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The History of Modoc Speedway Modoc Speedway was built in October of 1983 by Talmadge Bussey as a 4/10 oval mile dirt track. Modoc Speedway opened in June of 1984 for its first race. Talmadge operated the speedway as the owner/promoter for two years 1984 and 1985. Soon there after Johnny Anderson became the first promoter of the speedway. Gene Thomas was the first flagman, with the assitance of Fred Harper who came back to help out last year, 2007, when a fill in flagman was needed. Jim Swearingen became the announcer in 1985 until around 1988 or 1989. Modoc started out those first two seasons racing on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. During those two years Talmadge hosted several enduros, events for kids, and had a regular "Powder Puff" class for the ladies to race. The first opening night of racing at Modoc featured 16 late models, super late models of the time, with Bill "The Spiderman" Morgan winning that first late model race. In 1986, Talmadge leased Modoc Speedway to KWK Enterprises. At this time racing at Modoc was switched to Saturday nights. At the end of the 1986 season in December, Talmadge sold Modoc Speedway. Some time after 1986 the track was leased by Don and Joe Adams of Belvedere, SC. At that time the promoter was Wayne Parrish of Gaffney, SC. It is not yet known what happened during the next three to four years. Modoc Speedway raced until the early 90's around 1991. The track closed due to ownership problems and laid dormant for nearly 10 years. The track was re-done and the pits were moved from in the middle of the track to the outside of turns 1 & 2 in 2001, and Modoc Speedway was re-opened in 2002 and ran by Terry Odom. In December of 2005 the track was bought by Larry Moore & Brian Stewart. Tony Friar became the promoter in April of 2006 till the end of 2007. In January of 2008 Chris Henry and Robert Conley became the new and current promoters. A special thanks goes out to: James Stapleton for donating and allowing the photos and racing news articles about Modoc Speedway in the mid 1980s in links below Kenny Mckie for donating photos from 1985 & 1986 taken by Joe Cawley The Greg Parks racing team and Greg's uncle for letting us borrow a program from a 1988 Shine Race Program Brian Stewart for current information Anyone wanting to donate information, articles or photos contact Ben Stapleton on the contacts page. We appreciate your help in advance for helping preserve the history of Modoc Speedway and continuing on into the future Please only correct/accurate information only thanks, if you see something you think is not correct please contact Ben Stapleton. |
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