Florence Motor Speedway

Myrtle Beach Speedway (originally named Rambi Raceway) was a short track located on U.S. Route 501 near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The track was built in 1958.

The speedway was a semi-banked asphalt oval track that spans .The NASCAR Cup Series competed at the Speedway from 1958 through 1965. The NASCAR Busch Series raced at Myrtle Beach Speedway from 1988 to 2000.

Over the years, Myrtle Beach Speedway has been the training grounds for some of NASCAR's biggest stars including Jeff Gordon (former Busch Series track record holder). All four generations of Pettys (Lee, Richard, Kyle, and Adam) and three generations of Earnhardts (Ralph, Dale Sr., Dale Jr., and Kelley) have taken a green flag around the asphalt oval that spans .

History

Rambi Raceway opened as a dirt track in 1958.

The track hosted one NASCAR Convertible Series event in 1958 and one NASCAR Grand National East Series race in 1972.

Nick Lucas bought the track in 1968, paving it in 1974. Billy Hardee became a co-owner in 1987.

NASCAR Southeast Series had run 17 races at the facility between 1991 and 2004, with the Myrtle Beach 400 Late Model race (originally an All Pro event) beginning in 1993. Originally a 400-lap touring race, the race settled to NASCAR-specification Late Models of 250 laps with heat races and support races combined for 400 laps, originally set for Thanksgiving weekend, but later moved to the week before Thanksgiving in order to allow competitors to participate in the NASCAR Late Model Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina.

The NASCAR Busch Series race (the Myrtle Beach 250) in 2000 was the last major NASCAR event at the track.

The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series raced on Saturday nights from late February through November. The track also ran various other classes of racing including Late Model Charger, Super Trucks and Mini Stocks. The speedway was home of the Myrtle Beach 400, IceBreaker 200, NASCAR Racing Experience, Monster Jam, NOPI Nationals and Horry County Fair with recent additions of Wheels of Destruction Thrill Show and the Myrtle Beach BikeFest.

In a deal that closed April 2012, Speedway Group Inc. bought the facility, including 48 acres. Robert J. Lutz, one of the new owners, said Lt. Gov. André Bauer arranged for the deal to take place. Bauer said he wanted the track to help improve Myrtle Beach's economy with new events. Upgrades to the track were planned, and plans called for the NASCAR Racing Experience to attract drivers and tourists. One goal was another top-level race.

The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour had one race at the speedway in 2009. After merging the two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tours at the end of the 2016 season, beginning in 2017, the newly unified tour hosted three events at the track from 2017 through 2019.

CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series had 24 races at Myrtle Beach between 1998 and 2014. CARS Super Late Model Tour and CARS Late Model Stock Tour had 3 events each at the facility, between 2015 and 2018.

In 2016, Myrtle Beach Speedway began opening the season in February with the Late Models in the IceBreaker.

In May 2020, it was announced the track would close its doors for good in August, before the season could be finished as the result of a sale to a land developer. Meanwhile, track promoter Steve Zacharias worked immediately to preserve Myrtle Beach's major races and upon the track's closure, worked to finish the 2020 racing season.

The final race at Myrtle Beach Speedway was held in August 2020
Sam Yarbrough won the final Late Model race
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Carmen Odum and Carsyn Gillikin won their respective races in the final feature race ever held at the track.
Promoter Steve Zacharias announced the Myrtle Beach season would continue at Florence Motor Speedway in Timmonsville, which Zacharias would take over promotion of the track. That allowed Myrtle Beach's major race weekends to continue in the 2020 season in the Florence-Myrtle Beach metropolitan area.

Originally, the land owners' plan was to demolish the facility and build hotels and condos on the property, but it was announced in early July 2021 that the company will not use the land for the original purpose, and the concept for the area fell through. Although it kept the track safe from demolition for the time being, photos taken on July 6, 2021 showed weeds and grass slowly taking over the racetrack. In December 2021, most of the track, including the track itself, most of the outside walls, and pit road were demolished, as now all that remains (as of December 22, 2024), is the dirt of what was once turns 3 and 4. while a new resident pond was built alongside tons of houses.

