Marchbanks Speedway

Marchbanks Speedway

Location	Kings County, near Hanford, California
Major events	NASCAR Grand National
Dirt oval
Surface	dirt
Length	0.5 mi (0.8 km)
Asphalt tri-oval
Surface	Asphalt
Length	1.4 mi (2.25 km)

Marchbanks Speedway was a racetrack located in San Joaquin Valley near Hanford, California. It hosted open-wheel and NASCAR cars, as well as motorcycle racing, in the 1950s and 1960s. The track was subsequently dismantled and destroyed.

It was originally built by local farmer B. L. Marchbanks, and named after himself. The track began as a half mile dirt track. It was later paved as a 1.4-mile (2.3 km), high-banked racetrack also hosted speed runs for watercraft in an infield lake, much as Lake Lloyd at the Daytona International Speedway does today.

Three NASCAR races where held at the track. The first race was held on the dirt track in 1951. Danny Weinberg won his only NASCAR race. Marvin Porter won the race on the 1.4-mile (2.3 km) paved course in 1960. The NASCAR race record was set March 12, 1961, when Fireball Roberts led all 178 laps of a 250-mile (400 km) race, hosted at the track. He finished two laps ahead of the second place driver.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Use in gaming

Hanford is being used in an upcoming Classic Champ Car game.

Sources

1. ^ Track NASCAR winners list at racing-reference.info, Retrieved November 26, 2007
2. ^ Qualifying Record-Breaker, 1999, Retrieved November 26, 2007
3. ^ Countdown: California; Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM, January 7, 2006, Retrieved November 26, 2007