Hickory Motor Speedway Is A Short Track Located In Hickory, North Carolina
The track first opened in 1951 as a 1 / 2 -mile (0.80 km) dirt track. Gwyn Staley won the first race at the speedway and later became the first track champion. Drivers such as Junior Johnson , Ned Jarrett , and Ralph Earnhardt also became track champions in the 1950s, Earnhardt alone winning five of them.
