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Mystery Track in San Antonio on Google Earth


TravisW

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Hi all, been a lifelong racing fan and knew about San Antonio Speedway, Texas Dirt Speedway and Alamo Dragway, but I had no idea how rich San Antonio's racing history is beyond those. So I've been thoroughly enjoying reading about all the tracks that used to exist here. 

Now to the point of this post. I was browsing Google Earth checking out the sites of former tracks (really cool to see the Pan American Speedway track surface still exists and I'd love to visit some day) and I was looking at pictures from before Alamo Dragway/Texas Dirt Speedway were torn down and the trucking companies moved in, and I noticed something in a field to the northeast off of Watson Rd. It's a 1 mile long oval with decently banked corners. Google only has pictures from 1995 forward and it never appears as anything but a plowed, incomplete oval. Was this a would-be track that was never completed, a complete track prior to 1995 that just deteriorated, or not a track at all and something else? In 2014 the field became the site of Resnik Middle School and Southwest Legacy High School.


Looking forward to hearing from y'all and hope someone can shed light on this.

googleearth_Ia2wO5GSlW.jpg

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Was going to be a 1.5 mile paved oval. Early 70’s time frame. They got the dirt work and one tunnel done before the guy holding the money ran off. It was never finished.  Was used for dove hunting for years. San Antonio and Bexar County has been home to over 40 racetracks over the years.  There have also been other startups like this one that never got finished.

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Thanks for the reply! Shame it was never completed. It really threw me for a loop when I found out we've had over 40 tracks in the past. With how few local tracks exist now I never would've thought racing was that popular over the years in SA. Yeah, I remember reading in another thread about the two tracks off I-10 that weren't finished. Was Bruce Mabrito's track list ever posted anywhere? Would love to take a look at that if it has.

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Bruce’s list has not. I have a 20 year old draft copy, but there has been additions made. I have the locations of about thirty of them, based on  historical mapping and some word of mouth. Keep in mind back then there were tracks that only lasted a short while, as little as a few weeks. But they ranged in length from tight quarters to 2 miles. It also includes Motorcycle tracks, dragstrips, the odd road course.

Edited by txtom
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  • 11 months later...

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