During their meeting Monday, April 6, 2026, members of Pickens County Council unanimously voted to have a resolution drafted regarding the Greenville-Pickens Speedway, and the resolution will be placed on the agenda and voted on in a later Council meeting.

Council member Chris Bowers, during motion period and new business, made a motion regarding the racetrack, which is located off Highway 123 in Easley. “My motion is to pass a resolution tonight supporting the historic designation behind Greenville-Pickens Speedway and encourage the seller to recognize its historical significance to our county,” he said.

Pickens County Administrator Ken Roper noted, “I’m not used to answering you now as your attorney. I’m not your attorney, but I can tell you, just from the administration standpoint, this is motion period and new business. Your rules say that, if something is raised for the first time, then it needs to be scheduled at a subsequent meeting.”

All Council members then voted in favor of a resolution being written and voted on at a later time. Bowers will assist the administration in writing the resolution.

During the public forum at the beginning of the meeting, several people spoke in favor of the racetrack being saved from demolition.

The Council meeting came two days after a Save the Speedway Rally on Saturday, April 4 at District Park, featuring race cars, food trucks, and appearances by State Representative Neal Collins from Easley and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who voiced their support for saving the track.

Greenville-Pickens Speedway was the site of the first nationally televised start to finish live NASCAR race, held on April 10, 1971.

In January of last year, Mark Blackwell, son of former Speedway owner the late Tom Blackwell, spoke to The Pickens County Chronicle about the importance of preserving the second oldest NASCAR track in the country, for its historical significance as well as the positive impact that keeping the track could have for the local economy. He noted that Ralph Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. have raced there, as well as the Pettys, David Pearson, and, as he said, “Pretty much, anybody who has ever been anybody in NASCAR raced out there and loves the track, and it just has very, very deep roots with the community and with NASCAR.”

He noted not only the historical significance of the Speedway but also the positive economic impact it could have on the area. “We’re stressing the historic aspects of the track,” he said, “but what we really want to hit upon – and, when I say ‘we’, it’s everybody in the community who wants to save the track – what we’re trying to stress is it could very well be a great economic prosperous thing for whoever owns it and whoever runs it and also for Pickens County and the surrounding area.”

To read more about the history of Greenville-Pickens Speedway, click here to read The Chronicle’s previous story including an interview with Mark Blackwell.