Lawsuit Update: Gabehart Calls JGR Competition Team “Dysfunctional,” Ty Gibbs “Not Accountable”
What’s Happening? Former Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart has filed a new response slamming JGR as…
Every track, past, present, and future, has a story to tell–a storied history with some legendary moments and legendary winners. Since its inception in 1949, 179 unique speedways and tracks have been featured on the NASCAR circuit across its many distinctive series. Today, only 53 of those still remain on the schedule across all of NASCAR’s divisions, while the others often waste away. Some get sold to real estate developers. They get turned into condos or a Walmart or a parking lot or a shopping mall. Others get left to ruin, a painful reminder of their former glory. And some get torn down in order to build a new short track, but never reach beyond the blueprint and/or good idea phase of planning.
For this next installment of our Forgotten Speedways series, we’re going to take a look at the lost track of Raleigh Speedway. Located north of North Carolina’s capital, the speedway was one of the earlier tracks to join that NASCAR racing circuit. So, with no further ado, let’s dive into it. Here’s a spotlight on Raleigh (aka Southland) Speedway.
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The track that was, in hindsight, called Raleigh Speedway opened as Southland Speedway in 1952. At the time, it was considered the second “superspeedway” (by the definition of the time) to ever be built, behind Darlington Raceway. The first series the track hosted was the IndyCar Series, then sanctioned by AAA (yes, that AAA). It was a 200-mile event that saw Troy Ruttman take the checkered flag. The race, however, was largely considered a failure. As a response, it was sold and, in 1953, Bill France became the track’s promoter. That same year, he brought the NASCAR Grand National Series to the track for the first time. The series continued to race at the track from 1953 to 1958.
Typically, the NASCAR series races were held on July 4th in celebration of Independence Day. During its time, the track was notable as being the first NASCAR track to have lights, making it also the first track to hold races at night. When the Daytona International Speedway opened in February of 1959, the July 4th date was moved there and Raleigh was left off the schedule. This was a deathblow to the track. It closed the next year
The track was a 1-mile paved oval. In fact, it was one of the longest paved ovals in the country by that time. The track featured long, flat straightaways and tight corners. It was shaped like a paperclip, almost like Martinsville. Only it was twice as long, and the corners had sixteen degrees of banking. The track was so tight that only 500 feet separated the front and backstretch in the infield. Meanwhile, the straightaways were measured to be around 1,850 feet in length.
There were a number of different series that took to the track. Most popularly were the IndyCar series and the NASCAR Grand National division. Lower-ranked series also competed at the track, though. Local racers competed weekly on the quarter-mile in-field oval and NASCAR’s Modified division also regularly raced at the track. In was in the NASCAR Modified rank when the biggest tragedy in the track’s history struck.
There have been only two fatalities in the history of the race track, both coming during a modified race on September 19, 1953. The incident involved drivers Bill Blevins and Jesse Midkiff. Bill France himself was driving the pace car for the event. Blevins was suffering some mechanical issues and his car had stalled on the backstretch. France didn’t get the memo and exited the track as the field prepared to take the green. Nobody could have seen what happened next. The leaders were able to serve and miss Blevins but, lost in traffic, Midkiff didn’t see the stalled car. He plowed into him at full speed, causing an eruption of flames. Blevins died on impact. Midkiff days later from severe burns suffered in the incident.
This kind of incident was commonplace for the time. Though it did spark controversy amongst the locals who didn’t want the track to exist in the first place. NASCAR Modifieds and Strictly Stocks continued to race at the track until 1958.
There have been a few big names to win at the forgotten speedway of Raleigh Speedway. Surprisingly, none of them were named Petty. Fonty Flock has two wins at the track, those coming in 1953 and 1955. Herb Thomas won back-to-back races in ’54 and ’55. Paul Goodsmith won the at the track in 1957. But it was Fireball Roberts who claimed the victory at the final race at the track. That came in 1958. He also won there two years prior in ’56.
Following the track’s closure in 1959, the track sat abandoned for eight years. Southland Speedway, aka Raleigh Speedway, was demolished in 1967. Today, it is the home of the Seaboard Industrial Park. Running parallel to it, where the frontstretch used to be, is the Seaboard Coastline Railroad. Some of the actual pavement of the track does still exist, though. In the wooded area of the industrial park, there’s about 90 feet of busted asphalt. That’s all that remains of the original Raleigh Speedway.
However, racing did return to the Wake County/Raleigh area in the following decades. In 1962, the Wake County Speedway was built about five miles from the original site of the track. It’s a NASCAR-sanctioned quarter-mile oval.
So, Daily Downforce readers, what did you think of this one? Do you wish that Raleigh Speedway was still around? Or is it better off left in the past? Let us know your thoughts on this! Join the discussion on Discord or X, and remember to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for more updates.
Up next in this Forgotten Speedways series: Walt Disney World Speedway.
An email sent by former Joe Gibbs Racing Competition Director Chris Gabehart claims that resentment towards him from members of the Gibbs family made him feel that the future of JGR was a “no-win situation.”
Last week, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit against former Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart, claiming that the former Daytona 500 Champion had schemed to steal vital information from the team in the lead-up to his departure from JGR for Spire Motorsports.
