Canfield Speedway

Canfield Speedway

Motorsport venue
Name = Canfield Speedway


Location = Canfield, Ohio
Opened = 1949
Operator = The Canfield Fairgrounds
Former_names = Canfield Fairgrounds Speedway
Events = NASCAR Grand National Series The Poor Man's 500
Capacity = approx 40,000
Layout1 = .5 mi Dirt Oval
Layout2 = .25 mi Paved/Dirt OvalCanfield Speedway hosted (major) sanctioned auto racing from 1950 to 1964, but other associations ran until the late 1970s. The track is a half mile dirt oval that was on the Nascar Grand National Schedule for three years from 1950-1952 hosting one event annually over that time period. The Nascar Grand National and Short Track series competed there as well as ARCA and USAC. The Grand National events were 200 laps and 100 miles long. The Short Track Race was 100 laps and the track was 1/4-mile long making the race 25 miles. The ARCA races were either 100 laps on the 1/4-mile or 200, 250, or 300 laps on the 1/2-mile as the track had two different configurations. Some of the events used the inverted start with the pole qualifier starting last. Both USAC races were 100 laps on the quarter mile configuration. The quickest lap recorded in sanctioned events were just under the 24 second mark with cars averaging 60mph around the speedway on the half mile configuration. On the quarter mile quick time was under 16 seconds and cars averaged 55mph. At some times the track was paved in the quarter mile configuration, but never in the half mile configuration. Attendance varied from 30,000 people for larger events to 10,000 people for ones of less significance. The track is located at the Canfield Fairgrounds in Canfield, Ohio, and is still in use today, primarily during the Canfield Fair. The NASCAR pole record is 54.233 mph and the race record is 48.057 mph 2:04:51. The record for caution is 4 and smallest margin of victory 4 feet and the largest 3 laps. The largest pure was $4350 and the most lead changes was 2.

Table of Nascar Sanctioned Events

Bill Rexford

Bill Rexford won the inaugural event (later known as the Poor Man's 500) and went on to take the Grand National Championship that year in 1950. He was the youngest diver to win the championship in what is now the Sprint Cup Series. He was aided to the championship when Lee Petty was stripped of some points for racing in non-NASCAR sanctioned events. His only lead lap finish in his career was at Canfield Speedway (when he won). His only career pole came at Canfield Speedway the following year in 1951. He was the 1st of 6 drivers to win a championship without winning a pole in that season. He is 1 of 4 drivers to win a championship with only 1 win that season (nobody has won with 0 wins). In the three grand national races only 4 cars combined finished on the lead lap.

Sources

*http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/racelist3.php?trackid=104
*http://www.racing-reference.info/tracks?id=113
*http://www.racing-reference.info/trackdet?trk=113&series=W&show=1
*http://jacobsusa.com/cjsspeed/nascar/tracks/canfield_speedway.shtml
*http://www.nascar.com/
*http://community.nascar.com/blogs/14457
*http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Bill_Rexford.htm
*http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Jimmy_Florian.htm
*http://www.race-database.com/track/track.php?track_id=Canfield
*http://www.jayski.com/pages/tracks/bgntracks.htm
*http://www.jayski.com/stats/winbynum.htm
*The Stock Car Racing Encyclodepia,
*Canfield Speedway: A Photo Journey 1946-1973