friday night. During the early 80's, attendance was an issue as the track found it difficult to find cars to race, and would often jump through hoops to provide extra incentive for fans to show up. Around this time, the track was condemned by Chesterfield County because of serious safety hazards associated with the old wooden grandstands. The stands were upgraded in 1983. In the late 80's however, the track was fitted with newer aluminum grandstands that could hold twice as many fans and there was promise for a next generation to begin.

Despite these changes, Southside Speedway was rumored to be replaced by a shopping mall in 1987-88. There were even talks of building a new track to replace it in neighboring Dinwiddie county.

In the early 2000s, there was talk of possibly lengthening the track, but ultimately the decision was made to keep it the way it was.

When Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin

James Dennis Alan "Denny" Hamlin is an American race car driver. Though originally born in Tampa, Florida, Hamlin was raised for most of his life in Chesterfield, Virginia. After racing in go-karts for a number of years, he worked his way up to Late Models by 2004 and signed a development contract...

 came from Southside and landed in the Sprint Cup series, fans all over Richmond who have jumped on the bandwagon have caused a resurgence of attendance at Southside. In 2007, Denny Hamlin came to Southside on a Thursday night on the week of the May Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway

Richmond International Raceway

Richmond International Raceway is a 3/4-mile , D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series...

 and Southside saw the best attendance it had seen in years. The following year, Denny Hamlin brought Joe Gibbs teammate Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch

Kyle Thomas Busch, is an American NASCAR driver and team owner. He currently drives the No. 18 Mars/Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, the No. 18 Z-Line Designs/NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs in the Nationwide Series, and the No...

to the track to race in a special 175-lap Late Model Sportsman event to benefit the newly founded Denny Hamlin Foundation. Kyle Busch won that race after Denny Hamlin was sent to the rear of the field early in the event after an incident involving Billy Morris. The race put Southside Speedway in the national spotlight as the event was talked about that weekend during coverage of racing, qualifying and practice for the ensuing races at RIR on Speed and FOX.

2009 season

2009 Southside Speedway Champions
Driver	Car #	Division	Total Points	Total Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Average Finish
Chris Dodson	0	Late Model	5020	2	10	11	3.2
Billy Morris	20	Modified	7100	6	15	15	2.3
Tommy Tatum	62	Grand Stock	4960	3	10	10	3.5
Mike Chapman	18	UCAR	5240	4	7	12	4.2
James Loving	97	Street Stock	4480	1	9	11	4.9
Stanley Holmes	38	Champ Kart	3160	0	7	7	3.4

External links

• Official Website of Southside Speedway
• Historic NASCAR results of Southside Speedway