Maryville Dragway

Closed

Shirl Greer set a 123.28 MPH track record beating Don Nicholson in 1963

Raced: 1958-?
State: Tennessee
What's left: The site was redeveloped, but the strip or its layout lives on in whatever replaced it.
On the site today: Private airstrip, Montvale Air Park Road
First race: June 8, 1958
Location: One mile south of Maryville, off Best Road
Elevation: 1,026 ft (313 m)
Coordinates: 35.69052, -83.99439

Newspapers disagreed on exactly where it was, but this track, one mile south of Maryville, opened for racing on June 8, 1958. A local historical society member said his uncle raced there soon after finishing high school in the late 1950s. On Sunday, March 24, 1963, Shirl Greer beat Don Nicholson twice and set a track record of 123.28 MPH in his ‘62 Plymouth Super Stock. In 1967 the track put on a match race between Joe Lunati and Jack Chrisman. It was a narrow track with only a wooden fence to protect spectators, and it didn’t meet basic standards for sanctioning. It became a private airstrip in 1984 and still is, now Montvale Air Park Road off Best Road.

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