Florence Motor Speedway

In preparation for the last race, in July 2020, track promoter Steve Zacharias and business partners Brian Vause and Savannah Brotherton formed Speedway Plus Promotion LLC, becoming the promoters for Florence Motor Speedway, a oval located at 836 East Smith Street in Timmonsville, from the track but in the same metropolitan region owned by Charlie Powell, Jr., whose family has raced in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (son Robert was the 1988 national champion). Built in 1982 as a dirt track, it was paved in 1988. The Powell family and Zacharias' group signed a lease to own agreement that lasted from July 2020 to the end of the 2023 season. At the end of the 2023 season, Zacharias acquired full ownership.

The 2020 season for Florence under the promotion of Zacharias began as a continuation of the Myrtle Beach season, as NASCAR and CARS transferred the track's sanctions for both NASCAR weekly racing and the CARS Tour to Florence Motor Speedway. The first race at Florence with the promoters was the Prelude to the Southern 500, held on the weekend of Darlington's second race meeting. Sam Yarbrough, who won the last Myrtle Beach Late Model feature, won the 100 lap feature. Since Darlington Raceway is from Florence Motor Speedway, promoters, who kept Myrtle Beach silent during the Darlington weekend, added local races on Darlington's Cup weekends to promote NASCAR's local racing initiative. In 2021, the Prelude to Darlington was added on Goodyear 400 weekend, and was specifically designed where spectators can attend both races on the same day.

On September 9, 2020, CARS then alleviated a situation where South Boston Speedway could not open because of Commonwealth restrictions in Virginia, and moved that round to Florence in October 2020. The Myrtle Beach 400 was renamed the South Carolina 400 Charlie Powell Memorial and continued in its traditional mid-November date in 2020, held the week before the Southern National Motorsports Park Thanksgiving Classic.

In February 2021, the IceBreaker, which has been held since 2016 to start the Myrtle Beach season, retained its traditional start of season date in February 2021 as the first race for the Florence track championship. Zacharias successfully retained Myrtle Beach's traditional races and dates, with the IceBreaker the second race for the NASCAR Late Model scene, and pays points for the track, state, and national Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series championship. Both races kept their Myrtle Beach lineages.

In 2022, the Charlie Powell Memorial 400 celebrated its 30th running. NASCAR and the Zacharias officially recognised the Myrtle Beach 400 as part of the Charlie Powell Memorial lineage. NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who raced at Myrtle Beach in his early career, entered a Late Model for himself and one of his Late Model drivers. Numerous winners of the Powell Memorial have won at NASCAR's national level. Earnhardt continues to both drive and field cars for the major Florence races, with participation in the season-ending Powell and the season-opening IceBreaker since the 2022 season finale.

Continuing the tradition of Myrtle Beach winners' prominence on the national series, Ty Majeski won the first two Charlie Powell Memorial races held in Florence, and was the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion. 2022 winner Brenden "Butterbean" Queen finished fourth in a 2024 North Wilkesboro Speedway Craftsman Truck Series race, and won the 2025 ARCA Chili's Grill and Bar 200 at Daytona that was nationally televised on Fox.

In addition, Carson Kvapil, who drives for JR Motorsports, won the 2024 IceBreaker in a season which led to him making starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series that including a 3rd place finish at Dover Motor Speedway and a win at the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 in Martinsville, earning a 2025 Xfinity ride.

The major events at Florence currently feature the IceBreaker, races on both Darlington Raceway NASCAR Cup Series weekends, and the Charlie Powell 400 as its major weekends.

