In the early part of the twentieth century, greyhound dog racing was all the rage in southeastern Virginia - especially for the Navy fellers in nearby Norfolk when they were in port with extra coin in their pockets.
When the local track's sport was shut down by state authorities, the money folk moved about a half-mile south across the state line to the small town of Moyock, North Carolina.
Trainers continue to run the dogs at the quarter-mile track known as Dog Track Speedway for several years, and the bettors followed. In the mid 1950s, however, North Carolina joined Virginia in doing away with dog racing which put the track out of business.
The facility was resurrected to host auto racing instead of the helpless dogs. The local promoter landed NASCAR in 1962 to begin a five-year streak of Grand National races. Putting their dog days behind them and positioning the track for the future, Dog Track Speedway was converted from a quarter-mile, dirt track to a third-mile, paved surface in time for the August 1964 GN race.
NASCAR's circuit raced once on the rebuilt oval in 1964, twice in 1965, and returned in 1966 for what turned out to be the locale's final big time event - a 300-lap, 100-mile swan song.
The King, Richard Petty, plunked his Plymouth on the pole. Petty raced the same team Plymouth Marvin Panch raced to the win in the World 600 a week earlier.
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| Source: Newport News Daily Press |
Though available resources note Petty raced #43 at Moyock, it's quite likely he raced #42 as still painted on Panch's Plymouth from a few days earlier.
David Pearson qualified second. Independents Tiger Tom Pistone, James Hylton, and Elmo Langley rounded out the top five starters.
When the green dropped, the King set sail in pursuit of his first Moyock victory. As he'd done frequently the previous few years, Ol' Blue found an early groove and intended to go wire to wire for the win. With the race a bit shy of the one-third mark, however, the 43's ignition began misfiring. Petty came to the attention of his Dale Inman-led crew, but nothing could be done in the moment to rescue the day. The car was loaded for the five-plus hour tow back to central North Carolina.
With Petty loaded and ready to head home, Pearson took over and went the distance unchallenged. He led the remaining 200+ laps to score his 19th career win. Despite the improvements made to the track, Dog Track Speedway no longer had healthy support and ceased operations later in 1966.
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| Source: Newport News Daily Press |
TMC
Interesting lack of certainty about the dog racing at Moyock. I've read articles by pretty authoritative writers swearing that none took place, that the track builder thought he could persuade N.C. authorities (Bible Belt-ers, all) to allow the sport but was wrong. However, I found an add for dog racing at Moyock in the Richmond paper. My guess is that it happened, but for less than "several years."
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