Martinsville Speedway Modified Timeline

Martinsville Speedway Modified Timeline

September 7, 1947 – H. Clay Earles opens Martinsville Speedway as a dirt track with 750 seats and a paid crowd of 6,013. Red Byron wins the 50-lap feature for "Modified Stock Cars” and earns $500 out of a $2,000 purse.

July 4, 1948 – Martinsville runs its first race under a NASCAR sanction, with Fonty Flock winning the Modified Stock Car feature followed by Pee Wee Martin of Bassett. Va., Buck Baker, Bill Blair, and Tim Flock as 4,000 watched. Bill France finishes eighth while one of those sidelined with mechanical problems is a 19-year-old Fireball Roberts.

1960 – Glen Wood gives Wood Brothers’ Racing its first Martinsville victory, capturing a 50-lap Modified event.

1962 – Perk Brown wins his first Martinsville race, starting a pretty amazing streak. He goes on to win six out of the next seven Modified races at Martinsville, sweeping the 1964 and 1965 seasons.

1966 – Ray Hendrick sweeps the two Martinsville Modified events, on his way to a record 13 wins in the division.

November 1968 – Ray Hendrick wins the Cardinal 500, the first 500-lap Modified race at Martinsville Speedway. There were only four 500-lap Modified events run at Martinsville, with Hendrick winning three and Jerry Cook one.

October 1970 – Ray Hendrick wins the 250-lap Modified portion of the Cardinal 500 classic. It was the first of what was to be many Modified/Late Model Sportsman doubleheaders at Martinsville Speedway.

September 1973 – Richie Evans wins his first Martinsville event, taking a 150-lap Modified race.

October 1973 – Jerry Cook wins the Modified half of the Cardinal 500 Classic, giving him a sweep of the two 250-lappers in 1973.

1975 – Ray Hendrick records his final Martinsville Modified win, giving him a track record of 13. Hendrick wound up with a total of 20 career Martinsville wins (including seven in the Late Model Sportsman division), which is also a record surpassing even Richard Petty.

March 1978 - NBC tapes 1978 Dogwood 500 Modified and Grand National race for showing on its “Sports World,” series. It was the first race televised nationally from Virginia, on March 12, 1978. Richie Evans won the Modified race and Sonny Hutchins the Grand National.

April 1981 – In the race Martinsville Speedway founder H. Clay Earles called “the greatest race he ever saw … anywhere,” Richie Evans wins the Dogwood 500 after crashing with Geoff Bodine leaving the fourth turn. Evans’ car climbed the outside wall, but he never let off the throttle. His right front wheel came off when he hit the wall, but he bounced across the finish line ahead of Bodine.

October 27, 1985 – Hometown favorite Johnny Bryant of Bassett, VA, shocked the field in the Winn-Dixie 500, giving the underdog southern teams a dramatic win over the northern Modified stars.

1986 – Brett Bodine wins two of three Martinsville Modified events during the 1986 season.

1986 – Greg Sacks sets the absolute track record of 101.014 mph in winning the pole for the Miller Genuine Draft 500. The record still stands as the fastest pole speed in any division at Martinsville Speedway.

March 22, 1992 – Donald “Satch” Worley of Rocky Mount, VA, gives the south it’s final Martinsville Modified win with a victory in the Miller Genuine Draft 500.

October 1992 – Mike Stefanik captures the Winston Classic. It would be four years before the Modifieds returned to Martinsville.

1997 – Mike Ewanitsko wins the Goody’s Headache Powder 300 as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour makes a return to Martinsville Speedway.

October 2002 – L.W. Miller wins the Advance Auto Parts 200, but again, the Modifieds take a sabbatical from Martinsville Speedway.

September 3, 2005 – The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Martinsville Speedway for 300 laps under the lights.

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