Halifax County 100

The Halifax County 100 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car race held at South Boston Speedway, Drivers who have won on stock car racing’s biggest stages turned their first competitive laps at South Boston. And despite their fame and notoriety, they don’t forget where it all started for them.

Since its first dusty race in the summer of 1957, South Boston Speedway has produced exciting races and equally exciting race car drivers.

Drivers who have won on stock car racing’s biggest stages turned their first competitive laps at South Boston. And despite their fame and notoriety, they don’t forget where it all started for them.

SoBo is still home to Ward Burton.

“Without it I wouldn’t have done what I was able to do in racing,” Burton said a few days before this Saturday’s 60th anniversary party for the historic track during the Italian Delight Family Restaurant presents Frutopia Not Just Frozen Yogurt NASCAR Late Model Twin 60s.

Jeff Burton still lives in the South Boston area where he grew up, spending his time working with the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation. He and his brother Jeff learned their craft at South Boston Speedway while still in their teens and wound up with careers that reached the pinnacle of NASCAR.

“When I was running the street stock and late model at South Boston, it was outstanding racing,” said Burton, who won both the Daytona 500 and the Southern 500 in his 12-year NASCAR Cup career. “Jeff and I were trained by the best late model guys in the country … Maurice Hill, David Blankenship, Wayne Patterson. It was amazing racing.”

Hermie Sadler’s NASCAR career, which spanned more than a dozen years in what is now the Xfinity Series, also began at South Boston Speedway, the track he still calls home.