The track announced that they will be an "outlaw" unsanctioned track for the 2025 season, leaving NASCAR sanctioning. As part of the "outlaw" status, the track will join forces with Southern National Motorsports Park in sharing rules and competitor licences. For the 2025 season, the IceBreaker and Charlie Powell 400 will be part of the Interstate 95 Showdown, an eight-race series with Southern National Motorsports Park, one of which is their season finale, the Thanksgiving Classic. The format for Late Models will be similar to Northeastern Modified racing's "Tri-Track Modifieds" featuring numerous outlaw tracks in the Northeast.

Charlie Powell 400 Winners

The Myrtle Beach 400 was originally a NASCAR All Pro / Southeast Series Late Model event from 1993 to 1995 before becoming a NASCAR-spec Late Model division race in 1996 where any NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track that runs a NASCAR Late Model class car can participate (primarily in the Carolinas and Virginia, perimeter chassis; cars used in this race are the same ones that are used at the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 in Martinsville Speedway). Originally a 400-lap All Pro race, the race has become 250 laps as a NASCAR Late Model with other weekly features combining for the 400 laps. The race was not held in 2012 because of weather, after which there were two features in 2013, one to start the season and one to end the season.

After the transfer of sanction by NASCAR, the race moved to Florence for the 2020 season.

The 2024 format for the Saturday event consists of two heat races (25 laps) where the top six cars qualify for the feature, followed by two entry level feature races for four-cylinder Mini Stocks and eight-cylinder Street Stocks of 50 laps each, and a 250-lap feature for NASCAR-specification Late Models.

The race is currently run in two parts, with a ten-minute halftime break after 125 laps (or earlier if a safety car happens within five laps of the prescribed break). All safety car periods use noncompetitive pit stops (as is the standard at most Late Model and Super Late Model races). Tire changes are only permitted at the Lap 125 break, with single tire changes in case of a flat spot or a tire failure during the race. Tire rotations are permitted. The race will use a specification tire from Continental AG. During safety car periods until Lap 200, the laps to determine the running order before pit lane opens, and if necessary, the first four laps of the safety car period will not count. After Lap 200, no laps under the safety car count.

Starting in 2023, qualifying only awarded positions 2nd to 20th. Pole position is awarded to the winner of the Cook Out 225 Late Model feature during the weekend of the Cook Out Southern 500.

The track's status as an outlaw track for 2025 was announced in December 2024. Southern National Motorsports Park and Florence Motor Speedway will form the Interstate 95 Showdown, an eight race series featuring the two circuits, about 155 miles apart via Interstate 95. Each track will feature one race each in the winter and again in the summer where the top four in points advance to the two-race championship round in November. The next two races, in September for Southern National and October in Florence, will have the top two drivers after the Florence round automatically qualify for the two-race final over consecutive weeks, the Charlie Powell Memorial in Florence and Thanksgiving Classic in Southern National. All six drivers automatically qualify for both races and the driver highest in points (with bonus points included for the four who qualified in July) winning the Interstate 95 Showdown.

Seven winners of the Charlie Powell Memorial have won national series races: Jody Ridley (1981 Cup Dover), Scott Riggs (2001 NXS), Timothy Peters (Truck Series), Myatt Snider (2021 NXS Homestead), Christian Eckes (Truck Series), Josh Berry (2025 Cup Las Vegas), and Ty Majeski (2024 NCTS champion). In addition, another winner, Brenden Queen, won the 2025 ARCA Daytona Chili's 200.

Sources: Third Turn
, Short Track Scene
, Racing America

References

External links

Official Website (Florence Motor Speedway, which the promoters have taken over)

Myrtle Beach Speedway Race Results at the Racing-Reference

Florence Motor Speedway Race Results at the Racing-Reference

Myrtle Beach Speedway included in iRacing

{{Myrtle Beach

Sports venues in Horry County, South Carolina
Motorsport venues in South Carolina
NASCAR tracks
Tourist attractions in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Buildings and structures in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Sports in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
1958 establishments in South Carolina
Sports venues completed in 1958
Defunct motorsport venues in the United States