How much did folks yearn for West Virginia Motor Speedway to reopen? Let’s judge by the numbers: 242 cars among four classes and nearly 7000 fans, according to Mike Hurley, who co-owns the track with his wife, Becky.
(For more on its reopening, read “West Virginia Motor Speedway: New Owners and New 3/8 Mile.”)
Hurley used some old-school promoting techniques in getting word out. He handed out flyers and offering handshakes one person at a time.
“I tried to do a good job presenting myself as a normal guy, with no crazy or cocky attitude,” Mike said. “People know me from the tracks I travel to — Potomac, Winchester [Virginia], Natural Bridge, and more. At every track, I went trailer to trailer, talking to the racers and the teams.”
The Hurleys downsized the track from a 5/8-mile to a 1/3-mile. Mike used an aerial map of Iowa’s Marshalltown Speedway as his template.
“We liked the way Marshalltown Speedway raced, so we took its basic shape and made a few changes,” said Mike. “We added one more degree of banking and probably will add another degree on top later this month.”
The Monday after, the Hurleys went back to work on the track.
“Becky and I … are picking up garbage from the weekend, cleaning the grounds,” Mike said. “That’s who we are — no job at the speedway is below us.”
West Virginia Motor Speedway intends to host 12 events in 2026. Mike plans to increase the grandstand capacity to 12,000, with more four suites added, bringing the total to eight. He purchased a Jumbotron, too, measuring 42 by 72 feet. Furthermore, they’ll add a catchfence to accommodate USAC sprint car events.
“Every driver absolutely loved racing on the new smaller track,” said Mike. “Trever Feathers hauled 7 hours to race here this weekend. Today he called to thank me for bringing back a racetrack with so much history.”
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.
