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".
Track history
Shangri-La Speedway was opened in 1946 by Bill Owen who planned and built the track with help of family members; was re-opened in 1959 by a group of area drag racers; and was re-opened in 1962 by Fran Gitchell. It was closed in 1956 due to neglect and small crowds; was closed in 1959 after a few drag events; and was finally closed for good after 2005 to allow gravel mining from the property. The track itself is all gone and all grandstands and buildings have been demolished.
A replacement track in nearby Tioga Center, known as Shangri-La II Motor Speedway, opened in 2009.
Photo gallery
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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 Modifieds
- 1976-78: NEARA (Northeast Auto Racing Association) Modifieds
- 1979-??: NASCAR Modifieds
- 19??-2005: unsanctioned Modifieds
Visits by major touring series
- 1946-48: AAA Championship Cars, AAA Sprint Cars
- 1970: All-Star Racing League
- 1979-91: ISMA (International SuperModified Association) Supermodifieds
- 1987-88: American IndyCar Series
- 1987-88, 1995-97: NASCAR Busch Grand National North
- 1985-89, 1994: NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Track regulars who went on to Cup racing
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