A.E. Speed was responsible for creating a quarter-mile dirt track 11 miles south of Huntsville, Alabama in 1959. Pat Gray sr acquired Huntsville Speedway in 1962 and immediately paved the facility with asphalt. It held a 50-mile NASCAR Grand National race in August of that year, which was dominated by Richard Petty, who qualified on pole position and lapped the field on the way to victory.
