Meyer Speedway At 14015 South Main St.

[capt. kirk]

I forgot myself... Seems it was somewhere around that year. They also once

ran a Nascar championship race there I think in the early 70's. If I remember

right, one of the Allisons won that race. I went to Meyer a few times. Of course,

living in Westbury, we could hear the races here at the house every Sat night.

MK

one site listed the winners from 59 thru 71

a.j. foyt, gene force, harold smith, don branson, dale swaim, parnelli jones, gordon woolley, ernie derr, ernie derr, jack bowsher, jack bowsher, iggy katona, bobby allison

[capt. kirk]

http://terraserver.m...ALat=29.6251737

hey there guys,

my name is scott and i was looking for info on meyers speedway..... i was looking for south main and this is what i got for you guys, i hope this helps

scott

harvick2win@yahoo.com

the picture that is posted, really clearly, is butler football stadium and baseball complex..........other posters said that meyer wrrapped in 77.......butler stadium was a gleam in someone's eye then. you must be talking about the very dim circle west of the sports complex...possible

[nm5k]

The speedway is the now dirt oval on the rectangle of

darker colored dirt west of the stadium. And just east of

W. Airport which is the N/S road in the center of the picture.

Butler Stadium was there a good amount of time before the

speedway closed. I'm not sure when the stadium was built,

"I seem to recall it says when on the entrance sign"

but seems it was like about 1966 or so.. ??

I marched at football games there when I was in the band

at Westbury, and that was the 73-74-75 range.

Edit.. And now that I think about it I ran track and cross

country meets at Butler when I went to Johnston Jr. High.

That was the 71-72+ range.. So Butler has been there a while.

The baseball diamond was not there yet at that time. Or

at least I don't recall it..

Edited December 27, 2009 by nm5k

[IHB2]

I'm not sure when the stadium was built,

"I seem to recall it says when on the entrance sign"

but seems it was like about 1966 or so.. ??

I played bball for BHS at Butler in 65/66 but don't remember if it was there in 64.

[paulmaire]

THERE DEFINITELY WAS A MEYERS SPEEDWAY...........IT WAS A LITTLE BEHIND PLAYLAND PARK, DONT REMEMBER THE CROSS STREETS. USE TO GO ALL THE TIME WHEN I WAS LITTLE

THE FOOTBALL STADIUM IS BUTLER..................IT WASNT THAT FAR DOWN SOUTHMAIN...............BETWEEN WHAT IS NOW 610 AND HOLMES RD AREA

Yep my dad raced there in the 60's. 1/2 mile asphalt track. Old stock cars and older modifieds. Stock cars were 1949 through 1955. The 55 Chevy turned out to be the best. The modifieds were chopped 1930's Fords and Chevys

My dads name was Paul Maire. He won the championship one year car White with red 76 lettering. He had Bob Ashby build him a sweet modified from a 1937 Chevy. Bright red #2. Bob Ashby was MJ Burtons car builder and chief mechanic for years. Great guy.

Paul Maire Jr

[spiderroller]

Meyer's Speedway was on the SE corner of South Main and Hillcroft. Not near Playland Park. And further West than Holmes Road outside of the 610 Loop. Remnants are still there as the only thing done with it over the years was a golf range at times.

[lyoungtx]

If anyone out there has any photos of racing at Meyerland Speedway from the early sixties to the early seventies, I'd like to see them. My son's father raced there during those years and my son would like to see pics of the period, as he doesn't really remember his dad racing. Thanks

[57Tbird]

You can find some info about Meyer Speedway (not Meyerland Speedway) on this forum, but a better place to look for a lot of history and pictures is the Lone Star Speedzone forum.

Look under the the "Texas Racing History" discussion. You will find Meyer mentioned often.

[sevfiv]

Check out these threads - unfortunately a lot of the linked pictures are broken, though:

[Materene]

I also spent a lot of time at Meyers Speedway, Freddy Friar, Ronnie Chumley, Joe Plowman, Bobby LaBonte, more than I can remember. Vita Fresh Orange Juice located on Heights Blvd and owned by Gordon Van Lieu sponsored 3 cars, the Clothes Shop also had one or two cars. AJ Foyt always sponsored a winning car there as well. My days go all the way back to Playland Park and even the North Houston Dirt Track way out there on Air Port Authority property now. The subdivisions that built around Meyers were their demise, too many complainers, just like in every aspect of our life, they knew when the bought homes there it was noisy on Saturdays. Some call it progress but if you knew what moved into the neighborhood back then your view would be different. The last time I was even near Meyers was on a Trail Ride coming back towards Town, the opposite street corner to Meyers had a large shopping center there. I remember the heated battles of Richard Petty and Bobby Allison who always would be there on the 4th of July special race.

Joe Plowman was in his mid 50's in 1970 and he was living in Galveston, his car was a 71 Ford Mach 1, Holman and Moody colors of Red and White, strange I can't remember the number, I'm thinking 21, but then I'm old. Do you remember H.B Baily, he was well known local who always ran Daytona with a non sponsored Firebird, he owned a salvage yard next door to Davidson Electrical contractor, and he was a Pontiac fanatic. I did a lot of drag racing with Gregg Davidson who became a Pontiac fan because of being a neighbor to H.B.

