The Old Nashville Fairgrounds and the Nashville Speedway

In June of 1904, the Nashville Speedway was home to “horseless carriage” and motorcycle races. At the time, the track was made of dirt and would host harness horse racing on special occasions.

By September of 1904, a new racing series was introduced to Tennesseans that involved the modern marvel… cars. Some racing around the bend at speeds of 60-miles-per-hour.

Several years later in 1915, a few drivers from the Indianapolis 500 decided to head to Nashville to take a few runs around the small track. Growing in popularity, the races grew larger and larger audiences into the 30’s and 40’s. However, it wasn’t until 1958 that organizers decided to pave the track.

The old Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway held their first NASCAR Grand National Race of 200-laps in 1959. Music City continued to host a leg of the NASCAR Grand National / Winston Cup Series races up until 1984.

In the 2000’s, the track was renamed the Music City Motorplex. Today (2022), the track is known as the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and hosts a number of races to include the Bass Tire 100, the Camping World SRX Series and more.

Construction Nearly Grinds to a Halt, thanks to COVID-19 in the now quiet Music City

MARCH 19, 2020: Nashville is one of the fastest growing cities in America, but construction has come to a grinding halt due to COVID-19.

In 2018 the Music City landed in Forbes magazine as being the 7th fastest growing city in the US. Today, the city looks abandoned in some areas.