Five Mile Point Speedway
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

File Mile Point Speedway was a quarter-mile semi-banked dirt
oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...
raceway located in the
Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...
Region of New York State.


Overview

In 1951, husband and wife Irving and Anna Heath built the Five Mile Point Speedway in Kirkwood, New York, just outside of Binghamton. Races were initially sanctioned by the Southern Tier Stock Car Club which also sanctioned the
Shangri-La Speedway Shangri-La Speedway was a speedway in Owego, New York. It was a half-mile (0.8 km) oval race track facility. Over a span of fifty years, Shangri-La hosted automobile races of various kinds, AAA Championship Cars, stock cars, Modifieds, Supe ...
just 30 miles away. Irving Heath passed away in 1965 and Anna remained the owner until selling the track to her grandson, "Heath" Andrew Harpell. In 2003 Harpell took control of the track, made several capital improvements to the facility, and kept the weekly modified programs rolling. Harpell, who also operated the modified
Race of Champions The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the start or end of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers from Formula One, World Rally Championship, IndyCar, NASCAR, sports car racin ...
series from 1996 to 2016, was named by Racing Promotion Monthly as regional promoter of the year in 2012. The track was originally slated to close after the 2022 racing season, but racing was extended a year due to delays in the sale. Five Mile Point Warehouse Investors, an affiliate of Equilibrium Equities, proposed erecting two new warehouse buildings on the 41 acres.


Events

For 72 years the speedway featured modified cars as its headliner with several notable drivers claiming multiple wins, including the "Pink Panther" Chuck Akulis (107), Mike Colsten (62),
Dave Kneisel E. David Kneisel (August 8, 1927 – September 6, 1982) was an American dirt modified race car driver. He was also a noted builder of race cars, founding Kneisel's Speed and Sport shop in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, which continued to field ca ...
(54), Doug Worthing (46), Carl Nagel (37),
Stewart Friesen Stewart J. Friesen (born July 25, 1983) is a Canadian-American professional dirt track racing, dirt track and stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 52 Toyota Tundra#Third generation ...
(36), and Brian Weaver (29). Harpell's Race of Champions dirt touring series appeared at the venue, and for many years the track also hosted its Southern Tier Open. In 1965, Five Mile Point began honoring the Heaths with the annual Heath Memorial Race.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Five Mile Point Speedway Motorsport venues in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1951 Dirt oval race tracks in the United States Defunct motorsport venues in the United States