[etheriemma]

 

_{I was reading a HAIF forum thread about Westbury Square and one the first page, a HAIF member named "Stu" posted an aerial shot of the Meyerland area in 1960 that showed the Meyer Speedway under construction.  The photo's description by "Stu" read:}

 

_{Here is a 1960 photo that MK made reference to in an earlier post of his about the location of an old airfield in Westbury. This came from a website about old air fields in the Houston area. This is of an area of Westbury South, where I bought my first house in 1961. You're looking south in the picture with South Main (Hwy 90A) running east-west across the top. Chimney Rock is the north-south street to the far left. Landsdowne (street my house was on) is the next street to the right running parallel to Chimney Rock. That's Meyer Speedway under construction at the top. W. Airport is in the middle of the photo, starting at the little curve in Chimney Rock. No Hillcroft yet.}

 

 

[px4man]

I remember working there in 64 &65 selling 'Cold Beer,penuts, popcorn' and I was only 15 but I found a way to get in! In 66 we snuck in over the fence on the back strech and hid in the

old destruction derby cars piled in the infield, and by 7 we were in the infield and no questions asked. I loved that place.

[Michelle C]

I checked some aerial images and found that Meyer speedway was under construction as early as 1957.

 

 

By 1962 you can see some bleachers are starting to appear.

[Michelle C]

By 1966 you can see the high school is there or being built.

 

 

It appears in the pohto that the bleachers are in need of repair from this 73 picture.

 

[Michelle C]

By 1981 it is almost gone but is still visible from the air.

 

 

By 2002 you can hardly see it anymore.

[blue92]

Back in 1960 or 61 I watched A.J.Foyt run another driver threw the southern fence one Sat. night. To this day I don't care much for the guy.  

[gcmartin1]

The 1957 aerial photo show that there was another track under the old K-Mart parking lot.  Does anyone know what that track was called?

[px4man]

We moved to the area in 1958 and I'm sure my Dad would have known about it, but I don't recall him saying anything about it. But in about 1960, he did mention Meyer Speedway,but I was only 11 yrs old, and I was out there

by 1962 on my bycycle. I've noticed a number of these impressions on the old arieals of Houston all over. I might venture to say the were horse trainning tracks, which were more common back then. I'll try to dig up some more info.

[blue92]

The 1957 aerial photo show that there was another track under the old K-Mart parking lot.  Does anyone know what that track was called?

 

I believe that was the old bicycle race track. Between heat races me and my dad would walk over and catch the bike racing. The track was a high banked wooden track.

[6thgentxn]

If you want to know more about Meyer & Arrowhead Speedways

check out the history sections of this site

 

www-lonestarspeedzone-com

 

I helped with safety 1969 'til it closed

It was a busy place on Saturday nights.

[Bellaire]

Here's a bit of personal Meyer Speedway trivia.

When I took Drivers Ed at Westbury HS in 1970, we would attend the classroom phase at the school, of course. But for part of the Behind The Wheel phase, we would load up in a van and drive to Meyer Speedway, aka "The Range". The Drivers Ed cars were located there and we would proceed to practice basic driving skills to be followed by real street driving.

The temptation was everpresent to kick it on the straightaway, knowing it may be the only chance in your lifetime to be on a racetrack. However, if your speed began to exceed the acceptable limit, one look from the coach would quickly shatter your AJ Foyt fantasy.

 

I did the same thing in 1968.  All the cars were brand new Camaro's and the "coach" would sit in the stands and communicate with us through the FM radio in the cars.  We would practice entering freeways and exiting.  We were always telling him that our radios weren't picking up his commands.  So, we could fly down the straightaways.  

 

All of the Camaros had 350 hp engines and were automatics.  Except for one manual transmission that had a 454 in it.  There was only one guy in the class who already knew how to drive a stick shift, so I never got to drive that beast.

 

Great story to tell people that I learned to drive on an oval track.

[blue92]

Terry was inducted into the NA$CAR Hall of Fame today. Terry got his start at Corpus Christi Speedway and at Meyer's Speedway here in Houston in the 1970s. Congrats Terry.

[GEM]

[IronTiger]

I found some old racetrack somewhere in South Houston, and it seemed to be for vehicles, not for horses. It had smaller loops inside and all. I'll try to find it again.

 

EDIT: found it, in 1978, in Google Earth, a racetrack appears at the southeast corner of Main and Hillcroft. It was gone by 1989.

Edited May 25, 2016 by IronTiger

[Fringe]

33 minutes ago, IronTiger said:

I found some old racetrack somewhere in South Houston, and it seemed to be for vehicles, not for horses. It had smaller loops inside and all. I'll try to find it again.

 

EDIT: found it, in 1978, in Google Earth, a racetrack appears at the southeast corner of Main and Hillcroft. It was gone by 1989.

Also called Meyer Speedway. Mostly stock car and funny car races. Also great demolition derby's back in the day. 

 

 

[Cobrar58]

My dad Charlie Evans raced at all the local tracks and some others back then.. I'd love any old videos or photos if still available.. My name is Wes and my # is 281-220-9276.  Thanks

[guy chachere]

On 1/16/2009 at 10:12 PM, roym said:

Wow - incredible video! Thanks for posting!

We lived across the street from the Blumericks on Bronson street 57 to 61, remember him having his car at the house before a race, he had trophies all over his living room.

In 68 we moved back on same street just farther down, I don't remember if he as still racing. His son Larry and daughter Andrea were about 4 years older than me. His second generation daughters were my younger brothers age and they went to school together. He was a really cool guy.

 

[Highrise Tower]

Looked at old newspaper articles and advertisements.  We can see an official address! Meyer Speedway was located at 14015 South Main St.

NASCAR Sanctioned

Stock Car Races - Late Model Sportsman & Hobby Cars PLUS Destruction Derby

Bicentennial Classic Set For Meyer Speedway.