How Richmond Raceway's 1988 Rebuild Was Nothing Short of a NASCAR Miracle

It’s been almost 35 years, but Billy Sawyer still grins as he recounts NASCAR president Bill France’s visit to Richmond Raceway in June of 1988.

At the time, track owner Paul Sawyer and his sons, Billy and Wayne, were busy tearing down their antiquated, half-mile oval and building a spanking-new, ¾-mile, D-shaped facility atop the same footprint.

France, who had worked with the family for decades, was worried that the new facility wouldn’t be ready for its scheduled 400-lap, 300-mile race the weekend after Labor Day. France had flown up from Daytona Beach to check out things.

The tour went something like this:

“Daddy’s driving Bill France around the property, showing him where everything was going to be,” Billy Sawyer recalls. “Bill looked over at Daddy and says, ‘Paul, maybe you should call Enoch Staley (at North Wilkesboro Speedway) or Clay Earles (at Martinsville Speedway) and talk about trading one of their (fall) dates. You run your race at one of their tracks the weekend after Labor Day, then let them come here later in the fall, when this place is ready. There’s no way you’re gonna be done here by September.”

Billy Sawyer remembers that his father gently reminded his visitor that he (France) had been talking for almost two years about building a lavish tower overlooking Daytona International Speedway, but still hadn’t turned any dirt. “Daddy said, ‘Don’t worry about us, Bill. We’ll be ready in September.’ ”

And, of course, they were. This weekend’s Toyota Owners 400 will be the 70th NASCAR Cup Series race at the Laburnum Avenue site since Sept. 11, 1988, when Davey Allison won the Miller High Life 400 for team owner Harry Ranier. This weekend’s schedule includes a Whelen Modified Tour 150 at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, an Xfinity Series 250 at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, and the Cup Series 400 at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.

In one of the most impressive facelifts in recent sports history, the Sawyers first tore down several sections of the 35,000-seat grandstand at the State Fairgrounds Raceway. Their team then razed the scoring and timing booths, the infield and grandstand media centers, their office complex, the Armco and chain-link retaining barriers, pit road, and the half-mile of worn-out black asphalt itself. Once that was done, crews arrived and began building the new ¾-mile track from scratch.

Work unofficially began around sunset on Sunday, Feb. 21, 1988, shortly after Neil Bonnett won the Pontiac Excitement 400 for team owners Bob Rahilly and Butch Mock. In the No. 75 Pontiac, the popular Alabama driver beat Ricky Rudd, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, Lake Speed, and Rusty Wallace, the only other drivers on the lead lap. It was the 62nd Cup Series race on the property, which had started hosting NASCAR on its half-mile dirt and asphalt surfaces in 1953.