LOOKING
FEATURE
BACK
WRITTEN BY JEN SELINSKY
The Charlestown Motor Speedway is an important part of our community’ s recent“ lost” history.
However, its memory should remain anything but forgotten. Its racing grounds consisted of a 1 / 3-mile track on Highway 3 that hosted stock car and late-model racing. Its primary years of operation were between 1980 and 1993.
The site was completely demolished in 2014, shortly after a two-year revival run.
“ That track’ s long gone. It was built back during the heyday of speedways. At first, it was dirt. Then, it became asphalt and eventually went back to dirt again,” said local racer and racing enthusiast Jerry Curry.
Curry’ s neighbor, former stock car racer Larry Meadors, also recalled some cherished memories about the venue.
“ I raced on Friday for the first two to three years the speedway was in operation. I also raced Saturdays at the Sportsdrome at Jeffersonville and Sundays at the Kentucky Speedway near Owensboro,” Meadors said.“ That was pretty much our routine during the time when I was racing. We would draw in large crowds. My dad was also involved, as well as my cousin and brothers, who have all since passed. NASCAR star Mark Martin came and raced alongside us. I
was third right behind Mark. Charlestown Speedway was popular during the’ 80s. We featured cars coming in from as far away as California and Canada.”
Clark Nickels, whose family calls him“ Nick” to avoid being confused with his father, played one of the largest roles in developing and building the speedway.
“ The Speedway was amazing,” he said.“ It took five years to perfect. I’ m the one who designed and built it all those years ago.”
Brenda Nickles, Nick’ s wife, took in money and worked at the concessions stand after they were married. She also had much to say about her husband’ s work and provided a great deal of information regarding the history of the track.
“ Over 80 years ago, Nick’ s father, Clark Nickles, started Clark Nickles Excavating-Crane in Charlestown,” she said.“ Nick helped grow the family business into a larger company where they were able to purchase a lot of undeveloped land they would later put to commercial use when opportunities arose.
MAY / JUNE 2026 NEWS AND TRIBUNE SPORTS MAGAZINE PAGE NO. 29