Beltsville booked sprint cars from the United Racing Club, along with ARDC midgets, but the muffler rule diminished participation. Mini stocks also did a brief Beltsville stint.
As development crushed the corridor, the end came after the 1978 season, when Bland won the last of his three straight weekly LMS titles. Major NASCAR LMS races during the same era drew stars such as Darrell Waltrip and Harry Gant. Kagle owned one such victory, but the bulk of the winning was done by Bob Pressley.
A campus of Capitol Technology University occupies Beltsville’s site today.
“The county made it very difficult for them to operate each year,” Jendras said. “They had to apply for approval from the county every year, and there were a series of promotional changes. It was getting to be a pain to open the track up, and that chased a lot of people away. I think it was a matter of the county and the neighbors putting their thumbs on the scale.”
This story appeared in the June 28, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
