EASLEY, SC :: When the 2015 season starts at Greenville Pickens Speedway, it seems very likely that the face of controversy for the track will likely be running the track instead of running on the track.
While we’ve been unable to confirm it officially, it appears that there is a changing of the guard about to happen at Grenville Pickens Speedway. 2014 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion and multi-time Greenville Pickens Speedway champion Anthony Anders will be shed his racing suit to become the track’s promoter.
Greenville Pickens opened in 1940 as a half mile dirt track and closed the following year due to World War II and was reopened on July 4, 1946 in a race promoted by NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. Paved to become an asphalt track in 1970, the track has been a longtime partner with NASCAR as part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
Anders, who became the second Greenville Pickens Speedway driver to become the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion (Dexter Canipe, Sr. did it in 1997), is expected to announce in the coming days that he’ll be promoting the 1/2 mile track in Easley, SC during the 2015 season.
Anders was the center of controversy during the 2014 season as he chased the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National title. Anders and Greenville Pickens Speedway owner Kevin Whitaker have been friends for years and, as the season began to unfold, many accused them of cheating the system to gain maximum points for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
Anders would be the first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion to become a track promoter the following season. It would certainly be an interesting spin in a story that we followed closely last season. Reality is certainly stranger than fiction…
