Financial gamble pays off for 'greatest driver alive'

The first World 600 almost didn't take place because there was a dispute getting the asphalt laid down in time. And the first World 600 almost didn't take place because there was a dispute getting the asphalt to stay in place. Yet, when all was said and done, Curtis Turner's pride and joy -- a track that took just 11 months to construct, from the first shovel of dirt to the first drop of the green flag -- somehow passed the test, even if reviews were decidedly mixed.

Turner

Greg Fielden's comprehensive book on the beginnings of Charlotte Motor Speedway tells a fascinating story of how the track somehow survived, and has since thrived, in the five decades since Turner took what was arguably the biggest financial gamble of his life.

By any measure, Turner was a unique individual. Despite never running a full schedule as a driver, he was a threat to win nearly every time he hit the track. Joe Weatherly called him "the greatest driver alive."

And yet, he made most of his fortune -- and in some cases, lost much of it -- buying and selling real estate, mainly tracts of timber. The ultimate deal-maker, Turner was able to borrow money to purchase huge parcels, and in most cases, flip it later for a nice profit. He conducted much of his business in the front seat of his black Cadillac. And he flew his own twin-engine plane.

Then one day in the spring of 1959, 35-year-old Turner came up with a wild idea. Why not build a superspeedway on property he owned in Cabarrus County, north of Charlotte? In April, he and a small group of business associates made their plans public: A high-banked, 1.5-mile track on Highway 49, with plans for 45,000 permanent grandstand seats, at an estimated cost of $750,000.

"One day I was driving down the road and just decided to build a race track," Turner later said. "I hadn't planned it or anything. I had the piece of ground where the track is today, so I built it."

Interestingly, a rival group led by Concord Speedway owner Bruton Smith, chose that same day to announce their own speedway: a $2 million, 2-mile track seating up to 75,000 in Pineville, near the site of the original wood board track that existed in the 1920s. Fairly early on, the two realized the folly in trying to finance two major projects in the same area. By May, the two combined forces, settled on a piece of farmland owned by John Crossland Jr. and actual construction on the speedway began with groundbreaking ceremonies on July 29.

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To almost no one's surprise, the project ran into problems immediately. Turner scrambled to sell shares of stock while keeping creditors at bay. And he thought he had it under control until construction hit rock-bottom, literally.

"The core-drill report said that it was boulders, so in the contract for moving dirt I also got the boulders moved for $18 a yard. But instead of hitting boulders we hit about half a million yards of solid granite. That cost a dollar a yard to move, plus the dynamite. [It] cost $70,000 worth of dynamite just getting through the first turn, and whole thing cost a half a million dollars more than it should have."

Suddenly the $750,000 project ballooned to over $2 million. Turner, ever the master in the art of working business connections, called in every favor he could think of to scrape together enough money to keep the project going.

In September, Turner and Smith flew to Daytona Beach to sign a contract for the inaugural World 600, to be run on Memorial Day: May 29, 1960. They planned to offer the first six-digit purse in NASCAR history, and told Bill France that the track would be ready for racing by May 1. Even though the track was still nothing more than a mound of dirt and the beginnings of the first turn, Smith began selling advance tickets in December.

And the partners scheduled an open house at the end of January to give a public a chance to visit the facility, a move that was a huge public relations -- and financial -- success. Reserved seats for the inaugural World 600 were priced at $8 and $15, backstretch bleachers at $6 and infield admission at $5.

"Our open house was far more successful than we anticipated," Smith said. "Several thousand people showed up. We were busy both days selling reserved grandstand tickets, passing out informational brochures and answering hundreds of questions about construction."

Then Mother Nature had other ideas. A huge winter storm dumped almost a foot of snow on the area in early March, followed by two more strong winter storms, postponing races at Smith's Concord track, as well as those at Hillsborough and Richmond, and completely shutting down work at the new speedway. Even as late as April 1, the concrete had not been poured for the main grandstands, there were no guard rails, no garage areas and the control tower was still no farther along than the drawing board. (Continued)