Yes, Diamond Park Speedway is for sale, but the Nashville, Arkansas, dirt oval will still continue holding races.
“People have been asking me if they could buy the track,” said Wayne Tidwell, owner and promoter of Diamond Park Speedway. “That got me to thinking. I drive two and a half hours each way to the track from my home in Centerville. Sure, I’ll sell it. The price is $750,000. If I don’t sell it, I’ll keep on running it.”
Tidwell bought Diamond Park Speedway six years ago. He had been running Centerville Super Speedway on Fridays. He felt the tracks would complement each other, despite Diamond Park Speedway having its challenges.
“I saw the potential,” Tidwell said. “It was a bargain. The guy who had it was fixing to tear it down.”
Tidwell brought bracket racing to Diamond Park Speedway, a concept he ran at Centerville Super Speedway.
“Our two main classes are super stock, with a 16-second time limit, and sportsman, with a 17-second time limit,” said Tidwell. “You can take any car and run in one of the two classes. There are no rules. If you break out — go faster than the time limit — you still get starting money, but you can’t win.”
Tidwell said he gets more than 70 cars at the tracks. He charges $20 for admission, but he said he fills the grandstands. Tidwell added that he has three serious inquiries in buying the track.
“With the interest rates so high, it could take a while,” Tidwell said. “I’m so confident the track will be successful for a new owner, I’m willing to finance part of the purchase.”
For those fearing the track becoming something else other than a motorsports facility, Tidwell said to not fear that.
“Only an idiot would buy it and close it down,” said Tidwell. “The 30 acres of land is not prime for any kind of development. It’s prime for a racetrack.”
Tidwell’s other track — Centerville Super Speedway — remains off the market.
“My son, Fonzo, is going to take over Centerville Super Speedway,” Tidwell said. “With the construction company we own, it would be too much to drive five hours round-trip to Diamond Park Speedway.”
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.
