From 1962 to 1969 the Marlboro Motor Raceway was a premier destination for circle track and road racing enthusiasts on the east coast. Notable performers like Roger Penske got their starts at this track and it even had a Corvette color named after it in the form of Marlboro Maroon Metallic for the 1967 and 1970 model years. The track was originally opened by a concrete company owner in 1952 as a circle track and then the expansion to add the road course happened in 1954. The road course hosted all kinds of SCCA and other events of the years and in its heyday was a place that lots of testing and development work was done away from the prying eyes of the public. Like all things though, this track had a lifespan and the thing that really put the final nails in the coffin was the opening of Summit Point in West Virginia. Larger, faster, and more conducive to the ever increasing power and speeds that road racing cars were achieving in the middle to late 1960s, Marlboro started to look small and long in the tooth.
The end came for the track at the close of the 1969 season and since then, no racing has ever taken place there. Pieces have been used and parts have bee utilized, but the race track and the remains of all the track structures are still there. That being said, the place seems way too far gone to be brought back and you may agree or disagree when you see the photos below. All of this strikes me as interesting for a couple of reasons. The first is that I stumbled on a Craigslist Ad that the current property owner put up trying to lease the whole place (42 acres) or chunks of it to businesses apparently. The second reason is that I just came back from a family trip where we visited 18 drag strips (some living and some dead) down the east coast. Dead tracks are right at the top of my mind at this moment.
So, here’s the text of the CL ad followed by photos, followed by the ad link. Click it because there are lots more photos of the decaying remains of the track as it sits today. A reminder of how good things once were at Marlboro Motor Raceway. Video is below link!
LEASE all or part of this 42 acres site for business activity and you have choices of asphalted areas or gravel or both and even tree shade areas. The cost is $ 1000. to $1250. per acre depending of selecting an asphalted or a gravel area. Please call for further detail at
A gated racing community. Tickets for anything under 55 even if you’re pulling a trailer or just pulling into your own driveway.
I’d love to just take a souped-up WRX and go hoon on it as is.
really liked watching all the famous TransAm cars on that little old track in the video, thanks BS
I know nothing of the area,but could the track come back as a private club resort type place? Seems most of the track is there. It is very tight, near zero run off and from the video angle the inner left almost overlapping the far strait. All that but as a time attach type course or limited track day site it would work.
We lost the famed 75-80 Dragway, unfortunately, in recent years.It was just outside of Monrovia, Md. Lots of great drag racing was seen here over the years. Several of our cars went up the ‘hill’ going thru the traps. This track was also famous for being the test track for the P.B.S. show: ‘Auto Week’. Modernization comes at a price.
This track is across the street from my old job. Its on a flood plain and has been flooded quite a few times over the years. Also with the houses built near there you could never make it a race track again. Capitol raceway and MIR now have curfews due to the areas growth. Its a real shame, just like the long shut down aquasco drag strip down the road