The sale of Boyd’s Speedway shocked the racing community. The dirt oval in Ringgold, Georgia, had been under the ownership of the Russell family since December 2020. On Monday, the track announced that Brown Bros., Inc., an earth-moving contractor out of East Ridge, Tennessee, became the owners of the property. However, according to outgoing promoter Larry Dismukes, son-in-law of Emerson Russell, it was not common knowledge that the company already had an interest in the track.
“Brown Bros., Inc. has always been our partner, since we bought the speedway,” Dismukes said Tuesday morning. “The only thing new that happened is that we sold our interest to Brown Bros., Inc. and now they own it outright. We got out of the racing operation.”
Tripp Brown of Brown Bros., Inc. was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.
“Mr. Brown will make an announcement next week pertaining to the speedway,” said Sheila Lane, a manager at Brown Bros., Inc. “No plans have been finalized, yet.”
Dismukes did not want to speak on behalf of Brown Bros., Inc.
“This deal literally just came together,” Dismukes said. “There is no mastermind plan. Our family voted to move on. It was just a good time for us to move on. Brown Bros., Inc. provided the equipment needed to operate the track. They did a lot of work there — heavy construction work — like putting in a new drainage system. Everyone needs to just give them a chance to announce what their plans are.”
Boyd’s Speedway hosted a monster truck event on March 25. The track was to hold a World of Outlaws Late Model Series event on March 17–18, but that was canceled. Dismukes added that a non-racing event for May 7 remains on the schedule.
“Emerson used to race at the track when he was younger,” said Dismukes. “He saw an opportunity to buy it and our family wanted to get it up and going. Since we took over, we spent more than $800,000 to improve Boyd’s Speedway. I commuted six hours from Charleston, South Carolina — people don’t realize that. It is a lot of work operating a racetrack. We had a good year last year, with a great World of Outlaws event.”
Boyd’s Speedway opened in 1952 as a dirt oval. What would become the NASCAR Cup Series ran there in 1962 and 1964, with Joe Weatherly and David Pearson winning, respectively.
While the future of Boyd’s Speedway looks murky, Larry Dismukes said his looks fairly clear, despite him saying he had received job offers.
“I won’t be staying on at Boyd’s Speedway,” Dismukes said. “I’m going to spend some time at home and enjoy some fishing and golfing. But, if the right opportunity came along, I would be interested in promoting again.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
