PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — In the years after World War II in Palm Beach County, the entertainment venues were limited.
You might choose between going to a drive-in movie theater or heading to the Palm Beach Fairgrounds Speedway.
Drivers will tell you that in our backyard there was a race track that many considered tougher than Daytona International Speedway.
"It was one of the most unique race tracks I had ever raced on," racing legend Bobby Brack said.
He's talking about the Palm Beach Fairgrounds Speedway.
A reunion was recently held at the fair to share memories and stories from years past.
Friends like Brack and Daniel Reeves laugh now but the competition was intense in their racing days.
"That's not on race night. Race night's different." Reeves jokes. "[We were] friends enough to where if he did well, good for him."
"Speedy Reeves was his name," Brack said. "He was called that for a reason."
They admit they were chasing the adrenaline when they were teens with big NASCAR dreams.
"I think race drivers are a different breed of person," Brack said.
There once stood a half-mile track in their backyard, which gave them a shot behind the wheel.
Palm Beach Fairgrounds Speedway was in its heyday in the 1950s to 1970s.
"There were no other events," Brack said. "There were no other sporting events."
It was a draw for thousands of people during a time when it was a relatively small town.
"You were out in the woods," Reeves said. "This was the end of nowhere."
Drivers who competed were looking for a real challenge. The said success on the short track is the mark of a good driver.
"I've always said if you could race Palm Beach, you can go anywhere," Brack said. "This was one of the trickiest racetracks or the trickiest race track that I personally ever raced."
It had tighter, faster turns, unlike others.
"Daytona's easy," Brack said. "You just sit there and hang on."
But the last lap at the Palm Beach Fairgrounds Speedway came faster than any of these drivers wanted.
News reports in the 1980s said crowds started to dwindle along with revenues. Despite drivers fighting to keep the track open, even filing lawsuits, the county ended up demolishing the track in 1984.
"I came to the last race here, and for me, it was very sad to see that this was the last race I was watching at this speedway," Brack said.
"That was the tough part to see it disappear," Reeves said "There was so much history behind this track that just all of a sudden disappeared."
The track has not been gone for decades and maybe no new stories will be added to this slice of Palm Beach County history.
But the stories told by the drivers of the past every year never get old.
"A disease for which there's no cure, that's racing," Reeves said.