Not even ten days since JGR filed this lawsuit, the two have continued to trade barbs and accusations back and forth through the court system.
In a filing earlier this week, Gabehart accused the team of misleading him in his duties as competition director in 2025, and specifically calling out JGR’s No. 54 team, driven by Joe Gibbs’ grandson Ty, alleging that the team received “differential treatment.”
Friday, an email sent to JGR CFO Tim Carmichael by Gabehart in November 2025 (released as part of this lawsuit) showed just how uncomfortable he had grown working at JGR during his tenure as Competition Director, with the industry veteran stating that Ty Gibbs and his mother, Heather, held “resentment” towards Gabehart.
The now former Competition Director went on to say in this email that, as the two were the future bosses of JGR, “I’m afraid that leaves me in a no-win situation.”
These exchanges, including the claims made by Gibbs in his filing earlier this week, have swept fans into a whirlwind of sorts, with the two sides even meeting in court today for the lawsuit’s first official hearing.
Of course, Gabehart’s claims about the state of operations at JGR pale in comparison to the accusations made by the Gibbs team in their initial lawsuit.
On Tuesday, the team even added Spire Motorsports, Gabehart’s current employer, as a co-defendant, and requested the court force Gabehart to sit out at least the 18 months since his termination before doing any work in NASCAR similar to his role at JGR.
The team is also asking that any information procured by Spire from Gabehart be returned, though the CEO of TWG Motorsports, which owns Spire, Dan Towriss, told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports Friday that “Spire doesn’t want data from Joe Gibbs Racing. It doesn’t have data from Joe Gibbs Racing. No point in time has it had data from Joe Gibbs Racing.”
Alongside Spire, Gabehart adamantly denied any wrongdoing in a post to social media last week, saying, “I feel compelled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.”
What’s Happening? Former Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart has filed a new response slamming JGR as…
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
A few years ago, I looked at the racetracks preserved on iRacing that no longer exist in real life. After digging deeper, I expected to find one common reason they all shut down. Instead, each one tells a completely different story — from booming cities and land value spikes to ownership changes, broken promises, and even mysteries that still don’t have clear answers.
Some tracks were pushed out by urban development. Some lost the one person fighting to keep them alive. Others faded due to declining support — or were never meant to last forever in the first place. No two closures are the same, and that’s what makes this deep dive so fascinating.
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NASCAR’s documentary series “Full Speed,” which used to live on Netflix, had its first two seasons look back at entire playoff runs. But now, NASCAR is shifting the series to Amazon Prime Video for its third season, and the scope of the series will also shift to new storylines.
Dropping on March 5, the new season is aimed at zooming in on one event: the 2026 Daytona 500. Instead of a multi-episode run, this time it’s a single-episode documentary that goes all in on one race.
The film will follow big names and storylines from the Daytona 500. It will spotlight the winner, Tyler Reddick, and lean into driver storylines around the weekend. That includes Kyle Busch trying to get his groove back, Brad Keselowski clawing his way back after a broken leg, Connor Zilisch being pushed as the next big thing, and Noah Gragson bringing chaos wherever he goes.
Some fans might question the move away from Netflix, especially after Season 1 pulled in 3.4 million views in the first half of 2024. Then in 2025, the docuseries clocked 900,000 views after its early May release and added another 200,000 between July and December.
But with Prime Video stepping in as one of NASCAR’s broadcast partners, moving the series lines up with a bigger play to keep content under one roof.
Amazon has already dipped into NASCAR storytelling with projects like the docuseries Earnhardt about Dale Earnhardt. Moving Full Speed to Prime follows the same playbook. And for fans who still haven’t seen previous installments, the first two seasons are also heading over to Prime Video.
However, Reddit fans are divided in their opinions about the decision. Some fans actually get why NASCAR changed the format and platform, while a chunk of fans think leaving Netflix is risky because Netflix is where casual viewers stumble into shows. Others push back, pointing out that Prime actually has a massive reach in the U.S. and strong marketing muscle.
While one fan commented, “Makes sense. I highly doubt they were gonna make a new season around a points format they don’t use anymore,” another stated, “Idk the semantics and numbers and everything behind it so I’m probably talking out of my ass….buttttttt….at what point does nascar take the less money for the exposure. You need to be on Netflix, people watch Netflix. People don’t watch Amazon video as much. Who’s gonna watch this that isn’t a nascar fan already. You have a higher chance of getting people lost on Netflix than lost on Amazon Prime Video.”
One fan commented on the news, saying, “100%. I have Amazon Prime and Netflix. AP is a train wreck for videos especially now with their ad program with videos. I steer clear because Netflix is still ad free.” Another fan supported NASCAR’s move, saying, “Prime actually has slightly more subscribers in the USA and in my opinion is better at marketing. It’s a lateral move.”
Another backed NASCAR, stating, “Most NASCAR fans will find some way to be on prime in the month of June. I think they are counting on people watching it then if they have not already seen it. Similar to the Earnhardt documentary that dropped in June last year.”
Another fan comment implied something less glamorous yet very real, pointing out that the Netflix seasons didn’t see a surge in viewership. The first season did okay, but later numbers dipped: “Netflix didn’t seem to work that well for the 2 playoff seasons.”
Will you be watching on Prime Video? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.