Story by: Andy Marquis ~ [email protected]

Callaway, VA(October 7, 2012) – Saturday night was my first experience at Franklin County Speedway in Southwest Virginia.  And what an experience it was.  There’s an old English idiom that reads, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.  That’s the case with Franklin County Speedway.

Others might consider Franklin County Speedway to be “a dump”.  Personally, I like these older tracks.  They have an atmosphere and character that you won’t find at your traditional racetrack.  They have a true short track character where the bonds of family and friendship are tied by racing roots.

When I walked in to Franklin County Speedway, I was reminded so much of the very first race I ever attended at Charlotte County Speedway (now known as Punta Gorda Speedway) in Florida.  The cars weren’t top-of-the-line racecars.  There clearly isn’t hundreds of thousands of dollars going in to the cars.  It’s grassroots racing at its best.  The second thing I thought of, mainly because of how Franklin County Speedway is laid out – fans watching the races from their cars, is that the only thing missing is a drive-in movie theater (there happens to be one in Christiansburg)

I’m a 90s child and, while the 90s weren’t so long ago, they sure seem it.  I grew up attending short track races, going to drive-in movies and so forth.  I personally like to be reminded of those days.  I don’t care about WiFi reception, comfortable seats, how good the 3G (or 4G) service is – especially since I’ve only had AT&T signal for a total of 16 hours since moving down here.  What is important to me is the racing.  And even though there were only five late models, the racing did not disappoint.

Franklin County Speedway is a fast, high banked 3/8 mile track.  And there are multiple grooves.  The racing was side-by-side all night.  See, I’ve been to really nice racetracks where I almost fell asleep standing.  I’ve been to hole in the wall racetracks that put on a show.  And I’ve been to all kinds of races in between.  Franklin County was one of those tracks that puts on a show.

Well, after a couple minutes, I decided to wander over to the concession stands.  They’re serving my favorite trackside food: a fried bologna burger.  At Franklin County, they call it the “Obama Burger”.  Due to my political background, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on that aside from saying that I got a chuckle out of it.  It was actually pretty good – much better than what passes for a “bologna burger” in Maryland.  And the concession prices were not just reasonable, they were great.  I had two “Obama burgers” and a Pepsi and only had to pull out a five-dollar bill.

I don’t know the drivers at Franklin County Speedway, and they don’t know me.  For that reason, I was surprised at the friendly atmosphere in victory lane.  As I took pictures, they asked who I was and who I was reporting for.  When the young Jessie Harman pulled in to victory lane after the street stock feature in her first career Franklin County start and win, well at least I’m not the only one there for the first time.

I don’t care if there are 50 fans in the stands or 5,000.  I do think Franklin County deserves larger turnout.  A night at Franklin County Speedway does not disappoint.  It’s affordable family fun at a place where the roots of racing are strong in a region where the roots of family and friendship are more important than anything.