Ghost Speedways: The Journey Begins
Author: Jesse Rucinski
This is something that I am extremely excited to finally get started in some way. Those of us involved with the Racing with Jesse Rucinski have been discussing these lost and abandoned racetracks for years amongst ourselves. We finally can bring those conversations and passion to you with Ghost Speedways.
The Mission
The mission of Ghost Speedways is quite simple. We want to make sure that these abandoned racetracks and their histories are not forgotten. They are an important part of the growth of many different forms of motorsports across the United States. The drivers that made these racetracks and their careers at these speedways. The men and women that died at these tracks both spectator and driver alike. We strive to make sure that none of that ever dies and that those stories get to be told.
We also want to help use this information to show how racing series like NASCAR were formed and grew to what they are today. To show some of the past from sprint cars, midgets, late models, open wheel cars, drag cars, and many other cars. They all have a colorful and controversial history that needs and deserves to be acknowledged.
The Backstory
I grew up right down the road from the Pocono Raceway and went to eight straight race weekends when NASCAR came to town. Right off of turn 2 and the tunnel. Nazareth wasn’t that far away, and I would watch the races from there on tv. Then there is Walters side of this story. He grew up racing and currently lives in Blackman Township Michigan. That is the location where the original Jackosn County Speedway sits dormant and being taken over by nature. I currently live in North Carolina, which has many of these old racetracks that helped to build NASCAR scattered throughout it. I also have Goodyear All American Speedway and Carteret County Speedway holding races just a stone’s throw away from me right now. I mention that because they are still thriving tracks and I am proud to see them here. I never want to see them have to close their doors and become Ghost Speedways themselves.
The Plan
The plan is to research these tracks one at a time as meticulously as possible as possible and share that information with all of you and everyone you share it with as well. We have a strategy on how we intend to disburse the information to as many people as possible across multiple platforms.
Social Media - There are accounts under the Ghost Speedways banner on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. We will use them to engage with individuals of all types. Whether they listen to the show or not. We will use it to start discussions about racetracks and races of the past that interest us. We will use it to get ideas and information from people as well. We will share all links to episodes, notes, articles, Substack posts, and anything else we have so that it is available for everyone. Make sure to follow them all.
Substack - This is a vital tool in the information highway to get everything out to the listeners of the show. We will use it to help grow both this newsletter and the podcast alike. There will be posts that go further into episodes of the podcast. There will also be posts that are stand alone to disburse information about other topics. It will be an information superhighway for the show.
Podcast Platforms - The show is available on many different platforms. Those platforms include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spotify for Podcasters, Goodpods, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Audible, Overcast, RadioPublic, YouTube, and Rumble. It is coming up like on Google Podcasts shortly, but fair warning is it normally takes them an extra day to make the episodes available. When the shows aren’t scheduled and are uploaded live, they will also be available on Clouthub and Bitchute. This is where all of the episodes will be available to be either listened to or watched. All depending on what you prefer.
The Tracks - When possible, we also plan on making trips to some of these speedways to get hand on with the track and its history. We will also be trying to conduct interviews and have discussions with those that raced on the speedways when possible and hopefully grow it into a regular part of the programming on a full-time basis with everyone’s support.
This is something that I personally think will be a great thing for the sport with everyone’s support. I hope to be able to interact with all of you on this subject. There are many racing fans out there in the world. There are millions of people that love history. It could be a great way to merge everything and get likeminded people with a passion for motorsports and its history to make sure that the tracks, drivers, and moments never die. Please make sure to join this mailing list, follow on the socials listed above, subscribe on your favorite platforms that is also listed above, and share this and everything out for me. Engage with it and help everyone gain knowledge on this history. Let’s make sure that this history never dies.
YouTube of the preview episode is below and available on all platforms.
I appreciate all of your time and hope you follow on the journey.