Before the 1.5-mile superspeedway, there was the original Charlotte Speedway, a rough three-quarter-mile dirt oval off Little Rock Road. It hosted the very first NASCAR Strictly Stock race on June 19, 1949, won by Jim Roper after the leader was disqualified for moonshiner's springs welded to his rear end. The track ran through 1956 and sits under an industrial park now, but Race City USA was born in that red dust.