Deal settled for sale of Clarksville oval
The long-negotiated and expected deal for the city to purchase the Clarksville (Tenn.) Speedway property has been finalized with racing to conclude at the 62-year-old track at the conclusion of 2025.
Clarksville officials today made the announcement of the $7 million purchase of the 83-acre property, which includes a quarter-mile dirt oval that has been a longtime host of Late Model racing. The William Scogin-owned track confirmed via Facebook that its drag racing, stock car racing and drifting competitions will continue through 2025 with sale becoming official in January 2026.
The purchase provides the city opportunity to build its long-planned Hazelwood Recreation Complex and widen the heavily-traveled Needmore Road.
The red-clay oval has long been DIRTcar’s southernmost weekly track for Super and Crate Late Models along with annual events for the DIRTcar Summer Nationals and Tuckassee Toilet Bowl Classic. The track’s Super Late Model special event winners’ list includes Billy Moyer, Shannon Babb, Don O’Neal, Dennis Erb Jr., Brian Shirley and former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart, who won the track’s first Summer Nationals event in 1998.
Built in 1963 by John Ardinger two years following completion of the adjacent dragstrip, the dirt track had several owners until a purchase by Tommy Jerles in the 1970s. The Jerles family operated the track for more than 20 years with Scogin taking ownership in 2002 as Clarksville's sprawl continued to draw closer to what was once a racetrack distant from city development.
The city said Scogin first made contact about selling the property in 2020 while Scogin announced in May 2022 that the city sent feelers about the purchase. Negotiations officially began in late 2023, according to the city.
