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, Supermodifieds, and supporting classes. Shangri-La's weekly racing was widely considered among the best in the sport during several different periods, including years when nine-time NASCAR National Modified Champion Richie Evans and six-time NASCAR National Modified Champion Jerry Cook were regulars. The facility also included an eighth-mile (0.2 km) drag strip and a tenth-mile oval track for microds (a type of wooden-bodied go-kart raced in many clubs in upstate New York). Its formal name was changed to Shangri-La Motor Speedway (in use from 1979 to 1991) and to Tioga Motorsports Park (in use from 1992 to 2005), but most racers and fans still referred to it as "Shangri-La".

The speedway hosted one NASCAR Cup Series event in 1952 and the race was won by Tim Flock.

Track history

Shangri-La Speedway was opened in 1946 by Bill Owen, who planned and built the track with help of family members. It was closed in 1956 due to neglect and small crowds but then briefly re-opened in 1959 by a group of area drag racers; after a few events it closed in the same year. It was again re-opened in 1962 by Fran Gitchell and operated until 2005 when it was shut down to allow gravel mining from the property. Nothing remains of the track itself, and the grandstands and buildings were demolished.

A replacement track in nearby Tioga Center, known as Shangri-La II Motor Speedway, opened in 2009 and closed after an abbreviated 2015 season.

Photo gallery

• 
  Start of final races in 2005
• 
  TIOGA Motorsports Park sign.
• 
  TIOGA Motorsports Park buildings.
• 
  Shangri-La Speedway (former parking area).
• 
  Shangri-La Speedway (outside area).

Weekly featured division and sanctioning body

• 1946–48: ESRA (Eastern States Racing Association) Sprints
• 1949: ESRA Sprints and unsanctioned Stock Cars
• 1950–56: unsanctioned Stock Cars
• 1959: NASCAR drag racing
• 1962–64: unsanctioned Supermodifieds and Modifieds
• 1965–72: unsanctioned Modifieds
• 1973–75: NASCAR National Modified
• 1976–78: NEARA (Northeast Auto Racing Association) Modifieds
• 1979–2000: NASCAR National Modified
• 2001–2005: unsanctioned Modifieds

Visits by major touring series

• 1946–48: AAA Championship Cars, AAA Sprint Cars
• 1952: NASCAR Grand National Series
• 1970: All-Star Racing League
• 1979–91: ISMA (International SuperModified Association) Supermodifieds
• 1987–88: American Indycar Series
• 1987–88, 1995–97: NASCAR Busch North Series
• 1985–89, 1994: NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour

Track regulars who went on to Cup racing

• Geoff Bodine
• Brett Bodine
• Todd Bodine
• Jimmy Spencer

References

• "Through the Years at Shangri-La: The Final Chapter". Monnat, Michael E. Gater Racing News, August 26, 2005.
• Bourcier, Bones. RICHIE!: The Fast Life and Times of NASCAR's Greatest Modified Driver (1st ed., 2004). Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA: Coastal 181. ISBN 0-9709854-6-0.
• Mark Southcott, NYRaceZone.com

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shangri-La Speedway.